Cuban Sports: Saved by Capitalism?
Pettavino, Paula
Any mention of the island of Cuba conjures up images of many things: lush beaches covered with fine white sand lapped by crystal clear blue-green water; signature royal palm trees hundreds of...
...For the Cuban system, however, the real danger lies in its contradictions...
...However, the ultimate rejection of the 30 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 30 NACILA REPORT ON THE AMERICASREPORT ON SPORT AND SOCIETY Cuban sports system comes from those who choose to abandon it...
...Cuba cultivates interna)nally competitive athletes with an elaborate "farm" stem, which allows those with extraordinary talent be identified...
...There are now subsidiaries in Pinar del Rio, Mor6n in Ciego Avila province, Florida in Camagiiey province, Santiago de Cuba and in the mountains around Buey Arriba near Guantanamo...
...Shira Springer, "Keeping Their Heads Above Water," Boston Globe, May 30, 2000...
...In spring of )03, U.S...
...be On the one hand, it ensures the development of le' sports for all Cubans, but more importantly, the pro- ca gram provides for the training of high level, compet- yo ive, world-class athletes...
...As long as all Cubans feel they are marching together toward the same goal, and receiving relatively equal benefits for their sacrifices, the system can continue, and even thrive...
...These specialized facilities integrate intensive practice and training in specific sports with the full academic curricula of regular schools...
...Sports expertise and showcasing are also breadwinners for the program...
...In 2002, five Cuban baseball stars were "retired early" to play or coach in Japan...
...1 1 INDER has also established a sports organization called CubaDeportes, which functions as both a public relations and organizational management firm...
...According to two gymnasts who recently defected, "We don't have a future and there's no way to have any fun [in Cuba...
...Every year, more talented Cuban athletes enter Cuban sports schools and compete in the School Games, with dreams of becoming heroes of the Revolution...
...They will take 132 credit hours of courses, aimed primarily at further developing team management skills, as well as technical and tactical training...
...4 The system serves domestic goals by providing for e participation of all Cubans in some type of sport om pre-school through high school...
...18 Noticeably absent from his analysis was any comment on the "retired" Cuban peloteros who are playing in Japan and elsewhere, and whose salaries are recovered by the Cuban government...
...When that "pretense" began to break down, the entire system crumbled...
...Many of these things were around long before the revolution of 1959 and will certainly remain for years to come...
...In Artemisa, a town 40 miles southwest of Havana, there is now a small footwear manufacturing facility...
...The Cuban government accused the Canadian press of "inciting desertion...
...Batos is now also making uniforms and providing recreational equipment, lighting and electronic switchboards for the Second Olympics of Cuban Sport in spring of 2004, a national multi-sport tournament...
...Individual players and trainers receive only a fraction of the earnings...
...He called the organized attempts to "rob" the island of its top athletes by offering them lucrative professional contracts "unfair and disgusting...
...3 uch has been written about the dual pur- poses of Cuba's sports program...
...These were players from one of the 16 provincial teams that play in the national series...
...6 Perhaps Cuba built the lab to avoid another embarrassment like high-jump world record holder Javier Sotomayor testing positive for illegal drugs in 1999 and being stripped of his Pan American Games gold medal and banned from international competition...
...And all Cubans have been guaranteed the basic staples necessary for nutrition, such as milk, rice, beans, meat, eggs and vegetables...
...1 5 The list of defectors grows longer with each passing year, although most people only hear of the select few-such as the baseball-playing Hernandez brothers-that receive multi-million dollar contracts...
...Yet Cuban reality can feel like a parallel universe...
...It is also common knowledge that schools ar lack equipment, supplies and access to various at sources of information, such as the Internet...
...When his brother Livan defected in 1995, Orlando was banned from playing baseball for fear that he too would defect...
...For example, two-time 1976 Olympic gold medalist and economics student Alberto Juantorena was allotted the salary he would earn later in life as an economist...
...Perhaps a fair comparison can be drawn with the former Soviet Union...
...Marxist-Leninist ideology was the glue that held the system together...
...According to Jose Ram6n Balaguer, head of ideology for the Cuban Communist Party, "For every three, four, however many, who go away, the system will always generate athletes of the same or superior quality...
...The exigencies of real life may force some athletes to make other choices...
...Sports earn hard currency from prize money for the winners of international competitions, contracts for official exchanges of Cuban athletes and coaches, the export of sports equipment and fees charged for interviews with athletes and officials.10 At international sporting events, countries sometimes pay the expenses of Cuban athletes competing in exchange for coaching or performance expertise...
...signature royal palm trees hundreds of feet high...
...Paula Pettavino and Philip Brenner, "More than Just a Game," p. 526...
...and I think, "He's rich and I'm poor...
