14ymedio, Havana, 16 February 2023 — The National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) still has not managed to connect a good hit with the “new forms of economic management” that they have intended to implement in the Latin American Stadium since October 2021. According to the vice president of Inder, Omar Venegas Echemendía, the objective is to recover strategic spaces that have been lost at the headquarters of Havana’s baseball team, the Industriales.
Venegas spoke this Wednesday of the “step from the Latin American Stadium, to a budgeted unit with special treatment,” a management model in which the Coloso del Cerro, as the property is known, must generate 30% of its budget, while the other 70% will be provided by the sports organization.
The official did nothing more than summarize part of the speech from almost 16 months ago by the president of the Cuban Baseball Federation, Juan Reinaldo Pérez, about an “experimental” model that will now be applied for a year to “evaluate its feasibility.”
For this strategy, according to Venegas, “various services will be hired,” without indicating which ones, “a store specializing in sports paraphenalia will be opened” and they intend to “link the Latin American Stadium with tourism.”
Almost two years ago, there was talk of “opening the door” to ” MSMEs (small and medium sized private businesses) and cooperatives to present projects focused on shared benefits,” but apparently the hook was not as attractive as the sports authorities thought.
With the 62nd National Baseball Series, which will begin on March 22, with the first stage ending on June 3, the Latin American Stadium must show the management changes and improve the food and drink on offer for Cuban baseball fans, currently reeling from the lack of results in tournaments abroad and the flight of players.
The Latin American Stadium, which last October was declared a National Heritage, was built in 1946 and remained for more than 60 years with hardly any modifications. It was in 2014, according to a construction worker speaking 14ymedio, that the poor conditions of “the sanitary services, the hydraulic system and especially the roof” forced its remodeling.
During the repairs, new warm-up areas were defined at the bottom of the dugouts, the old batting cages were removed and the foul ball area was expanded.
On the other hand, the Island continues to lose players. Ronald Elías Terrero, who was part of the Cuban team in the Under-15 World Cup that took place in Mexico last September, is already in the Dominican Republic. According to the journalist Francys Romero, the athlete is from Isla de la Juventud and is 15 years old. “After September he will apply for free agency” in search of a major league team.
The baseball player is training in San Pedro de Macorís at the renowned Fernando Tatis Academy. With Terrero there are now nine Under-15 baseball players who have left Cuba. The other eight are Alejandro Prieto, Segian Pérez, Ernest Machado, Dulieski Ferrán, Alex Acosta, Jonathan Valle, Christian de Jésus Zamora and Yosniel Menéndez.
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