MADRID, Spain.- The Manuel Fuentes Borges baseball stadium, in Baracoa, abandoned for years, is increasingly deteriorated and with areas in danger of collapse, as can be seen in images shared this week by the renowned sports commentator Yasel Porto.
“Unfortunately Baracoa, the primary town and municipality with an enormous baseball tradition within Guantánamo, is about to lose the Manuel Fuentes stadium forever. At least part of its original structure due to the intentions of demolishing a large part of it based on the danger it represents for people,” said the journalist in a publication by Facebook.
“This (the images) was sent to me today and it caused me tremendous pain because I broadcast there once with Los Metros and I was delighted with the place,” he recalled.
“The saltpeter, hurricanes, floods, the passage of time, neglect and lack of money and will have combined over time, and it became increasingly difficult to recover what was once the sports symbol of a beautiful and historic city. The first in Cuba but today in terms of baseball it is one of the worst, ”he considered.
As the reporter pointed out, the National Series was played in this stadium year after year. In their terrain they played recognized ballplayers such as Antonio Pacheco, Luis Giraldo Casanova, Víctor Mesa and Antonio Muñoz, among many others.
Already in 2021 Play Off Magazine had denounced in a report the deterioration of the facility.
“Thrown to their own devices, deterioration advances in this facility in the eastern part of the country, where its inhabitants remember seeing Cuban baseball stars play, one day long ago,” the sports outlet noted.
“It is falling, being destroyed, by the saltpeter of the sea”; “The sea constantly gets into the terrain, every time there are strong waves, you have to remove sand”; “The stadium is discontinued, but you can’t see who is laying the first stone, because every day it gets worse, you can hardly even train the children anymore”; were some of the comments collected at that time by Play Off Magazine.
Almost two years later, the situation of the stadium has only gotten worse, since its repair, like that of so many other establishments and homes, does not fall within the plans of the Cuban Government.
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