[R-G] Cuba will not be going to the World Boxing Championships

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Cuba will not be going to the World Boxing Championships
http://granma.cu/ingles/2007/agosto/juev30/36boxeo.html

CUBA will not be present at the World Boxing Championships, based in the
U.S. city of Chicago from October 21 to November 3.

The Cuban Boxing Federation has various reasons for its decision to
decline the invitation to participate in the event, one of the three
classifying fights with a view to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The arguments of the greatest weight were expounded by President Fidel
Castro in his reflections of August 4 and 7 related to the desertion of
two Cuban fighters during the 15th Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil.

The first was published under the title Politics and Sports and the second
with that of A Written Record.

In both reflections the leader of the Revolution analyzed in detail the
abuses of groups which, under the cover of businessmen, serve as one of
the vilest interests of the United States and some of its allies: the
theft of athletes.

As our people are all too well aware, the theft of anyone who stands out
in Cuban society, whether s/he is an athlete, educationalist, doctor,
artist, or any kind of scientist, has been the practice of various U.S.
governments within that country’s constant policy of aggression against
our people.

That felony was instigated at the very triumph of the Revolution in 1959
with the exit of thousands of doctors and engineers.

We will not once again expose a Cuban team to the abuses and provocations
which, in this case, would be aroused in Chicago, U.S. territory, an ideal
location for agents and traffickers to freely operate with the total
complicity of the U.S. authorities.

It is not far-fetched to imagine an alliance between German and U.S.
Mafiosi, the former represented – in the case of boxing – by Arena Box
Promotions, which has spent millions of dollars on this dirty business. As
far as it is known its despicable and publicized actions have not even
prompted a warning from the International Boxing Association (IBA).

Neither has the IBA demanded that professional boxing should take
responsibility for the constant aggression of Cuba and its sports, an
example of respect and ethics in any international sports event in which
its athletes participate, as well as one of solidarity and selfless
collaboration for the development of this sport in dozens of countries.

Loud announcements that they are going to create a school of Cuban boxers
constitute convincing evidence of the audacity with which they operate and
their total disdain for international rules and regulations.

Cuba does not negotiate its principles which, in the case of sports, are
centered on its healthy practice and respect for the purest ideals of the
Olympic Movement, totally incompatible with the consumerism and squander
that are at the root of the current and irreversible economic and social
crisis of the globalized world.

There is no reason for doubt or pessimism. Courage, intelligence and
discipline, as well as fighters’ commitment to the homeland of Teófilo
Stevenson, Roberto Balado and other boxing greats, will have other
opportunities for gaining their classification for Beijing 2008. It is a
right that belongs to the Cuban sports movement and which we shall avail
ourselves of at the opportune moment.

Cuban Boxing Federation

August 28, 2007

Translated by Granma International

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Macdonald Stainsby
Co-ordinator,
http://oilsandstruth.org
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