Fidel Castro’s Son Calls for Major Change in Cuba Baseball Policy

Fidel Castro's Son Calls for Major Change in Cuba Baseball Policy

October 27, 2013

Wants Cubans playing abroad to play with Team Cuba



HAVANA TIMES — Antonio Castro, son of Fidel Castro and team doctor of

the Cuban baseball squad, requested that the Cuban players who fled the

island and became professionals in the US Major Leagues be allowed to

play with the national team in international tournaments, reported dpa

news on Sunday.



"We need to change on both sides, we have to do something realistic, we

have to do something for our players … [The current policy is] not good

for athletes, for families, for anyone. We lost those players but why

can't they return to play again with the national team," asked Castro,

in an interview on Cuban baseball today by ESPN.



"We have to strive to not lose them. Unless we change, we lose the

players, we lose everything," he added.



Up to 16 players who fled the island played this season in the Major

Leagues, including the new idol of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yasiel Puig.



Professional sports were abolished on the island in 1962, prohibiting

Cuban athletes from working as professionals or joining foreign teams.

Over the years it became routine for some athletes to skip out during

trips abroad to try to build a future as professionals.



The sacrifice of having to leave their family is sometimes compensated

with millions: This month Cuban first baseman José Dariel Abreu closed a

record contract for a non-US player to play next season with the Chicago

White Sox. He will earn US $68 million over six years.



Abreu defected from the island in August and obtained residency in

Haiti, from where he began processing permits with the US Treasury

Department in order to be a free agent and sign with the majors.



From Haiti he traveled to the Dominican Republic, where major league

scouts were able to follow his progress as he trained.



Antonio Castro noted as an example the visit to Cuba this year by Jose

Contreras, who defected and returned to the island after spending ten

years playing in the United States. "I never expected to return to Cuba

because many before me were not able to return, since the government

considered us traitors," he told ESPN.



Contreras escaped from the island in 2002 taking advantage of the

presence of the national team in Monterrey, Mexico.



The return of the pitcher early this year was the first by an athlete

who had abandoned a national team and came after the new Cuban

immigration policy took effect on January 14, which allows for the

return of athletes who left the country through irregular channels since

the early '90s and later as long as they had spent eight years abroad.



"Many want to go back and live here to teach children, is that bad? No,

of course not. Contreras returned and is working for children to develop

baseball. I love that idea," Antonio Castro told the ESPN reporter in

English during her recent visit to Cuba .



The island seems to be gradually lifting restrictions for high-level

athletes that have existed for decades. The Cuban authorities, for

example, announced on September 27 that they would allow their athletes

to sign in the off season with teams in foreign leagues as long as they

play in the Cuban leagues.



The reform seeks to "generate revenue" and "gradually increase wages,"

explained the official daily Granma.



The measure is part of the process of market economic reforms being

instituted by Raul Castro's government.



In July, the Cuban Baseball Federation also announced that it had

authorized the signing of active Cuban ballplayers with professional

clubs abroad with the aim of "inserting Cuban baseball in the world."

Shortly after the authorities allowed the three players to sign with the

Mexican professional team the Campeche Pirates.



"Cuba needs change, we are part of the world, we need to change,"

Antonio Castro told ESPN.



Source: Fidel Castro's Son Calls for Major Change in Cuba Baseball

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