Marlins’ Guillen Suspended By Team For Castro Comments
Added on Apr 10, 2012 by Jack Thurman in
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Not exactly the way a team wants a new manager to start his tenure–the Miami Marlins have suspended manager Ozzie Guillen for five games in response to comments where he expressed admiration for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Guillen will miss five games and has apologized for speaking first and thinking later.
This is a very thorny issue in Miami due to their large Cuban-American population. The Marlins are trying to gain some traction in the South Florida sports scene complete with a new stadium and new logo. Having their new manager offend a significant part of their fanbase–and especially a vocal and well connected one–wasn’t part of the plan.
The Marlins had a prepared statement announcing the suspension:
“The Marlins acknowledge the seriousness of the comments attributed to Guillen. The pain and suffering caused by Fidel Castro cannot be minimized especially in a community filled with victims of the dictatorship.”
Guillen, who is Venezuelan, spoke to the fans and media first in Spanish, then in English. His comments in Spanish (translated below) were aimed directly at the Cuban American community:
“I feel like I betrayed my Latin community. I am here to say I am sorry with my heart in my hands and I want to say I’m sorry to all those people who are hurt indirectly or directly.”
“I’m sorry for what I said and for putting people in a position they don’t need to be in. And for all the Cuban families, I’m sorry. I hope that when I get out of here, they will understand who Ozzie Guillen is. How I feel for them. And how I feel about the Fidel Castro dictatorship. I’m here to face you, person to person. It’s going to be a very difficult time for me.”
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig had the following statement:
“Guillen’s remarks, which were offensive to an important part of the Miami community and others throughout the world, have no place in our game.”
Selig didn’t mention the part where he sat with Castro during the Baltimore Orioles’ trip to Cuba in 1999.
Guillen’s mea culpa was that he was thinking in Spanish and speaking in English when he said ‘I love Fidel Castro’ in reference to his ability to maintain power for so long:
“The interpretation didn’t come out as I wanted. I was thinking in Spanish and I said the wrong thing in English.”
“Everybody in the world hates Fidel Castro, including myself. I was surprised that he’s still in power. That’s what I was trying to say to the journalist. And that’s the first thing that came out of my mouth. I admit it. It was the wrong words.”
