Venezuelan Baseball is Crippled (Update)
Happy New Year !
Not in Venezuela, where since
early December the Venezuelan
Winter League is “out of business”
because of the political chaos
in that country.
By Amaury Pi-GonzálezIn Venezuela, as we speak, thousands
of people have taken to the streets
and have declared a General Strike
against the unpopular government
headed by Hugo Chávez. Many have
been killed in the streets and many
more have ben wounded as the people
of Venezuela are revolting against
Hugo Chávez. They are asking Chávez
to resign/leave power and therefore
their country to held free elections.
Chávez tendencies are Marxist, hence
his very good relationship with Cuba’s
dictator Fidel Castro. Cuba is the only
government in this hemisphere that
has pledge to support the Chávez
government in their fight to maintain
power.
Last time Cuba (population 11 million)
sent troops outside the island was in
the 1980’S during the fiasco in Angola.
But Cuba is in no situation this time
to repeat that. Because Cuba is a
dictatorship, you will never see
demostrations in the streets of
Havana, when Castro send his
troops abroad). And also Cuba is
in the worse shape economically
that they have ever been in their
history since they declared their
independence from Spain in 1902.
Baseball is the only think “working”
in Cuba since comunism in that
island has been a royal failure.
Consider that most countries
in the world have relations and do
bussines with Cuba, yet Cuba’s
peso is not even in the finantial
radar worldwide. Castro has
been there for 43 years but he
cannot blame everything on the
American embargo or in the
tourists from Berkeley that visit
the island each year !
Cubans have free education and
free medical) but for that they
traded their soul to Fidel.
How many of you Democrats,
Republicans or Independents
will tell the US government,
yes I will trade free medical,
free education(including college)
but I can never be the owner
of my business, or travel freely
outside the US or say and write
what I want ?
In Cuba there is ONLY
one employer, the government.
Hugo Chávez has slated some of
his government early programs very
similar of those to Castro’s Cuba
and the people in Venezuela
are not swinging at Chávez
pitches (to use a baseball methaphor).
Even baseball is not that great in
Cuba, if you have a doubt ask
recently signed by the Yankees
Cuban pitcher José Contreras,
considered the best pitcher in
Cuba. He ask for political exile
while the Cuban National Baseball
team was playing a tournament
in Méjico last year. Contreras said
about defecting Cuba for the US:
“it is not the money only, in Cuba
I am owned by the government until
I die, I didn’t want to live like that”.
So, Chávez government reforms
similar to those of Cuba are not
working otherwise he would
have a very happy country and
that is not what I see on CNN
every day.
The Venezuelan Winter
League is cancelled until at least
the 10th of January and the 15th
of January would be the “last day”
to save the season.
Venezuela was hoping to send a
champion to this year’s 59th
edition of the Caribbean World
Series to be held in Puerto Rico
February 2 – 8. But the situation in
Venezuela is so bad, that the powers-
to-be in baseball are afraid for
the security of the players and
the fans.
The two teams that finished in
first place this 2002-2003 season
are Caracas 23-16 and Aragua
28-11. One solution could be
to declare these teams their
division champions, Caracas
(East) Aragua (West) to have a
short playoff and to send the
winner in time for the CWS in
Puerto Rico.
One organizer in Puerto Rico
told me just days prior to
Christmas 02″ “we will have
a Series in Puerto Rico regardless”.
I don’t think the CWS could be
played with only three countries,
it should be the regular four:
México,Puerto Rico,Dominican
Republic and Venezuela.
Puerto Rico could loose millions
of dollars if the 2003 CWS is
cancelled and as good olde Charles
O Finley used to say” money talks
bullshit walks”… I think at the
end there will be a Caribbean
World Series this year in
Puerto Rico. Unless Bud Selig
gets involved and he will
declare the Caribbean World
Series a tie !
After the CWS a lot of players
report to Spring Training in
Florida and Arizona. One of
those players is American
League MVP and A’S shortstop
Miguel Tejada who is presently
playing for the Aguilas del
Escogido of the Dominican
Republic. Tejada’s team, the
Licey Tigers who have won the
last four Dominican Winter
titles and have a total of eight
Caribbean World Series titles
(the most by any team/country)
was eliminated. But Tejada
was picked up as reinforcement
of the Aguilas team.
Venezuela is South America
#1 producer of baseball and
#1 producer of Oil (also in
South America) at the present
time with the General Strike and
the chaos in the streets of
that country baseball and
oil are both in very bad
shape. When I say South America
I mean the continent, since
Cuba,Puerto Rico,Dominican
Republic are Caribbean nations
and Mexico geographically is
not South America.
I have an easy prediction to
make. Baseball in Venezuela
will survive, but Hugo Chávez
is another story. As we all can
see in all newsrooms accross
America the top three foreign
stories are(in this order)
1-Posible war in Iraq
2-Tense situation in North Korea
3-Chaos in Venezuela
I will keep readers of this site
up-to-date on the Venezuelan
crisis. But If you really want to
see with your own eyes,
day-to-day, all you have to do
is watch the first 10 minutes or
so of international news on any
Television local or network station.
Hasta la vista amigos !
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