Cuba Decries US for Denying Visas to Baseball Players

[Say_What]

Leave it to the Bushistas to politicize baseball. How f*ck'n petty can a junta get? :argh:

M$M didn't even touch this. Welcome to the USSA and its censored media.



<clips>

HAVANA, Oct 7 (RHC) Cuba has condemned Thursday the U.S. administration’s decision on not granting the U.S. visas to Cuban baseball team for competing at the classifying regional tournament in Puerto Rico.

The Cuban Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) noted that the competition is vital for the island’s baseball since it gives places for the coming 20th Central American and Caribbean Games to be held in Cartagena, Colombia in August 2006.

In a news release, the Cuban sports entity claimed that with the recent Washington’s visa refusal to enter Puerto Rico (a Free Associated State of the United States) the island’s sports “is once again victim of the discriminating policy of the U.S. government”

http://www.escambray.cu/Eng/sport/Cubanbaseball051007213.htm

[LisaM]

1. Payoff to Jeb's constituents?

What other reason could there be.

[Say_What]

5. It's more of the anti-Cuba campaign that's been going on for 45 years

[LisaM]

10. Yes, I know, but I saw the Cuban baseball team in 1992

at the Goodwill Games.

[TomInTib]

2. They're still pissed about the series with the Orioles

I think it was the Orioles who got their butts kicked by los Cubanos.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Judi Lynn]

7. It was the reactionary Cuban "exiles" from Miami who screwed that up

They tried everything in the world to prevent the game from the moment it was announced. They travelled in large numbers to Baltimore so they could disrupt from the stands, and flew an airplane with an anti-Cuban banner overhead.

They also have tried to bully the owner ever since he made the agreement with the Cuban team.

What a buncha scums.

[TomInTib]

9. Thanks Judi Lynn

I had forgotten some of that.

[Judi Lynn]

11. You may get a kick out of the write-up of the event in an "exile" paper

You can only wonder how anyone retains a trace of sanity around these folks! The Miami Batista-supporting original "exiles" created a real pressure cooker in Miami, and you can see they've gone a little crazy over the years. They have not mellowed. Their "NoCastro" site is typically rabid.

The Sacrificial Birds © ABIP 1999
by Agustín Blázquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton

With Castro’s Cuba, everything is politics. There is no way around it. It has been that way since 1959 and it will continue until his death. His motto "Socialism or Death!" makes it as clear as water.

The recent baseball game in Baltimore’s Camden Yards is a sample of "cultural exchange" a-la-Castro. The Cuban team was carefully selected, but the determining factor was not just playing ability. Those Castro suspected as could-be-defectors (e.g. shortstop German Mesa and second baseman Yobal Dueñas) were left behind. The "politically reliable" team members he sent have their families held as "hostage" in Cuba.

But just in case, Castro sent at least two security agents per player to keep an eye on them. They were transported in buses after their late arrival at BWI airport and sequestered under very tight security at the hotel. The security agents did not allow them to see the city of Baltimore or participate in the activity that was touted by both teams as the real purpose of the event: people-to-people contact.

From the isolation at their hotel, they were transported under heavy security to the stadium shortly before the game. The game was played in an almost police-state atmosphere that I never thought that I would witness in the US, apparently in order to prevent any contact with the Cuban team: contact with the Oriole team members, the press, Cuban Americans or anyone else. The only contact was at publicity opportunities in front of cameras and with Castro cronies strategically placed in the stadium. It was a sad day for freedom on US soil.
(snip/...)

http://www.nocastro.com/archives/sacbirds.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Needless to say, this account is just a weeee bit different from any other article written about the game you'll ever read!

[TomInTib]

13. Hey! It is just a game

But not to these guys.

Jeez

Thanks so much for the post.

[Judi Lynn]

14. They DO take certain liberty with the facts in Miami! You're welcome. n/t

[damntexdem]

3. The Central American & Caribbean Games should take the ...

classifying regional from Puerto Rico. No international body can trust putting any event into territory controlled by the U.S. so long as the Bushista gang is in power -- that applies to Puerto Rico, just as the UN has found out the hard way that it should apply to Iraq.

[fujiyama]

4. This admin is so fucked up...

Even the Indians and Pakistanis play cricket against each other (meaning they have to give visas to the other team's players)...and I'm sorry, there isn't that much bad blood between the US and Cuba!

[bluestateguy]

6. Jorge Mas Canosa makes the policy

and they just do what he and his stuck-in the Cold War friends tell them to do.

[Say_What]

8. Mas Canosa's been wormfood (dead) for nearly 10 years...

and CANF doesn't have the power that it did during his lifetime. He had the ear of presidents from RayGun onward and it didn't matter what party they were in.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Someone has taken down the photo of this little creep + Bush

Wonder what that's all about. Surely they're not worried about _Bush's reputation! It's a little late for that.

[Say_What]

16. Here you go...

and a link to the original NYTs article:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/071398cuba-commando.html

[Judi Lynn]

17. There it is.Disgusting.Bush has been completely attached to those guys

since before the Bay of Pigs.

So glad you posted that Luis Posada Carriles article by Ann Louise Bardach and the other N.Y. Times reporter. They did outstanding work with him. It's so worth keeping.

Thanks for putting these things out here. Newcomers to US/Cuba relations can learn a lot from this article, too.

[KittyWampus]

12. Some Local Artists, Musicians & Good Sports Went To Cuba To Play Ball

they've gone now several times and always leave behind their euqipment since those players down there don't have much.