...Then there are things put in place by the revolutionary government itself, for which the island is also now well-known, that may or may not survive a transformation of the Cuban political system...
...8. The Olympics of Cuban Sport were begun in 2002 when Cuba refused to participate in the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador...
...students on a university-sponsored trip fered $25 a jersey following one game and were unned by the rapid response from the players...
...To us, that's aggression...
...The first 29 students have university degrees and currently work in various areas of competitive sports...
...For example, provincial-level baseball players 'e sometimes eager to sell their uniforms, literally ripping them off following a game...
...Leisure Canada Inc.,"LCI Continues to Move Forward in Cuba," BCE Emergis e-News Services, August 17, 2000...
...All inquiries by journalists (or others) for information or interviews with athletes or coaches are referred to CubaDeportes, which then collects fees from the interviewers for its services...
...Cuban sports officials remain defiant about the defections...
...The national sport of baseball, known locally as pelota, continues to figure prominently in the sports system's agenda...
...It is sy difficult to avoid the question of whether the cure is to worse than the disease, at least if one is concerned th with the "principles" of the revolution...
...The grand prize was a one-week trip for two to Cuba...
...and finely kept old U.S.-made cars-that run...
...You don't know...
...It bothers us, we don't like it, that there are men capable of selling themselves by abandoning the country...
...Individual Cuban athletes have also been known to enter specific events, such as the Los Angeles Marathon, in hopes of winning large purses, up to 80% of which would go to the state...
...1 6 Recruiting and signing Cuban baseball players has become a lucrative industry, at least for some...
...Andrew Cawthorne, "Defiant Cuba Says Defections Not Hurting Sports," April 22, 1998...
...One of the most important has been that since the revolution all Cubans-not just the rich, the white and the privileged-have received free, highquality education, giving Cuba one of the highest rates of literacy in the world...
...Now, we are in the U.S.A...
...The school day is adjusted to accommodate both the national academic requirements and the demands of the particular sport...
...But the Ci program has from the beginning been two-pronged...
...She is co-author of Sports in Cuba: The Diamond in the Rough, Univeristy of Pittsburgh Press, 1994...
...Reuters, "Castro Slams 'Robbery' of Cuban Baseball Stars," July 23, 1998...
...Mark Maske, "Cuban Players'Agent Banks on Talent Show," Washington Post, February 2, 1997, D3...
...However, a significant proportion of Batos's production is for export, a seeming departure from the revolutionary slogan of "Cuba for the Cubans...
...a embargo...
...5 The current economic environment has taken its toll on the existing sports facilities, which grow shabbier with each year...
...Athletes chosen from this pool are en funneled to expert training schools for further struction...
...1. For more information, see Paula J. Pettavino and Geralyn Pye, Sport in Cuba: The Diamond in the Rough (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994...
...Also, the construction of this lab certainly does not hurt Cuba's chances of winning their bid to host the 2012 Olympics, another possible motivation for such an expense...
...tic As with other areas of the system, i.e...
...Both of these goals are supported by a highly struc- red system of physical education that is incorporated to the educational system in two ways...
...A new National Training School for Baseball Coaches opened its doors at the end of last 0 C 0 1' S 0 workss at the opening ceremony of the first Olympics of Cuban ort in 2002, which were started when Cuba refused to participate the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador the same ar year at the Physical Culture Faculty in Santiago de Cuba...
...Cuban President Fidel Castro condemned the efforts of "a whole gang, a mafia dedicated to buying baseball players from our country...
...Cuba's use of its sports expertise to make money is a decidedly capitalist approach...
...Steve Simmons, "Cubans Losing Focus," The London Free Press, July 30, 1999...
...LCI) announced that it planned to develop a resort complex in Jibacoa containing 11 luxury hotels, two 18-hole golf courses, a marina and other developments, although no completion date has been set...
...tourism, it oi seems that the compromises the revolutionary gov- to The Cuban sports system has declined with many other hallmarks of th revolution...
...1 Although the post-Cold rar economic situation has affected both of these goals, it was the general population that felt the first itbacks...
...9. "All About Cuba: Cuban Sports Industry," Cuba Sports, <http://www.cubas ports.com/english/industasp...
...1 3 According to Jose Ram6n Fernandez, the head of Cuban sports, "People are trying to lure athletes with verbal and written offers so that they defect...
...It is not only self-financing, but also self-renewing...
...amateur draft, which has limited signing bonuses, by seeking asylum or residency in a third country, usually the Dominican Republic or Costa Rica...
...Such are the realities of capitalism...
...Cuba also has specialized schools to train physical education teachers, as well as coaches and trainers...
...g To what extent, in the post-Cold War climate, are ci these characteristics of Cuban society still real di advantages for ordinary Cubans...
...In November 2003, the Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee officially certified the lab...
