April 30, 1999
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNION CITY, N.J. - Fearing that the United States is beginning to weaken its resolve in Cuba, hundreds of Cuban emigres will protest an exhibition baseball game between the Cuban national team and the Baltimore Orioles on May 3.
Assemblyman Raul ``Rudy'' Garcia and representatives from the United Cuban Organizations, an umbrella group of about 30 Cuban-American clubs representing thousands of people, held a news conference Monday to announce the scheduled protest at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Garcia said the timing of the games parallels a United Nations report that condemned Fidel Castro for human rights violations, such as jailing dissidents.
``Some of those dissidents have been tortured or killed in jail just for speaking against his Communist government,'' Garcia said.
Garcia, also the mayor of Union City, said the United States cannot practice the same type of ``ping pong diplomacy as it played in China.''
The first game was held in Havana's Estadio Latino-americano and televised by ESPN on March 29. Footage of Donald Fehr, head of the Major League Baseball player's union, and Castro watching the game together disturbed Garcia, whose family escaped from Cuba in 1968. He believes the image portrayed Castro in a positive light.
``It was all warm and fuzzy, and that's not an accurate picture,'' he said. ``Under Castro, families have been separated and people have died. That's the real light of Castro's actions.''
``We're hoping to send a strong message that we're against this. We don't want this to be the beginning of the end of sanctions against Cuba,'' he said.
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