By Amaury Pi-González
Randy Arozarena plays left field for the 2020 American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays; he recently won the Most Valuable Player Award when his team eliminated the Houston Astros last week. Today, Arozarena is playing in the World Series. But his journey to this land of freedom was not easy, as you will find here.
He was born in Pinar del Río, the Westernmost province of Cuba, one of the six provinces of the largest island in the Caribbean. That region is famous for growing the best and most famous cigars in the world, across many decades since Cuba was a colony of Spain. Because of the current system of government, communism, with no free-trade or private ownership, the Cuban cigar enjoyed their best days in the past. Now the Dominican Republic can claim their cigars are just as good, if not better. So the Cuban cigar, barely survives by its reputation of days gone by.
Arozarena played fúbol (soccer) but he was a very good baseball player in Cuba. He played for the Vaqueros (Cowboys) team in Cuba. His journey to the United States began in 2015, as he was playing for the Vaqueros, but was cut from the team just before they left to Puerto Rico to represent his country in the Caribbean Series. Why? Because the Cuban authorities feared he was going to defect the island, like most Cuban players currently playing in MLB have done.
He was a very good player in Cuba with very good numbers; he was not cut because he wasn’t good. Note: To this day after 60 years of the Communist Revolution in Cuba, no Cuban citizen is allowed to leave the country freely, unless is a government official a diplomat or in many cases sports clubs representing the country in tournaments around the world. In the past entertainers/musicians were allowed to leave to other countries for concerts, but that has also changed. Cuba is basically a closed society.
It was then in 2015 after the team in Cuba cut him from going to Puerto Rico that Arozarena decided to defect. He left the island in a small raft and headed to the West, towards the Gulf of México, a very dangerous journey in shark infested waters, which took him 8 hours to arrive to Isla de Mujeres, a small island of the coast of the famous tourist beach resort of Cancún. There in México the Mexican government granted him political exile. His family lives now in Mérida, México, his brother plays fúbol/soccer for the Cafetaleros de Chiapa. He talks to them all the time on the phone, says he plans to join them there where he is planning to live.
In an interview he gave to the New York Times, the young Cuban Arozarena: “I will not represent Cuba until things there change” and “the only thing that ties me to Cuba is my family and friends and country” plus “The situation in Cuba is bad” and added he hopes the situation changes for the Cuban people and for the Cuban baseball players.
As dangerous journey as Randy Arozarena had to endure to arrive in the US, this is common to many Cuban-born players currently playing baseball in the Major Leagues and all over the world. However (like most baseball players anyplace) their dream is to play in MLB, the best professional baseball league in the world.
I never forgot what the great Orestes (Minnie) Miñoso once told me. “When I came to the Major Leagues from Cuba in the late 1940’s I could travel in and out of the island, I lived in Cuba, but played mostly for the White Sox in Chicago, but these Cuban kids arriving since after the revolution had to go through many difficult situations before they achieve their dream”.
Perhaps one of the most incredible stories of defection by a Cuban player is that of ex-major league player Kendrys Morales, after trying and failing to defect 12 times, three of which landed him on three-day stints in prison when he was caught, finally was able to take a small rowboat to a larger vessel which then took him to the United States. He told me that story while he was playing with the LA Angels and is well documented and reported by many news agencies.
Amnesty International a reputable non-profit organization that specializes in human rights violations reports that Cuba remained mostly closed to independent human rights monitors. The government of Cuba does not allow its citizens to freely express their views, especially if they are negative to the government. Finally: There have not been free elections in Cuba for over 60 years, since the current government took power. Cuba’s government condemns free-market capitalism, yet the founder of the revolution, Fidel Castro died with close to $1 billion dollar fortune according to Forbes Magazine, who specializes in money issues.
Stay well and stay tuned.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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