...The more lucrative signings have led some MLB management officials to lobby for a worldwide draft, something to which the Players Association refuses to agree...
...When Cuban athletes are showcased abroad, they sometimes play together as a team or separately on a variety of the host country's teams...
...Cuba claimed that exile groups were planning to kidnap Cuban athletes and assassinate its top sports officials...
...Contracts for "of Havana...
...Sometimes the dream becomes reality...
...This enhances the revolutionary government's legitimacy, particularly during periods of scarcity and deprivation, as the 1960s or mid-1990s...
...As for er food, Cubans themselves continue circulating the p longstanding joke: The three successes of the revolu- "r tion are education, health care and sports...
...All Cubans also have access to free health care, a privilege not even enjoyed by some of the most "advanced" industrialized countries in the world...
...According to Washington Post reporter Mark Maske, Cubas uses "secret meetings, notes passed through intermediaries and 3 a.m...
...In 2000, Leisure Canada Inc...
...27REPORT ON SPORT AND SOCIETY lation of fewer than 12 million people, Cuba has won iti a disproportionate number of medals in regional and ' worldwide sporting competitions...
...ernment has deemed necessary for survival in the in post-1991 economic climate threaten to undercut the tic very principles upon which that system is based...
...Defections of athletes and coaches at international competitions has become so commonplace that the Winnipeg Sun actually ran a "countthe-defectors" contest in which readers guessed the number of defectors at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg...
...Indeed, even while a student is competing at the national and international level, focus on the student's post-competition life continues...
...The Cuban Sports Industry, which pro- ices the Batos brand of sports equipment, signifiantly reduced the production of low-quality sports ear for schools and other popular venues in the 990s.2 In the area of high-level competitive sports, reduction in funding has greatly lowered morale Id led to an increasing number of defections of both hletes and coaches...
...Over the last several years, sports officials have claimed that the system is paying for itself...
...Last summer, 11 scholarships to study at the school were awarded Fir to indigenous youths from Ecuador...
...The May 30, 2000, edition of the Boston Globe included a list of over 100 defectors, yet few were living charmed lives in this country...
...He gets to do the same thing that he was doing all his life...
...1 4 In the United States, of course, it's called free agency...
...1 7 He has become adept at having players skirt the U.S...
...In fact, the same edition of the Globe ran a story about a former Cuban water polo player now working as a lifeguard in Miami who regretted an early decision to switch from baseball to swimming: If I was a baseball player, maybe I would be rich now...
...The top recruiter is Cuban expatriate Joe Cubas...
...roll call is at 8:30...
...Even the 2( elite sports schools seem to have suffered some of of the same cutbacks and indignities as the regular st schools...
...The current in state and purposes of the Cuban sports system brings sa many of these contradictions into stark relief...
...Thus, the process is predicated on univer- lizing sports participation and making it an essential volutionary activity...
...Yet the sports system, unlike most other official government programs, appears to be selffinancing, perhaps even profitable...
...Of 31 such accredited laboratories worldwide, only four others are located in the Americas: Rio de Janeiro, Bogoti, Los Angeles and Montreal...
...I've got to wake up every morning and go to work...
...such deals are signed with-and the hard currency goes to-the Cuban Sports Federation...
...The three fa failures are breakfast, lunch and dinner, ar The Cuban sports system has declined along with st many other hallmarks of the revolution...
...strong, sweet coffee served everywhere in demitasse cups...
...Agents] stalk them in the village...
...Omar Linares, Orestes Kindelin and Antonio Pacheco played with Japanese teams, while Luis Ulacia and German Mesa coached...
...These recent developments (among others) indicate an overall recovery from the lows of the early to mid1990s, when many Cubans lost weight due to extreme food shortages and night baseball games were eliminated to avoid the cost of lighting the stadiums...
...Now There Are Two Norths," Miami Herald, July 30, 1999...
...The staff of 14 professors, all specialists in sports training, is tasked to further develop baseball from the grassroots to the highest levels of international competition...
...19 Unfortunately, gymnasts are unlikely to sign million dollar contracts...
...sweet cigars that appeal to even the most adamant non-smoker...
...hotel-room planning sessions to help players defect while they're traveling with the Cuban national team...
...After a few years of working in the United States, they may find that it is not as much "fun" as they had anticipated...
...Yet this has not stopped Cuba from expanding its already extensive sports system...
...No 5 MARCH/APRIL 2004 29 Vol XXXVII, No 5 MARCH/APRIL 2004 29REPORT ON SPORT AND SOCIETY A child gets advice on his swing from a passerby in the old section resumed on hundreds of sports goods previously frozen under the economic strains of the 1990s, such as head protectors and gloves for both boxing and baseball...
