| "> | | | | to the USSR (currently Russia,Ukraine, Belarus,etc) to |
| Dieudonné Lamothe, who was a sports person | | | | help it consolidate its sport.Sporting projects were |
| from Haiti, finished lost in the 5000-meter race at the | | | | strongly emphasized during this decade. The Soviet |
| Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984.He lose the | | | | Union sent Olympic advisers to La Havana and agreed |
| Olympic competition, but Lamothe was not | | | | to provide sporting aid to Cuban dictatorship. |
| assassinated by president Jean-Claude Duvalier, the | | | | Recognized the importance of sport to Cuba´s |
| dictator who became known throughout the world as | | | | dictatorship, the Soviets construted several sports |
| "Baby Doc Duvalier". Over the next years, Lamothe | | | | schools, best known as Escuelas de Iniciación |
| revealed that Jean-Claude Duvalier had threatened to | | | | Deportiva Escolar (EIDE, Schools for the Initiation into |
| kill him if he failed to finish the race...Amnesty | | | | Scholastic Sport), modernized gymnasiums, and built |
| International reports secret police,known as Tonton | | | | stadiums. This invaluable sporting support continued |
| Macoutes, practice torture, assassinations and | | | | through the 1970s and 1980s. |
| disappearances including killings of prominent opposition | | | | Sport in Cuba continues to be strictly centered in the |
| leaders. | | | | hands of Fidel Castro Ruz. Castro has instilled a mental |
| Like Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (Cuban dictator) and | | | | toughness in the Cuban athletes. The athletes are |
| Idi Amin Dada (Ugandan dictador), Jean-Claude | | | | forced to deny to the United States, Czech Republic, |
| Duvalier loves sports.Certainly, he popularized the sport | | | | Hungary, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, South Korea and |
| of soccer, or football, in Haiti, an ex-French colony in | | | | other countries. |
| the Caribbean. Under his leadership,Haiti qualified for the | | | | Ongoing violence has forced more than 300 athletes |
| 1974 FIFA World Cup tournament in Munich (West | | | | to flee to neighboring countries including Mexico, Puerto |
| Germany). It also won the Junior World Soccer | | | | Rico, Bahamas, and the United States. |
| Championships in 1975 in Mexico City, Mexico.Soccer is | | | | From the outside, the "Lenin Sport School" is certainly |
| now the national sport of the country. | | | | impressive. No all the dictatorships have the same |
| Between October 12 and October 26, 1975, the Haitian | | | | situation. Under the dictatorship of Robert Gabriel |
| delegation participated in the Seventh Pan American | | | | Mugabe, Zimbabwe´s sport is a disaster. Yoel |
| Games held in Mexico City. The national delegation had | | | | López always arrives at "Lenin Sport School" |
| 12 athletes competing in three sports: track and field | | | | early.He says: "I usually go to sport school by car but |
| (7), boxing (2) and tennis(3).Furthermore, Haiti sent a | | | | sometimes I walk". In Cuba the sports schools usually |
| national team to the 1976 Olympic Games, which were | | | | open 7.30 in the morning. Yoel never watches |
| held in Montreal (Canada).Haitian athletes also | | | | television. He sleeps seven hours a night. He works |
| competed in several events sponsored by international | | | | very hard. Like many Cuban children, he is a new slave |
| sports organizations, including basketball, golf, judo, | | | | of the Cuban Revolution.Certainly, Yoel López |
| volleyball and boxing. | | | | is a volleyball player. |
| Indisputably one of the worst dictatorships of all time, | | | | Cuba won the baseball Pan American gold medal in |
| Fidel Castro Ruz enjoys all types of Olympic sports, | | | | Santo Domingo 2003. Hundreds of Cubans watched |
| including basketball and baseball, and his proudest | | | | TV coverage of the Pan American Games. During the |
| moment was when his country hosted the Pan | | | | final baseball game, soldiers in camouflage stood |
| American Games in 1991. The people that don´t | | | | around the Cuban dugout and guarded much of the |
| know Cuba very much think that Cuba is an olympic | | | | section where Cuba´s delegation was seated. |
| paradise. | | | | Even credentialed media were kept off the field and |
| Like Iran, Sudan, Syria and the Democratic | | | | guards with loaded assault rifles protected the Cuban |
| People´s Republic of Korea (or North Korea), | | | | national bus. One soldier told a journalist he estimated |
| Cuba is a terrorist state in the 21st century. Fidel | | | | there were around 400 security workers at the |
| Castro Ruz is not Pol Pot (Maoist dictator) and Enver | | | | stadium and said if any Cuban got away it would |
| Hoxha (anti-Soviet dictator), but he is a dictator in the | | | | mean jail time for the Dominican patrol. "Our mission |
| Third World. The country has never known a period | | | | tonight is to ensure that no Cuban defects," he said on |
| free of tyranny, repression and political conflict. | | | | condition of anonymity." If one defects, they´ve |
| A revolution in 1959 transformed Cuba into Latin | | | | threatened us with jail, and said they would dismiss us |
| America´s first socialist republic. From 1962 to | | | | from the army". |
| 1989, Cuba was a Soviet colony. In 1962, Cuba looked | | | | |