Ronal Quiñones

Less than a month ago, there was a commotion in international sports media outlets after a report was published about the five Cuban volleyball players who are locked up in Finland, complaining about their living conditions and the lack of communication with their families.

The world’s biggest soccer teams have fan clubs in every corner of the Earth, but because of Cuba’s peculiarities, there are very few official fan clubs based in this corner of the Caribbean. “Official” fan clubs are those which have received the soccer team’s approval, as many unofficial ones have popped up all over the archipelago.

If something had been missing to put Cuban baseball in a coma state, it was an institution like Real Madrid coming to Havana to give it the final blow. “We know that there is a lot of interest in soccer here in Cuba. It already seems to be the most important sport here and we want this to continue like this,” said Joaquin Sagues.

Cuba returned to the Caribbean Baseball Series in February of 2014, represented by Villa Clara. A year later, Pinar del Rio made it to San Juan hoping merely to improve on the terrible image offered by its predecessor…and ended up taking the throne. Now, it’s Ciego de Avila’s turn to represent Cuba, but, unlike on previous occasions, it bears all of the pressure that defending the title secured by Pinar del Rio entails.