...Two Cuban Gymnasts Defect in California," The New York Times, August 20, 2003...
...4. Paula J. Pettavino and Geralyn Pye, Sport in Cuba 5. Paula J. Pettavino and Geralyn Pye, Sport in Cuba, p. 166...
...The government opened the International School of Physical Education in September 2000 to train international students...
...I am a good friend of El Duque [Orlando Hernandez, who signed with the New York Yankees] and I can see the difference between my life and his life pretty easy...
...In addition, for a small country with a popuVol XXXVII, No 5 MARCH/APRIL 2004 Paula J. Pettavino teaches political science at Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia...
...6. Notimex, November 23, 2003...
...There are 15 Schools for Sports Instruction (EIDEs), one in each province and two in Havana...
...1 2 These efforts in sports to ensure the survival of Cuba's socialist system are succeeding, but at what cost...
...A shortage of raw materials in the last decade forced the Batos brand of the Cuban Sports Industry (CSI) to cut production of sports equipment by approximately 40%.7 But by 2003, production Vol XXXVII...
...8 In the last five years, cooperative agreements between Batos and some foreign firms have been established and the increased demand has prompted CSI to expand operations throughout the island...
...The next level up in this system includes 14 Schools for Superior Athletic Refinement (ESPAs), 162 sports academies and two Centers for High Performance (CEARs) in Havana...
...We resent these people who offer...five or 10 million to play professionally under another flag...
...Athletes, coaches and trainers are sent to other countries, or train foreign teams in Cuba, for salaries unheard of on the th island-the bulk of which is turned over to the gov- fri ernment...
...From the elementary school vel on, they participate in a countrywide competition lled the School Games...
...11, No...
...Second, the most promising ung athletes are chosen to attend specialized sports 28 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 28 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICASREPORT ON SPORT AND SOCIETY schools...
...All of these new facilities are dedicated to products made of leather, textiles and wood...
...erhaps this is the beauty of the Cuban sports system...
...In the U.S.S.R., the qualitative change that resulted from the reforms of Gorbachev-in an attempt to keep the system alive-ironically tore it apart...
...9 Cuban sports equipment is not the only commodity for sale...
...They can then enter Major League Baseball (MLB) as unfettered free agents...
...Such mass par- cipation in competitive sports allows those who rersee the development of high-level athletic talent discover potential national champions...
...Post-1959 Cuba brought about many changes for Cubans...
...In other cases, the motives are not quite so lofty...
...Besides spotlighting the Cuban along Revolution and symbolizing its successes, international sports victories e give Cubans pride in the Revolution and reinforce nationalism...
...The objectives of the system are mutually reinforcing...
...re' Shortly after the 1959 revolution, the government established the Institute for Sports, Physical tu: Education and Recreation (INDER) and made suc- in' cess in sports competitions a primary goal...
...First, all iban children are required to participate in sports, ginning in pre-school...
...We were in the same school in Cuba, practicing athletics on the national team...
...Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, now a star pitcher for the Montreal Expos, felt that the choice was made for him...
...In what is perhaps the ultimate irony, Cuba is building golf courses throughout the island, so that tourists can play the consummate elitist sport...
...Most significantly, university-level athletes are paid the salary they would receive in their chosen non-sports career to support themselves during study, training and competition...
...Yet within the last decade, merging from a low point in the mid-1990s, it is )ssible to see Cubans-once again-resolviendo, making do," adjusting to the circumstances they ce...
...2. Based on the author's observations from 1980 and 2000-2003...
...He's an important person...
...ubiquitous music...
...Jim Hodges, "Sharing Profits with His Country Price Runner is Obliged to Pay," Los Angeles Times, March 1, 1997...
...4, 1999, p. 528...
...7. Paula Pettavino and Philip Brenner, "More Than Just a Game," Peace Review, Vol...
...The results of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney tell the tale: Cuba placed ninth overall with 11 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 7 bronze medals...
...3. Personal observations by the author, March 2003...
...On the other hand, when ordinary Cubans see that some of their countrymen-and certainly the tourists who are flocking to Cuban beaches-are living on a different level, they will begin to doubt the sincerity of the revolutionary slogans...
...CUBAN SPORTS: SAVED BY CAPITALISM...
...the facility cost the government a whopping $5 million...
...Even more Sp in significantly, a brand-new anti-doping laboratory ye, was inaugurated in February 2001...
...The Australian government, for example, funded the travel and lodging for the entire Cuban contingent of 300 athletes competing at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney...
...It has long been ca known that the quality of Cuban health care has been g declining, and not only as a result of the scant medi- 1 cines and medical supplies available under the U.S...
...This soon-to-be MLB MVP temporarily took a job sweeping floors at a psychiatric hospital before he left...
Vol. 37 • March 2004 • No. 5
