Ivan Prieto Gonzalez, bullpen catcher for Team Cuba for the World Baseball Classic, defected to the U.S. on Monday, the day after his team’s loss to Team USA in the semifinals at LoanDepot Park.
The Cuban government brought its delegation home the day after the game, part of a tendency for fast-turn-arounds to prevent defection by its players. In this case, it didn’t work.
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Iván Prieto González, the catcher in the Cuban team bullpen helping pitchers warm up, didn’t show up at Miami International Airport for the team’s flight to Havana, defecting to the U.S. instead.
Prieto, who plays first base, and is a catcher for the Alazanes de Granma team in Cuba’s National Series, was chosen by the Cuban Baseball Federation for the bullpen catcher role for the World Classic.
According to MLB reporter Francys Romero, Prieto was picked up by his brother just hours after the game from the Miami-area hotel where the Cuban delegation was staying. His decision will likely mean he will not be able to reenter Cuba for five years as punishment by the Cuban government for abandoning the official delegation.
However, Prieto’s defection did not put a damper on the choreographed return ceremony for the team nor quell the communist country’s propaganda efforts. This has added to the chorus of criticism of the regime for using the Cuban team and athletes playing in competition as propaganda. Since Fidel Castro abolished professional sports in 1960, the Cuban government has used their existence as “evidence” of “progress” in the nation.
The ceremony began with team members greeted at Havana’s international airport on Monday by leader Miguel Díaz-Canel. Other officials, state workers, students, and members of political organizations were made to stand on the streets to greet the bus caravan as it went by, which moved players from the airport to the Latinoamericano baseball stadium in Havana for another scripted ceremony.
During this ceremony, Díaz-Canel referred to the players as “heroes … that faced a powerful rival with dignity and amid tremendous hostility by a group of haters who, grotesquely and indecently, wanted to overshadow the sporting spectacle.”
The haters he refers to are Cuban Americans and defectors who packed the Miami stadium and protested the team’s appearance.
However, many protestors were removed from the stadium for the protest, only being allowed back in when CUban-American politicians like Marco Rubio stepped in. According to the Miami Herald, many protestors were told to cover their political signage against the regime even after being allowed to enter.
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Rubio posted a video on Twitter condemning the censorship practices.
“I keep getting reports the @Marlinsare enforcing the Cuban regimes censorship rules against U.S. citizens attending tonight’s #WorldBaseballClassic2023 game between the USA & Cuba.”
I keep getting reports the @Marlins are enforcing the Cuban regimes censorship rules against U.S. citizens attending tonight’s #WorldBaseballClassic2023 game between the USA & Cuba pic.twitter.com/65UhxYQfqX
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 19, 2023
The MLB’s response, however, was unrepentant.
“It is exciting to see players and fans from countries all over the world express their national pride throughout the World Baseball Classic tournament. The WBC’s policy, set long before this tournament began, prohibits political signage at all games in all venues to keep the focus on the competition on the field.”
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