At a World Baseball Classic game Thursday in Puerto Rico featuring Cuba vs. the Netherlands--a game being broadcast in several countries, including Cuba--a fan behind home plate held up a large sign, in full view of tv cameras, which said "Abajo Fidel!" (Down with Fidel).Four Cuban officials, including the vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports, Angel Iglesias, rushed the fan and attempted to subdue him and wrest the sign away by force.
Puerto Rican police intervened and took the Cuban officials to a nearby police station, where were lectured about free speech.
"We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free expression exists and that it is not a crime," said police Colonel Adalberto Mercado. The fan was not removed from the stadium.
Cuban state TV was showing the ESPN signal and the anti-Castro signs were briefly visible on television in that country. 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."Puerto Rico routed Cuba 12-2 in a game Friday night, showing that they may have an edge in athleticism as well as in basic human rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment