Steven’s Cuba Blog

U.S. Treasury - Major League Morons

December 15, 2005 at 12:47 pm | In Current Events, Culture |

I learned via just a minute man that the U.S. treasury has finally decided that Cuba can’t play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. It blows my mind that they would make such a stupid call; actually, no, it doesn’t. Could you just imagine how awesome it would be if the Cuban team played and beat the Americans, on their home turf no less?

Seriously… what could possibly be the justification for disallowing Cuba to play? Citing the completely idiotic embargo doesn’t do much to add credibility to the Treasury Department’s case; there isn’t a great financial interest for Cuba or for Cuban nationals to participate. It’s a sport, but once again the U.S. government seems intent on infecting the rest of the world with its misguided, malevolent politicking. It would be in the interest of both countries if Cuba participated in the tournament, as the U.S. would be applauded for its diplomatic gesture, and Cuba would have added exposure and credibility on the world stage (something which, obviously, the U.S. won’t stand for).

It’s not America’s blind hatred of Cuba and all things Castro that leads to idiotic outcomes like this; every U.S. government in recent memory has had to cater to the immensely powerful Miami Cuban exile community, or severely cripple their chances of winning an election. The way the districts are divided in the U.S., it’s nearly impossible to win an election without their support.

Funny to think that if the electoral system was shaped just a little differently in the United States, Cuba would be allowed to be play baseball in a supposedly international tournament.

Hmmm… this post was supposed to be about baseball, wasn’t it? I guess the Cubans I’ve met are right when they say that “every conversation eventually degenerates into politics”, and my blog is obviously no exception…
Let them play!

Update:

Canadian International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said yesterday that U.S. bids to play host to future Olympic Games will be damaged by the Bush administration’s decision to prevent Cuba from playing in next year’s inaugural World Baseball Classic.

[…]

“Certainly it’s important for any country that’s bidding for the Games to be able to represent with confidence that athletes and coaches from around the world will be able to come to their country.”

[…]

“Sports should be separated from politics,” U.S. Soccer Federation president Bob Contiguglia said. “That’s been a FIFA and an IOC philosophy, and we concur with that philosophy. In soccer, we’ve played Cuba in sport on many occasions and it’s never been a problem. We’ve had teams go to Cuba and they’ve come here. So it seems kind of short-sighted that the administration would do that.”