But Human Traffickers Love it!!
Cubans in Cuba verily love baseball and, per capita, produce the best baseball players in the world...as indicated by the island's historic dominance of baseball in the Olympics and, despite the everlasting U. S. embargo/blockade of Cuba since 1962, Cuba still produces far more than its share of U. S. Major League players, including four superstar hitters in the batting order of the Chicago White Sox, one of this month's World Series favorites. But back in May of this year the U. S. hosted the pre-Qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics in South Florida. Even before he walked through the door of his hotel in West Palm Beach, Cuba's best player, Cesar Prieto, jumped into a running and waiting car and was whisked to points unknown, apparently by the expected human traffickers. So Cuba's baseball didn't qualify for the Tokyo Olympics but still sent enough athletes in other sports to finish 14th in the overall medal Olympic medal count, including 5 Gold Medals.
Last week Cuba sent 24 players to the 12-nation U-23 Baseball World CUP in Mexico. Not surprisingly, human traffickers were waiting to whisk about Cuba's best players again...surely the ones that might be able to sign lucrative U. S. contracts or just to belittle Cuba by whisking away as many players as they could. Yet, as the defections mounted, Cuba still won 4 straight games, including a 6-to-2 victory over the Dominican Republic that put Cuba in the Super Round.
Then after Cuba came from 5-0 down to register a scintillating 9-8 walk-off 9-to-8 victory over Panama, the depleted Cuban team joined Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia as the Four Teams to advance to the Medal Round in the U-23 Baseball World CUP in Mexico. And Cuba played valiantly tonight -- Saturday, October 2-2021 -- but lost 5-to-3 in the game that decided the Bronze Medal.
By the time Cuba lost the Bronze Medal game 5-to-3 to Colombia tonight in Mexico, the team that started with 24 players had lost nine key players to defections. The 9th defection was 22-year-old right-handed pitching ace Bryan Chi Montoya, who had been the ace pitcher for island's most famed team, the renowned Havana Industriales.
Yes, ace Cuban right-handed pitcher Bryan Chi was the 9th player that defected in Mexico prior to Cuba's 5-3 loss to Colombia in the Bronze Medal {3rd place} game tonight in Mexico in the 12-nation U-23 Baseball World CUP. Cuba considers such defections a product of the U. S. Blockade that has evolved from the U. S. Embargo that began in 1962 for the stated purpose to starving, depriving, and making miserable Cubans on the island to induce them to overthrow their revolutionary government. Of course, since 1962 the Embargo-Blockade hasn't overturned Revolutionary Cuba but it surely has starved, deprived, and made miserable a lot of Cubans on the island while also enriching and empowering a lot of Cubans in the United States. Of course, there have been thousands of prime examples of that fact. And on October 2nd-2021 Bryan Chi became yet another example.
Throughout the Under-23 World Baseball CUP in Mexico, Cuban sportscasters had covered the event with honest live reports and live coverage of the televised games...and defections...that were beamed back to Cuba. In the broadcast above the Cuban manager, Eniel Sanchez, said: "I am so proud of my players, especially for the 6-2 win over the Dominican Republic. But through it all as the defections mounted and reached nine, my players still played their hearts out right to the last out in tonight's 5-3 loss to Colombia. We are all aware that the incentives all Cuban athletes face to defect by human traffickers backed by the U. S. government and by the U. S. media are profound. We all are also aware that the U. S. Major Leagues and the Cuban Baseball Federation signed a legitimate and sane deal in which Cuban players could be signed and treated like players from all other countries. But, of course, as soon as the MLB and CBF leaders had signed that agreement, Rubio and the other Cubans in the U. S. Congress easily and quickly ended the agreement, to the delight of the human trafficker's and counter-revolutionary Cubans who revel in such things. But please let me say again, I am proud of Cuba and I am proud of the players I had here in Mexico for this excellent baseball event."
And of course, since 1962 Americans have been programmed to believe that the image above is a nice depiction of America and its Democracy.
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