The Cuban regime celebrated the cancellation of the Intercontinental Professional Baseball Series scheduled to be held in Barranquilla, Colombia, between January 26 and February 1, and which would be attended by an independent Cuban team, made up of baseball players living in exile.
The suspension of the event was announced this Tuesday by the Team Renteria USA, organizer and promoter of the sporting event, citing “reasons beyond the control of the organization.”
However, the regime in Havana, which had shown its dissatisfaction with the participation of the Dream Team Cuban, did not take long to celebrate the news.
“The Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation (FCBS) wishes to highlight the actions of the Colombian authorities, especially the Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee, by recognizing us as the legitimate representative of baseball in Cuba, as well as the right to sovereign use of the national symbols," they expressed in an official statement signed by the governing organization of baseball on the island and disseminated on the digital portal JIT.
The Cuban authorities expressed their disagreement with the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation (FEPCUBE), according to their statement for the intention to "usurp functions only assigned to our entity", in an event, to which they added they considered going after being invited.
“The FCBS never rejected the holding of the Intercontinental Series, but rather the presence of the usurper FEPCUBE and its purpose of taking advantage of the stage to carry out a vulgar political spectacle and not a sports festival as the fans deserve,” they added to their words, without mentioning a single argument that would define the destabilizing attempts of the FEPCUBE.
The baseball leaders on the island affirmed that they defend fair and healthy play, “that develops human capabilities, brotherhood among peoples, the spirit of camaraderie and unity, not divisions, revenge and the use of sport for political purposes.” , as dictated by “the principles of the Cuban Sports System.”
The Cuban-American congressman Mario Díaz-Balart He accused the Colombian government of giving in to the pressures of the Havana regime.
“Petro of Colombia demonstrates once again that he is an obedient servant of the Castro regime by preventing free Cuban baseball players from competing in an international tournament in Colombia,” Díaz-Balart wrote on the X social network.
Furthermore, he added that the FEPCUBE “will only get stronger after this, but it is atrocious that the petty Petro is extending the oppression of the Cuban regime to free Cuban athletes in Colombia.”
Hours after the news of the cancellation of the sporting event was announced this Tuesday, the FEPCUBE reacted on its social networks, ensuring that “the primary reason for this cancellation was to avoid the presence of the [Cuban] team” at the event.
“This is a decision that offends and mocks democracy and freedom, which also comes from a totalitarian regime that systematically represses its citizens,” stated FEPCUBE.
The team also denounced that "the despotism of the Colombian and Cuban governments breaks with the precepts of free sport and is a direct attack on democracy."
The day before, this team of exiled Cuban baseball players, in which there are many active players of the Major League Baseball (MLB), played the first game in its history and concluded it with a close 3×2 victory against the Sharks. Miami Dade College.
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