The Cuban professional boxing champion Yordenis Ugás publicly broke with the management of the professional baseball team Miami Marlins, of whom rejected the invitation to participate in the event for Cuban Heritage Day due to their affront to the Cuban exile during the March 2023 celebration of the V World Baseball Classic.
“Today I spoke on the phone with the person who contacted me a few weeks ago to recognize me on Cuban Heritage Day at the Marlins stadium. I told him I would not be attending and explained the reasons. Out of ignorance, I thought that this situation and the Marlins' disrespect to our community last year were fixed,” Ugás said on his social networks.
The incident that outraged the champion and the Cuban community in Miami occurred in the Cuba-USA game. of the V World Baseball Classic, held at the Marlins stadium, where their Security guards prevented several Cuban fans from entering with t-shirts that read the phrase “Patria y Vida”.
“I am a man of exile, the greatest recognition I have is what my Cuban community gives me, day by day, which is everything to me. Thanks to all the Cubans who have written to me, asking me for an explanation. A sincere apology for my ignorance. This is a personal decision. "I respect each person's decision," said the boxer and reference for athletes and the Cuban civil society.
Using his networks to communicate his decision, Ugás wanted to make his position clear to the Marlins board, whom he asked to reflect on the damage done to the honor and dignity of the cuban exile with his authoritarian behavior towards the exiles and complacency towards the Cuban regime. An exhortation also made by several other Cuban exile figures in Miami, such as los Pichy Boys.
“In the dictatorship they humiliated us. In freedom we do not want, nor will we allow the same. Exile is respected. We have an exile full of families of political prisoners and those killed at sea. If in the future the Marlins want to fix this, acknowledge their mistake and apologize to our community, I am fully willing to be a bridge and participate. Never again will one of my feet be there until that happens,” he said.
In that sense, he explained that in addition to being a “warrior” for the rights and freedom of Cubans, he also considers himself “a man who is always talking about the unity of our community, and the Marlins stadium is the flagship stadium of Our city".
The world champion who won his title in a historic fight against the great Manny Pacquiao wearing the verse “Homeland and Life” on his kit, he took advantage of his publication to remember once again that “God, Country, Life and Freedom is not a fashion or a topic trending, not even to grab likes… It is a lifestyle".
After the opprobrious incident in March 2023, the Miami Marlins stated that the policy of the V World Baseball Classic banned political messages in all games and in all facilities.
Figures like the Pichy Boys asked boycott the team for his controversial decision to veto messages against the dictatorship on sweaters and posters brought to the stadium by Cuban fans. Even the mayor of Miami, Francis Suárez assured that he would investigate the ban.
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