October 23, 2005
Something poignant in Las Martinas
I'm listening to the World Series just to see if I can hear of Jose Contreras doing his best in the game, and thus far, his White Sox team seems to be in the lead. Perhaps it won't be Jose this night, but another pitcher. Maybe Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez, his fellow Cuban. For me, this is all new stuff. But no matter who on this particular night, everyone wants to know how the Sox and the Astros are doing. It's a big match. Here is a fun blog for Sox fans.
Meanwhile, a fierce storm is pounding Cuba. News accounts say 20- or 30-foot waves are hitting the western coast, and a savage tornado spun off from the hurricane and blew away 20 houses in already-impoverished Pinar del Rio in the last hours. A whole fishing village is underwater. Havana is on alert for huge storm surges. Matanzas is on hurricane alert. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have been evacuated. The second hurricane, Alpha, is now hitting the the Dominican Republic. The outer edges of the storm is expected to hit the Florida Keys in about three hours.
Amid this, there is one family I am thinking of. Out in Las Martinas, in Pinar del Rio, the family of Jose Contreras, is either fleeing the monster storm with the others, or desperately trying to get a radio signal. After all, this is the great moment for one of their own, Jose Contreras, who plays on the Sox team, which is playing tonight. I don't see any news media accounts about what this family is doing, but I hope they don't miss this entire game due to either the scornful hate and pettiness of the castro regime, or the force of Mother Nature. I hope they somehow catch some of this game, whether Contreras is playing or not.
El Duque's family is from Villa Clara - they too are on hurricane watch and under the same pressured conditions as Los Contreras family.
castro's scorn for what in any other country would be a cause for pride shows what a monster he is. If it were any other country, the Contreras family would be invited to the presidential palace to come watch the game. Instead, the family is struggling to get a signal in a hurricane. But this, from Orlando Sentinel writer David Whitley, pretty much explains all we need to know:
Since seizing power in 1959, Castro's love of sport has been second only to his love of cigars.
Cuba's Olympic teams reap far more gold per capita than most countries.
For Castro, athletic achievement proves the superiority of his political system. So when the country's pre-eminent athlete bolts for America, it's not a great endorsement for El Presidente's philosophy.
You can just picture the queasy scene at the TV room at the Presidential Palace Saturday night. ...
Contreras wasn't overpowering, but the 38-year-old was good enough for Cuba's stealth favorite team, the Chicago White Sox. Somewhere in the mountains of Cuba, Humberto Contreras and his friends were leaning close to a radio and smiling.
And try though he might, there was nothing El Presidente could do about it.
Posted by Mora at October 23, 2005 09:21 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.babalublog.com/cgi-bin/mt/hut.cgi/2415
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Something poignant in Las Martinas:
» Redemption For 'Shoeless' Joe? from Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator
The World Series begins Saturday night and the Chicago White Sox who have not won a championship sin [Read More]
Tracked on October 23, 2005 09:31 PM
» Monday Morning Links from Jeff Quinton - Backcountry Conservative
I'm on fall break so I'm going to take a trip around my blogroll this morning and link to some news items. James Joyner discusses the pending overhaul of Fort Campbell. Gene at Say Anything discusses secondhand smoke and political... [Read More]
Tracked on October 24, 2005 10:26 AM
