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Reflections by the
Commander in Chief
I
do not have much material to write, nor do I
have the time.
The Cuba—United States
baseball match has been announced for 8:00 a.m.
At that time I am sometimes in dreamland. The
weather prevented the game from taking place. I
think that the celebrated match will begin on
Friday at 8 a.m., if the weather doesn’t force a
change. Our athletes are ready to compete even
in the mud; but that is not the case with their
adversaries who would prefer to share first
place. We shall see what happens.
Today, Thursday, I am
writing for the sports page. It struck me to
see the number of athletes injured in many of
the sports, with the exception of swimming, ping
pong, tennis and a few others. Professional
status forces you to risk your life like a
modern gladiator. When they are not felled by a
real injury, they pretend like drama
specialists. That would not educate anyone among
the millions of athletes of all ages in our
country.
In many countries,
athletes do not even compete for their own
nation. Some of them earn up to 102 million
dollars a year, more than the owner of a large
sugar mill. Cuba only has her own athletes, and
they are not professionals. It is an unfair
contest.
Sometimes I have fun as
I watch the strong well-nourished thorough-bred
horses --let's call them Aryan-- just like their
riders. But despite all that, it is a peaceful
competition and an amusing colonial heritage.
Tell me what’s your competition, and I will tell
you who your colonizers were.
Nowadays as we have some
relative sovereignty, everyone, as the case may
be, tries to introduce new sports into the
regional and world competitions. One example:
badminton.
I am now watching the
women’s volleyball game. The score is 18 to 17
for Brazil in the first set, fighting for the
gold. Let’s see if hearts will be strong. We
lost 27 to 25. The semi-finals were excellent
and hard-fought. The Brazilian manager is worse
off than I am. We win the second set, 25 to
23. We lose the third, 22 to 25. We win the
fourth, 34 to 32. I wouldn’t be surprised to
hear that the Brazilian manager has had a
serious heart condition. Finally, we win the
last set, 17 to 15. What an amazing game!
We have just heard the
national anthem playing for the gold medal in
women’s cycling, at 4:35 in the afternoon. The
anthem is played again for judo, broadcast at
4:44. And again for volleyball, immediately
afterwards. And later still, another gold, for
men’s cycling.
The news keeps coming,
but I must deliver this material and watch the
University of Information Sciences graduation
ceremony. It is almost 6:00 p.m.
Before closing, I would
like to express my deepest sorrow to the people
of Brazil about the tragic aviation accident,
with approximately 200 people perishing in the
midst of the joy of the Pan-American Games.
Fidel Castro Ruz
July 19, 2007.
6:00 p.m.
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