By E. Javier Hernández H.
In a previous post we talked about Cuban Immobility (stagnation), an issue that has many sides, or as we say in “good Cuban”: “There is a lot of fabric to be cut.”
The issue of civil rights in different sectors of our society has been analyzed by many compatriots. But I want to refer specifically to sports, where despite little public information, people know the avatars and the suffering of the Cuban athletes, the few rights they have, and the great immobility that distinguishes its managers in holding back our sports system.
For our athletes the questions are: When do they stop paying for their career in sports? Who reviews their contracts and enforces its terms? If Revolutionary Sport is a unified thing, why are some hired and compete with professional, and earn awards, and others cannot?
The immobility and mutilation of rights border on the absurd; in team sports to reach the rank of cadet or youth participants, the athletes have no championships or regular leagues within the county, holding back their development by being unable to compete in international clubs, a normal practice accepted around the world.Rarely do we remember that athletes are the most selfless, pressured, monitored and manipulated, especially with regards to contacts with their counterparts in other countries.
A few may earn hard currency for their activities and without their consent their bank accounts are emptied for “collective goals”. Nobody reacts to defend the athlete. Neither those who run the programs nor the “eternal seconds” who spend the year traveling, talking politics, but never sports.
To accept the changes and respect the rights mentioned, sports talent as a profession would become an unimaginable monetary income generator for the country.
Finally again we have the relationship of citizen-constitution-civil rights. While this “three-category” democracy is not real, tangible, sustainable, Cubans, and within them our athletes, continue to suffer discrimination.
We remember that these people are unique in nature, are born with their talent and in some cases come around once in many years, while being humble, modest, giving us great satisfaction. In gratitude, we must help them.
September 22 2012
