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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

As Ozzie Guillen Learned the Hard Way, Cuba Still Matters

As Ozzie Guillen Learned the Hard Way, Cuba Still Matters
By Jay Newton-Small | @JNSmall | April 10, 2012 | 5

If Ozzie Guillen, the new manager of the Miami Marlins, had professed
his love for Fidel Castro in any other part of the country, he probably
wouldn't have been suspended for five games, as the team announced
today. On the other hand, the Marlin's new stadium is smack in the
middle of Little Havana, so there's probably some local appeasement to
be done and Guillen, who is from Venezuela, was originally brought in to
help appeal to Cuban Americans.

Still, the uproar that Guillen's remarks have made across the U.S. in
the 48 hours since TIME published the interview, has been striking. Who
knew that Cuba was still such a big issue for Americans outside of
Florida? Sure, 40 years ago in the height of the Cold War the prospect
of Russians 90 miles off the coast of Florida was scary. But the
Russians are no longer much of a threat, or even much in Cuba any more
if you don't count tourists from Minsk. And Cuba – which had a per
capita income of $9,900 in 2010 making it one of the poorest nations in
the Western Hemisphere — is hardly a regional or international threat
these days: It's most dangerous exports are cigars, rum and The
Buenavista Social Club.

So, it's striking that a baseball manager's comments can still move
Americans, few of whom even remember a Cuba without a Castro at its
helm. Outside of the Israel lobby, no single interest group has held
such sway over American foreign policy. The fact that we still have an
embargo against Cuba is because of the one million Cuban Americans in
Florida who sometimes, though increasingly less so, can swing the
crucial swing state. Not even Iowa holds as much power: In January
Congress finally did away with ethanol subsidies that has made Des
Moines rich in the last decade. And yet, for the sake of property taken
by Fidel Castro held by Cuban Americans – most of whom have since died
out or left Cuba so young they don't remember it – we still have an
embargo against the Caribbean nation 52 years on. Which is partly why
Guillen's comments went from:

"I love Fidel Castro… I respect Fidel Castro, you know why? A lot
of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but
that motherf****r is still here."

To:

"What I meant in Spanish, I was talking in Spanish, was that I
cannot believe somebody who hurt so many people over the years is still
alive… I apologize to the people here to everyone who's looking at me."

I've been hard pressed to think of another world leader a sports figure
could admire that would cause such a tempest. Perhaps if Taiwanese
American Jeremy Lin praised Mao Zedong? Or if Zimbabwean track and field
star Ngonidzashe Makusha extolled the virtues of Robert Mugabe? No,
such occurrences would be puzzling and perplexing, but would probably
not rank above a blurb on ESPN Zone. This comes, surely not
coincidentally, at a time when U.S. policies towards Cuba are
liberalizing; a genuine sign that the old order really is shifting. But
things happen only so fast: the old regime is not ready to praise Castro
quite yet.

http://swampland.time.com/2012/04/10/as-ozzie-guillen-learned-the-hard-way-cuba-still-matters/

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