One of the Cuban Little League Coaches Disappeared

They did it!!!!

Well, one of them did.

One of the coaches, specifically.

We asked on Friday how funny it would be if after Cuba finally sent a team to the Little League World Series, that team were to defect. Our answer? It’s pretty funny. Good luck to the guy, if he’s indeed defecting. I hope he gets asylum, or whatever it is he needs to enjoy freedom for the rest of his life and avoid a few decades in a prison back in on the island.

Some context here: A Little League official shared yesterday that Jose Perez, one of the assistant coaches for the team Bayamo Little League sent to the Little League World Series, left the complex on Saturday night and did not return. They don’t know more than that. That’s how you know it’s going well, if it’s indeed a defection, and is going quite terribly if this is not a defection.

There was all this effort by Little League Baseball and all this effort by parts of even the U.S. federal government, going back three administrations, to get a Cuban Little League team to play in Williamsport. It is great that they made it happen. Kids should play other kids in baseball. But. Quarrel as much as you want with the embargo or with other foreign policy, current or historic (and there are debates to be had!), but the ultimate problem here lies with Cuba. It lies with the Cuban government. The Cuban government is why Cubans want to defect.

Godspeed, Jose Perez. I hope you find a safe haven, wherever it is you’re going.