‘You Created a Warrior,’ Says the Cuban Baseball Player Who Lost His Father on His Journey to the United States

Miguel Camacho and his father, Rolando, left the island in February and Rolando was killed in a traffic accident in Managua. (Collage)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2022 — “I’m going to fulfill what I promised you,” was the message Cuban baseball player Miguel Camacho wrote to his father when confirming his arrival in the United States on Thursday. Rolando ’Roly’ Camacho died on the journey on February 7, in a traffic accident on the Pan-American highway, near the municipality of Tipitapa and near the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, in Managua, Nicaragua.

Roly was the pitching coach in Mayabeque and had left the Island at the beginning of February in the company of his son, who has the abilities to seek an opportunity in the Major Leagues. On the way to the US, they arrived in Managua and boarded a vehicle headed for the municipality of Jalapa, near the border with Honduras, according to the news site TN8.

“A speeding truck crossed into the lane and was crashed against the car where he was traveling. The alleged culprit fled,” posted the friend of the athletes, Nelson De La Rosa Rodríguez. “Migue was with him. Thank God he was not physically injured, but he is emotionally devastated.”

Since last November when Nicaragua announced the abolition of visas for Cubans, thousands of desperate travelers packed the offices of airlines such as Conviasa and Copa Airlines to get a ticket to Managua.

Seventeen days after the tragedy, Miguel Camacho fulfilled his goal of reaching the United States and thanked his father for his teachings. “You created a warrior. Those who never surrender.”

Already in the United States, “Camacho will seek to sign a professional contract and fulfill his father’s legacy,” says journalist Francys Romero, recalling that the player “played in four National Series with the Hurricanes of Mayabeque.” And, on the Mayabeque teams Facebook wall, “Los Hurricanes” posted a space to wish the 22-year-old baseball player success.

This Thursday it was confirmed that the players who left the island in November 2021, Darlin Jimenez and Gustavo Urgellés , “are already in Mexico,” according to Romero, “they had a two-month stay in Russia before joining Brian Chi.”

Jímenez posted an offensive line of .329/.390/.471, six doubles, two triples and five RBIs in the 60th National Series with Granma. “This performance pushed him to be included in Cuba’s pre-roster for the U-23 World Cup in Mexico in October,” the communicator said. “Urgellés is a catcher who joined Cuban teams in children’s categories and later participated in the U-15 Pan American Games in Mexico.”

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