HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 12 (ACN) In a document submitted today to the national press at the Latin American Stadium, the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) expresses its rejection of the purposes of the self-named Association of Cuban Professional Baseball Players (ACPBP), which recently was created in Miami, Florida.
According to the statement, the top Cuban baseball entity has learned, through the press media, about the creation of the ACPBP, which has recognized that its objectives are political and not sporting.
One of its first actions consists of pressuring Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association to steal the place that rightfully belongs to the Cuban national baseball team in the next World Baseball Classic 2023, the FCB denounces.
This purpose, it warns, goes against the rules in force for participation in international sporting events and, in the unhappy attempt to present justification reasons, truths well known by the managers of this operation with indisputable political and economic interests are deliberately omitted.
The ACPBP tries to ignore that the World Classic is not unrelated to the WBSC and that Cuba, under the auspices of the FCB, attends since its first version disputed in 2006, and has assured presence under such precepts for the 2023 event, by its own results.
Supporters of the ACPBP now try to avoid referring to the real reasons for the failure to maintain mutually beneficial relations between the FCB and the MLB.
The statement also indicates that, in this regard, it is important to remember that several of the spokespersons of the ACPBP are the same people who viciously attacked the Agreement signed by the FCB and the MLB, in order to guarantee the regular flow of players from Cuba to that circuit and to promote other actions of common interest.
We ratify the decision to maintain a constructive and respectful dialogue with players from our country playing in other circuits, including the MLB, FCB affirms.
We will continue working to facilitate the return of athletes to our national series and the presence of some of them in the national team, such as the one that participated in the Pre-Olympic of the Americas. These and others may be taken into account for the team that we will conform for the Classic.
In a country where baseball is part of its national identity, the Cuban Baseball Federation will remain committed to the history of our sport and to its athletes in the defense of their rights, it concludes.