It's the very best form of diplomacy. People who were kind of skeptical of the guys ended up being very warm and inviting.

NeoCons hate it when people get along.

[nickgutierrez]

18. Keep this in mind:

The Baseball World Cup is coming, starting next Spring. This administration will have a hell of a time explaining why they denied the Cuban team the right to play in Puerto Rico now, while allowing Cuba to play games inside the United States when the Cup comes around.

[Mika]

19. EVERYBODY knows that its Castro who limits freedom to travel.

:crazy:

[HuffleClaw]

20. cheap petty childish idiots

really, thats pretty low, even for them. 'nuff said.

[Say_What]

22. More examples of "cheap petty childish idiots"

Smoking a Cohiba cigar in Japan by any US taxpayer may result in a $250,000 fine or 10 years in jail.

<clips>

...Now, the owner of a yacht who dares enter Cuba’s jurisdictional waters is liable for a $25,000 fine, five years in prison, or both; not to mention confiscation of their boat.

...The clearest example comes from Pastors for Peace. On July 6, 2004, OFAC warned its members that those who travel to Cuba without the duly official license from the Treasury Department risk facing sanctions. The religious and friendly intentions of that Christian organization are doubtless. Between 1992 and 2004, the caravan members have collected second-hand computers for healthcare and education institutions, as well as medical supplies, food, toys, and books. All those items were donated by people in dozens of US and Canadian cities.

Not even scientists have escaped the anti-Cuba hysteria

Christopher Schenk, a US citizen and geologist with the US Geological Service, presented an assessment report of foreseeable oil reserves in Cuba’s northern deep waters during the annual Conference of the American Association of Geologist in November, 2004. Schenk himself was looking forward to participating in the Conference on the Earth Sciences held in Havana. Through an email, the researcher narrated that when the US government found that he had assessed Cuban waters, he was harshly humiliated and told that he could not hold communications with Cuba, threatening to fine him if he continued to do so.

http://www.periodico26.cu/english_new/opinion/citizens051005.htm

[Say_What]

21. Visa Denial to Cuban Baseball Team Earns Avalanche of Criticism

Not a whisper of this in M$M. One would think that the 'free and democratic' press in the USSA would be *outraged*. :sarcasm:

<clips>

San Juan, Oct 7 (Prensa Latina) An avalanche of criticism swamped the Puerto Rican media Friday because of the US denial of visas to the Cuban baseball team to attend a qualification tournament here.

Since Thursday, Primera Hora daily has been publishing criticism from several groups of solidarity with Cuba, whose team should have played Friday for one of four places in the 20th Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2006.

"A dirty trick against Puerto Rico's sports sovereignty" journalist Benjamin Morales headlined his article denouncing how the political decisions from a group of bureaucrats in Washington have once more affected sports on the Island.

Morales said it is "particularly annoying that the backward views of some US diplomats endanger the sports fraternity that has existed for decades between two Caribbean peoples, in this case Cuba and Puerto Rico."

Morales added that "...no government should have the political high-handedness to interfere with the free flow of world sports."

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={6DA2A241-C382-4449-A1AB-DA8C3E592F84}&language=EN

[Say_What]

23. White Sox: "If Guillen wins, Hugo and Venezuela will celebrate"

<clips>

...During his weekly state-run TV and radio show, "Hello President,'' Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez had Guillen on for a phone interview Sunday. Guillen, the first Venezuelan manager in major-league history, talked about the call Wednesday.

"I would say I was honored,'' he said. "Not too many people like the president. I do. My mom will kill me, but it's an honor to talk to the president.

..."Congratulations, Oswaldo,'' Chavez said on the show, according to the Associated Press. "All of us here in Venezuela are so proud of you. We are with you, always following your success. And we'll be waiting for you when you come back, hopefully as world champion.''

"Now,'' Guillen said, "I want to win more than ever.''

Guillen noted Wednesday that Sox history is filled with Venezuelan players, including Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio. Five Venezuelans played in the All-Star Game this year.

"To make my country happy about it is something I look to with a lot of pride,'' Guillen said. "We have so many problems back there, when you do a little thing to make people happy, and you talk about what you do in your success ... it's something I can give back to my country.''

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-gside06.html

[Judi Lynn]

24. They've likewise reamed Cuban musicians, scholars, lecturers,union leaders

who had been contacted to make appearances, lectures, attend meetings, etc., etc., a practise which had been open throughout Bill Clinton's Presidency with no threats whatsoever of closing the door to Cubans in many, many interchange programs.

U.S. silences Cuban beat
State Dept. cracks down on visas for musicians

Updated: 6:39 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2004
HAVANA - If you’ve never experienced a live dose of Los Van Van, Cuba’s ultimate dance band, you may have missed your chance.

Over the past few months, the State Department has cracked down on Cuban visitors -- specifically artists -- seeking to enter the United States. Since November, every Cuban musician who applied for a visa — 151 in all — has been turned down, including the five Grammy nominees invited to the recent awards' ceremony.

The State Department denies a specific policy against musicians, although officials appear to have raised the bar for performers who want to tour the United States.

This approach reverses a nearly decade-old warming trend that had exposed Cuban artists and intellectuals to western ideas and the American public to Cuba’s rich culture.
(snip/...)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4286635/

Some Los Van Van music samples from Amazon:

~~~~ link ~~~~