Despite the initial overzealous actions of loanDepot park stadium staff who tried to quash the political content of fan clothing, freedom of speech won the day in Miami on Sunday.
The Communist Party’s state-owned Cuban baseball team played in the Capital of Exiles during Sunday’s World Baseball Classic semifinal, which the USA won 14-2. It was a historic first since the 1959 revolution — and another sign that the Biden administration is negotiating a thaw with Cuba.
To hear the Cuban National Anthem play at the Marlins’ home stirred emotions for Cuban Americans like me for whom this himno nacional rings as forever ours.
The choice of Liván Hernández to throw the first pitch — in 1995, he defected from Cuba; in 1997, he was Florida Marlins MVP of the 1997 World Series — was pitch perfect.
And, thanks to a game nationally televised in Cuba, the victims of the 64-year-old dictatorship, the old hardliners and the young left-leaning dissidents, were seen and heard, outside and inside the stadium — on the island and around the world.
Cubans all, for one night, united in chants with one message — “¡Patria y Vida!” and “¡Libertad!”
These same chants, on free soil and in front of representatives of the regime, cost hundreds of brave Cubans on the island their freedom after the historic protests of July 11, 2021. It was these same chants President Joe Biden called, at the time, “their clarion call for freedom.”
Emotions spurred by both sports and politics — Cuban-American Nolan Arenado hitting a triple RBI for Team USA — came with the territory. As did the visuals: A banner called the event “the festival of baseball.” Another hanging off the Budweiser bar: “Viva Cuba Libre de Dictadura.” Long live a Cuba free of dictatorship.
Sports & politics
Lopsided as it was in the United States’ favor, the game nevertheless was a formidable show of the role sports forums are playing in the fight for human rights in this country — despite the discontent of purist fans, team owners, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association.
Out with the pretense that politics and sports don’t mix, when in fact, they’ve become bedfellows for this generation.
I supported 100% Colin Kaepernick’s right to kneel, a symbolic gesture to call attention to the killing of unarmed Black Americans by police — and I still think his banishment from the game, under pressure from the rhetoric of former President Donald Trump, is the NFL’s shame.
So you bet that I stand on the side of the Cuban human-rights activist who scored a front-row seat behind home base — wearing a Che Guevara “Murderer” T-shirt at Sunday’s World Baseball Classic semifinal.
An icon to the ignorant, Guevara was homophobic, ruthless and directed the infamous firing squads that took Cubans’ lives without proper trials.
The Cuban pitchers had no choice but to be face-to-face with dissent. Interestingly, opposition seemed to come from within, too. Catcher Iván Prieto González didn’t show up at Miami International Airport for the return flight to Havana and apparently defected.
Bienvenido a Miami, Iván.
He’s now part of the largest exodus from Cuba we’ve ever seen, only he didn’t endure a trek to the southern border or risk his life navigating the Florida Straits. Baseball was his ticket.
The only surprise is that more team members didn’t join him.
You bet I stand with the Cuban people and their struggle to break free from one of the longest running dictatorships in the world. Always have and always will. It’s time for Cuba to join the fold of democratic nations in Latin America. If the people want a left-leaning government, they will elect one in real elections, not the fake ones where people are forced to vote for the sole ruling party’s chosen “candidates.”
So thank you, MLB, for sucking up to Cuban officials for years and making the Miami game happen, an exercise in free speech, much needed in Florida, and worthy of the Stars & Stripes.
Lessons in free speech
Now, Miami, can we make the practice of respecting dissent a permanent feature in a city where people say they value democracy — but in reality only do so when it benefits their point of view?
I was wondering what might have happened if someone had worn a “Viva Fidel” T-shirt or chanted the Castroite motto Cuba adopted in 1960, “Patria o muerte, venceremos.” No one did, as far as I know, but Miami didn’t earn a perfect score in tolerance anyhow.
While most people didn’t direct anger at the players, a video has surfaced of a handful of young game-goers throwing beer and cups at Cuban delegation officials.
Invading someone’s personal space and attacking them is wrong, no matter what they stand for, plus, it can get one arrested. Worse, it dilutes the moral righteousness of the cause for a free Cuba. It’s not a good look for Cuban Americans to act like the pro-Castro mobs do on the island.
After all these years, tolerance is a lesson Miami still needs to learn.
