Cuban Team Makes Late Arrival, but Set for Exhibition

BALTIMORE — Cuba’s national baseball team arrived in Baltimore on Sunday night too late to practice because of visa problems that delayed its departure, but in time to be greeted at the airport by Oriole owner Peter Angelos, Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke and baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

Angelos, on his way to a secluded area where he met the players, was asked who would win tonight’s rematch between the Orioles and the Cubans.

“Well, we’ll see tomorrow,” he said.

The limits on immediate access to the team frustrated some.

Felix Wilson, deputy chief of the Cuban Interest Section, which serves as an unofficial embassy in Washington, was upset that Angelos met with the players while local Cuban officials were kept away from the group until after the team cleared customs.

“Can you imagine we cannot meet the Cuban delegation?” he said. “This is unacceptable.”

Ana Maria Goicoechea, a resident of Columbia, Md., who was born in Cuba, was one of handful of people who tried to welcome the team at the airport with a sign that said, “Cuba Va,” or “Go Cuba.” The professor of social work at the University of Maryland at Baltimore supports the game and improved relations with her native country.

“There was a war and it was lost by the people that are here,” she said. “This is a process, a step we have to go through. Little by little, this anger will come out.”

She compared the situation to relations between the former East and West Germany, which were reunited in 1989.

“How could I not support them? I feel bad for this isolation my country, the United States, is imposing on our other country, Cuba,” she said.

The team got a Havana Airport sendoff from Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

After sorting out visa problems that delayed the flight, the team boarded a charter about 5 p.m. EDT for its exhibition game with the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.

However, the delay meant the Cubans had to cancel their Sunday workout at Camden Yards and a reception in the team’s honor.

The visa problems, concerning some in the delegation of more than 300, were resolved Saturday night.

This will mark the first time a Cuban team has played a major league team in the United States.

In the opener of this series, the Orioles beat Cuba, 3-2, in 11 innings on March 28 in Havana. It was the first time in 40 years a major league team played in Cuba. In the days leading to that game, the Orioles had to scramble to get their birth certificates, passports and visas in order. This time it was the Cubans who were tangled in red tape.

At one point, the delay was thought to put tonight’s game in danger. But that is no longer the case.

The Orioles will use their regular lineup tonight with the exception of their starter, Scott Kamieniecki, who is on the disabled list.