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                   US, Cuba Spar Over Shared Love in Baseball

   by VOA News

   U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday will attend a baseball game in
   Havana that is meant to help bridge the historic divide between the two
   countries.

   But the shared passion of two nations for the game of baseball does not
   seem enough to quell the controversy over the talent drain from Cuba,
   which has lost many star players to the lucrative U.S. market.

   Baseball officials from both countries are in talks to try to work out
   a system that would allow Cuban players to offer their services to U.S.
   teams without abandoning their country.

   Cubans playing for Major League Baseball in the United States do so
   most often by risking their lives to escape on boats, often with the
   intervention of smugglers.

   ''Both sides would like to put an end to that practice, but they don't
   agree on how. They do agree that lifting the U.S. economic embargo on
   the island is key to any deal working out.

   One key sticking point is that while Cuba now allows some players to
   compete in foreign leagues, they are legally on loan from the Cuban
   Baseball Federation, which takes a cut of their salaries.

   Paying money directly to the Cuban government would violate the U.S.
   embargo under its current form.

   Tuesday's game

   But even as the negotiations continue and hopes rise that the détente
   begun by Obama will mean a brighter future for the game, all will be
   momentarily forgotten Tuesday as the Tampa Bay (Florida) Rays take on
   Cuba's national team at 2 p.m. EST (1800 UTC) at Estadio
   Latinoamericano.

   Accompanying Obama to Cuba, and to the game, are Rachel Robinson, the
   widow of baseball star Jackie Robinson, and their daughter Sharon
   Robinson. The two flew aboard Air Force One.

   Robinson played in Cuba in 1947.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-cuba-baseball/3248036.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-cuba-baseball/3248036.html