Obama embraces Cuba's pastime with a spot of baseball diplomacy
Obama embraces Cuba's pastime with a spot of baseball diplomacy
In the most relaxed event of the US president’s historic visit, it really was the taking part that mattered as Cuba’s national team took on the Tampa Bay Rays
Dan Roberts at the Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana
@RobertsDan
Tuesday 22 March 2016 16.04 EDT
After an awkward three days of politics, it was baseball that finally brought Cuba and the United States out from half a century of cold war deep freeze on Tuesday, as Barack Obama’s historic visit concluded with a frenzied, but friendly, sporting clash.
They have been playing baseball in Cuba since 1864, but there can have been few more eagerly anticipated games than that between the Cuban national team and the US Major League Baseball side the Tampa Bay Rays.
Contests between American and Cuban sides are rare enough – it wasn’t until 1999 that the Baltimore Orioles became the first MLB team to play here since the revolution – but a chance to best a Florida team in front of the first US president here since 1928 raised the excitement to fever pitch.
Long queues of fans waited out the Estadio Latinoamericano, the Havana home of Cuba’s national sport, and caused a worrying crush on the way in. Yet, despite partisan roars of “Cuba, Cuba” at every opportunity, the packed crowd saved plenty of noise for the Obama family as they made their way to their seats next to the Cuban president, Raúl Castro.
More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/22/obama-cuba-baseball-diplomacy