...is more than just that. It's a freedom enabler.
HAVANA (Reuters) - Kendry Morales, considered Cuba's most promising young baseball player, has defected to the United States to pursue his dream of playing in the major leagues, his family said on Wednesday. The 20-year-old switch-hitting slugger had been suspended earlier this year by Cuba's National Baseball Commission after several foiled attempts to leave the island. "On Friday he left home with some friends and never came back," said his stepfather, Henry Nunez, at their home in Las Guasimas on the outskirts of Havana. "He called yesterday from Miami to say he arrived fine. His dream is to play in the big leagues and now the doors will open for him," Nunez said. Miami's Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald reported on Wednesday that Morales crossed the Florida Straits on Saturday night on a boat with 18 other Cubans, including former baseball coach Orlando Chinea. {...}In the 2003 Cuban baseball season, Morales batted .391 with nine home runs and 42 runs batted in for national champion Industriales.The boy's got talent. The boy's got switch-hitting skills. The boy's got guts. The boy has dreams and now that he's made the crossing and is safe on American soil he can make those dreams come true. Would that have happened in Fidel's Cuba? Is Fidel's Cuba a place where dreams come true---or a place where you can at least have a shot at making them come true? I think not. Communism is not only bad for the pocketbook, the body and the mind---it's bad for the soul. Posted by Kathy at June 1, 2004 02:34 PM | TrackBack