Cuban exile baseball players say MLB commissioner is complicit with the Castro dictatorship

It appears the MLB continues its support of Cuba’s communist dictatorship by seeking a deal with the murderous regime in Havana to purchase enslaved baseball players.

Via CubaNet (my translation):

Cuban exile baseball players denounce the complicity between MLB and the regime

The Association of Cuban Professional Baseball Players (ACPBP) criticized recent statements by Major League Baseball over the possibility of including a team of current and former major league players who defected from Cuba to represent the island nation in the next World Baseball Classic.

“In the last few hours some painful news has come to light regarding the efforts by the ACPBP. In not so many words, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred lied to us when he promised to hold exhibition games between our independent team and teams from the U.S., Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico in Marlins Park at the next World Baseball Classic in March of 2023,” said a statement from the ACPBP posted on social media.

The statement explains that two weeks earlier, the MLB was talking to them about “a possible momentous announcement that would be made during the All-Star Game, but asked that they keep their silence about it”

“In reality, Manfred and the MLB were negotiating with the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), as was confirmed on Cuban television by its president, Juan Reinaldo Perez,” said the ACPBP.

They accused Manfred of complicity “with an entity that is in no way independent and that is nothing more than the sports arm of the Cuban dictatorship.”

“We’re alerting Cuban American senators and representatives about the possibility that a new deal between the MLB and the FCB is brewing after the conditions that quashed the last attempt at an agreement have not changed. We call on the media and all our supporters to speak out. The MLB was seeking the exact opposite of our efforts when it told us to keep things quiet,” said the statement.

Continue reading (in Spanish) HERE.