'Down with Fidel' sign sparks international incident
World Baseball Classic Cuban official lectured on free speech
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- While Cuba played the Netherlands in the
World Baseball Classic, a spectator in the stands raised a sign saying:
"Down With Fidel," sparking an international incident that escalated
Friday with fastball velocity.
The image of the man holding the sign behind home plate was beamed live
Thursday night to millions of TV viewers -- including those in Cuba. The
top Cuban official at the game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan
rushed to confront the man.
Puerto Rican police quickly intervened and took the Cuban official --
Angel Iglesias, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports --
to a nearby police station where they lectured him about free speech.
"We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free
expression exists and that it is not a crime," police Col. Adalberto
Mercado was quoted as saying in El Nuevo Dia, a San Juan daily.
The incident gathered steam Friday when Cuba's Communist Party
newspaper, Granma, called the sign-waving "a cowardly incident." Cuba's
Revolutionary Sports Movement exhorted Cubans to demonstrate in Havana
late Friday, saying U.S. and Puerto Rican authorities were involved in
"the cynical counterrevolutionary provocations."
An anti-Castro Web site, therealcuba.com, identified the protester only
as Enrique, and carried his own account of the incident.
Enrique said that during the warm-up before the game, he flashed another
sign denouncing Castro -- this one saying "Baseball players yes, Tyrants
no" -- to the Cuban leader's son, Tony Castro, who is the Cuban team doctor.
"He looked down and kept walking and I shouted 'Eso es para tu papa'
(That is for your dad). ... I know he heard that," Enrique said,
according to the account in the Web site.
Mercado said the spectator, and a second one who also waved signs, had
tickets for the section behind home plate, but had moved out of their
seats so their signs would appear on the TV cameras. Cuban state TV was
showing the ESPN signal and the signs were briefly visible on television
in Cuba.
Police later told the pair to return to their seats, Mercado said,
adding that Iglesias was never under arrest.
"The Cubans were upset with the incident that happened last night, and
they want to make sure it doesn't happen again," said John Blundell,
spokesman of Major League Baseball, which helped establish the
tournament. "We are doing everything that we can to ensure the safety of
fans and the delegations."
Cuba downed the Netherlands 11-2. Cuba has also beat Panama in the first
round of competition and was playing Puerto Rico Friday night.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/03/10/puerto.rico.baseball.sign.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
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