BASEBALL AND POLITICS
May 3, 2012 by admin
Even before the two-week trip to Cuba, I knew that baseball was more than just a game to Cubans. I’d heard, for example, about the tradition of Cuban men to gather in parks and public squares to have intense debates (which might, I was warned, appear to my eyes as shouting matches) all about baseball. And sure enough, during our trip, baseball was present. Souvenir shops carried miniature bats with “Cuba” painted in bright colors, post-cards with famous Cubans like Che or Fidel pitching or batting, and of course, t-shirts for the most popular Cuban teams (especially the Industriales; see Jonah’s post, Industriales T-shirt & the Universal Sports Rhetoric from April 16th). At times from the bus, I could see baseball games or a game of catch going on in even the most unlikely spaces—in a side alley street or beside a highway. And the love of baseball was especially evident when I gave a baseball I’d brought with me to a new friend in the park and was subsequently followed around the central plaza in Cienfuegos while I tried to explain to a cohort of hopeful Cubans that I didn’t have any more baseballs to give.
Baseball is a recognized national pastime in both the U.S. and Cuba, and therefore represents an undeniable cultural connection between two countries that are so often judged to be opposite in every way. Therefore, it is true that, as Jonah emphasized, baseball is something that can potentially remain “transnational…in spite of antagonistic political relationships.” However, it is equally true that, like so many things in Cuba, baseball is often inescapably intertwined with politics, and specifically with Cuban-American relations. A documentary on the Cuban revolution subtly reinforced this notion, saying that “The spectacular victories of Cuban baseball over victories over powerful teams from Latin America, Asia and the United States confirm our[Cuba’s] team as world leader.”
An especially poignant example is the recent controversy surrounding comments made by Ozzie Guillen, manager for the Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team. In a Time Magazine interview, Guillen said he “love[s] Fidel Castro…I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that son of a bitch is still there.” The immediate reaction to Guillen’s comments was hardly surprising, despite the fact that this was not the first instance when Guillen has spoken positively of Fidel and other controversial leaders such as Hugo Chavez.
However, the reaction from the anti-Castro Cuban community was particularly fierce on this occasion because earlier controversial comments were not made while Guillen was the manager for the Marlins. Said another way, these comments were aggravated by the Floridian context of the situation. As summarized by Dan Le Batard in his critique of Guillen’s statements, “Given what the customer base is for the Marlins…given that Ozzie Guillen was hired to be a Latin voice and face for a team that would represent Miami, this is the worst possible thing that Ozzie Guillen could have said…”
Organized Cuban American advocacy groups in Miami, particularly Vigilia Mambisa, announced that it would boycott and demonstrate against Guillen until he was removed from his position as manager. The Marlins issued an official statement clarifying their fervent anti-Castro stance—calling him “a brutal dictator who has caused unthinkable pain for more than 50 years”—and Floridian politician Rene Garcia voiced his expectation that Guillen would be punished for his comments. Guillen quickly issued an apology for his statements, even flying back to Miami (from Cincinnati, where the Marlins were playing) on the team’s day off to answer personally to the questions of the Miami community. He said he felt “sad” and “guilty” and like he had “betrayed his Latin community,” and clarified his opinion of Fidel: “I want them to know I’m against everything 100 percent—I repeat it again—the way this man [has been] treating people for the last 60 years.” Guillen was suspended
All of this formed part of the immediate uproar and development of the controversy surrounding Guillen’s comments, and the situation is a quintessential example of the power dynamics in Miami. It speaks to the ways in which the Anti-Castro Cuban American community is capable of ensure that its political views permeate and influence both cultural and economic spheres in Miami . As Le Batard summarized, “You’ve got very loud, very powerful, very influential Cubans who want him fired…[the] pain of the older generation of Cubans—it’s loud, it’s strong, in Miami.”
Like in so many other instances, this demonstration of the Cuban American community’s power was not lost on Cubans. Julita Osendi, a well-known sports anchor in Cuba, closed her comments on the issue saying, “How does the much-ballyhooed ‘yankee’ freedom of expression look now?” And given the way Guillen had to “humiliate himself to the core to try to keep his job,” it is not a stretch to say that the whole scandal could be read as a questionable limitation of free speech. Indeed, it seems that a few native Cubans in Major League Baseball also sensed some sort of overreaction or injustice in the reaction of the Cuban American community. Alexei Ramirez, a Cuban shortstop for the White Sox, said “Everyone has their opinion…people should be forgiven. So if he’s going to apologize…hopefully, he’ll be accepted.” When asked to comment on the issue, the Cuban-born manager of the Atlanta Braves, Fredi Gonzalez, expressed similar thoughts saying, “hopefully he can win those people [the Cuban Americans of Miami] back somehow.” And a quick browse through some of the many hundreds of blog posts, comments, and articles on the issue express similar or more drastic thoughts about questions of limitations to freedom of expression.
If nothing else, the entire commotion demonstrates the way in which Cuban-American relations, even in cultural realms like sports, cannot be separated from the antagonisms that characterize the political relations between the two countries. Additionally, it serves as another example of the influence of the Cuban American community in Miami and its questionable use of that influence.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.