Miami Marlins’ manager Ozzie Guillen is no stranger to controversy. After his latest comments about Fidel Castro, Guillen will be flying to Miami on the team’s day off to formally apologize for his comments at a press conference. The manager had made comments regarding Castro in an interview for Time Magazine stating, “I love Fidel Castro … I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last sixty years but that [expletive] is still there.”
This has stirred up a lot of commotion throughout the highly Cuban population in Miami. So much so that the Cuban-American group, Vigilia Mambisa, plans to boycott the Marlins until Guillen steps down as manager. The group, led by Miguel Saavedra, said they will bring a caravan of cars to park in front of the ballpark to protest Guillen’s comments.
The Marlins issued this statement in response to Guillen’s comments:
“We are aware of the article. There is nothing to respect about Fidel Castro. He is a brutal dictator who has caused unthinkable pain for more than fifty years. We live in a community filled with victims of this dictatorship and the people in Cuba continue to suffer today.”
Guillen followed up the Marlins statement with his own apology:
“I will apologize if I hurt somebody’s feelings, or I hurt somebody’s thought,” Guillen told the writers. “I want them to know I’m against everything 100 percent — I repeat it again — the way this man (been) treating people for the last 60 years.”
These comments come just a week after Guillen told CBSSports.com about his post-game ritual of getting drunk after every game.
“I go to the hotel bar, get drunk, sleep,” Guillen said, according to the website. “I don’t do anything else.”
“I get drunk because I’m happy we win or I get drunk because I’m very sad and disturbed because we lose,” Guillen said. “Same routine, it never changes. It’s been the same routine for 25, 28 years. It doesn’t change. I don’t like to go out.”
“I don’t have time,” Guillen told CBSSports.com. “I’ve got to be here early, and I go to sleep so drunk that I have to recover in time to go to the park.”
Needless to say, Guillen may have found himself in some hot water with his new ball club. The Venezuelan manager was brought in to attract the Latin population that lives in Miami but it seems that he is becoming more of a distraction than an attraction.
About Mike Johnson