Viva Free Expression

...The World Baseball Classic hasn’t gone as smoothly as originally planned. At first there was controversy over whether or not to include Cuba in the competition; then, before any games were even played, several high-profile players opted out of the games so that they could concentrate on spring training for their own Major League teams; now—again thanks to Cuba—an international hullabaloo has erupted over that nasty little thing that we call “free speech.”

...During a Cuba-Netherlands game that was being played in Puerto Rico, a fan behind home plate raised a sign that read “Down with Fidel” when translated to English. The game was televised to different countries, so the authoritarian Cuban officials who were attending the event felt it necessary to apprehend the sign-holder and silence him as soon as possible.

...That’s when Puerto Rican police intervened and reminded Castro’s cronies that they weren’t in Cuba and couldn’t enforce Cuban law on foreign soil. In fact, the Puerto Rican police took the vice president of Cuba’s National Institute of Sports to the police station and told him the rules of free speech, given that it’s a foreign concept to him.

...Not surprisingly, Cuba’s national newspaper later called such a blatant act of free expression “a cowardly incident” and said that Puerto Rico and the United States are engaging in “cynical counterrevolutionary provocations.”

...What about the people who defect, Mr. Castro? Are they engaging in these cynical counterrevolutionary provocations, too? I’d also rhetorically ask about the people who are still in Cuba and have spoken out against the state, but they’re probably not engaging in much of anything if they’re in prison or dead.

Source: ABC News