The authorities also announced the cancellation of the U23 Tournament due to lack of resources
14ymedio, Havana, October 25, 2024 — The official media of Sancti Spíritus, Escambray, justified this Friday the decision of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) to postpone the two most important baseball competitions at the national level due to the crisis. As the newspaper explained, in the context of the “economic war” in which the Island lives, carrying out the III Elite League and the 64th National Series would be “counterproductive.”
Escambray recalled that, after the announcement on October 14 of the calendar change, many sports fans demanded that the Elite League – celebrated at the end of the year – be rescheduled for next March and the National Series for a year from now. For the media, however, the change of date is nothing extraordinary, because the events require “important logistics of all kinds that the country can’t manage today.”
In that sense, at least, the state newspaper went deeper into the causes to postpone the games than Inder, which did not dedicate a word to the deep economic crisis. “It is incoherent to carry out an event that has not yet shown its validity after resuming, at least not in a country that is debating how to share a drop of fuel between electricity generation and ambulances, that can’t guarantee rice and sugar in the family basket or the supplies to produce food, not to mention the medicine that is missing in the pharmacy,” Escambray said, referring to the Elite League.
The events require important logistics of all kinds, which the country cannot manage today
Given that scenario, the media adds, “baseball and any sporting event, even a cultural one, are not priorities.” In fact, he advises that this tournament be suspended until the country’s conditions allow it and makes an unfortunate comparison, by giving as an example the Olympic Games, which canceled three editions due to world wars – conflicts that, taken together, left about 85 million dead – and the case of Tokyo 2020, which was postponed a year due to the pandemic. “As far as I know, the Elite Baseball League doesn’t compare on any scale of importance to those events,” he says.
With the “few resources that the country has,” the article continues, the National Series could be developed, “which demands an even stronger logistical scaffolding and which is, in short, Cuba’s main sociocultural event.”
Postponing the date will have several consequences. One of them is the statistics, since there will not be a National Series until 2026. Therefore, there will be no winner in 2025. In addition, “it is too long a downtime for one of the few recreational reliefs in the nation,” explains Escambray, which estimates that it will mean at least five months without baseball on the Island.
There is no way to distract yourself or disconnect from the problems that the Cuban has day after day
In the comment section of the Cubadebate article about the Inder’s announcement, Cubans also made clear their discontent: “In all that time until March 2025, fans will not be able to enjoy the national pastime. There is no way to distract yourself or disconnect from the problems that the Cuban has day after day. Very bad decision, really,” says a user.
The negative announcements of the authorities about the sport did not end there. On October 15, during the preparation of the team of players to compete in the Premier 12 tournament, Juan Reynaldo Pérez, president of the Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation, reported that the National U23 Tournament was canceled because half the provinces “are not in a position to develop it.” The reason: the event depends on the local budget, and there are no funds.
“This is the second consecutive time that the U23 suspends its national championship for reasons of money. You can’t do something that contributes to the development of the youngest players in the country, but you do have to play a non-professional Elite League anyway in March, whose objectives are still very questionable,” criticized sports journalist Yasel Porto.
Last Wednesday, Porto also reported on the economic problems experienced by the Industriales of Havana team. According to him, the members have not received their salaries for more than two months. In his message, alluding to the authorities, the journalist added: “Let’s see if someone notices this and at least feels a little ashamed.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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