MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Pablo Cuerta was watching batting practice before the U.S.-Venezuela championship game at the World Baseball Classic, when the realization hit him.<\/p>\n
He couldn’t lose.<\/p>\n
There were thousands of Venezuelans at the game in Miami on Tuesday night. There were thousands of Americans at the game as well. And some \u2014 like Cuerta, a Venezuelan-American \u2014 got to basically cheer for both sides. His shirt: a Venezuela jersey. His hat: the Venezuelan team cap. And draped over his shoulders, tied across his chest: the U.S. flag.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born in Venezuela, and this country gave me the opportunity to come, to be a citizen,\u201d said Cuerta, who drove from his home near Orlando for the final days of the tournament in Miami. \u201cI appreciate both countries, you know. One, I was born in Venezuela. And two, this one gave me everything I’ve got. So, I’m proud to have both countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
As they have throughout the tournament, Venezuelan fans showed up in a big way to see their team in Miami; all seven of Venezuela’s games at the WBC were played inside the Miami Marlins’ ballpark. From the outset, these unusual political times \u2014 Venezuela’s deposed leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro is currently jailed in New York and facing drug trafficking charges, after American forces executed a military operation in Venezuela earlier this year to capture him \u2014 have not had much of an effect on the joy Venezuelans have for this event, even with it being played on U.S. soil.<\/p>\n
When both flags were brought to home plate as part of the pregame ceremony, the building simply roared.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper emotional with Venezuela and being here for the championship game. This is beyond sport. It is well deserved,” said Argenis Masiaf, a Miami resident who had the Venezuelan flag painted on his face for the game. \u201cWe have lived through many difficult things inside our country. This is the moment for Venezuela to accomplish something so special and memorable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venezuela’s players and coaches have tried to avoid all political talk. They’ve said in many ways that they’re at the WBC to play baseball, and manager Omar L\u00f3pez reiterated that sentiment before the final.<\/p>\n
L\u00f3pez did, however, acknowledge how much getting to the title game \u2014 and getting to play the U.S. \u2014 means to Venezuela, a baseball-mad South American country of about 32 million people. He said he expected \u201cthe whole country\u201d to be watching.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight, everyone is going to be together,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. “The whole country is going to be paralyzed to watch the game, and together we are going to have better generations for our country, united with no color, political colors or ideology. We have people with double citizenship. This is the only way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have sports. Baseball is one of the best tools or ways to educate a country. Discipline, dedication, determination. If you don\u2019t believe in that, you should start believing. You have to believe in that. Thirty human beings today are going to unite Venezuela through a baseball game.”<\/p>\n
He was right.<\/p>\n
In Caracas \u2014 Venezuela’s capital and highest-populated city \u2014 the streets were empty Tuesday night. Thousands of people, many of them children, gathered at a public plaza to watch the game, many dancing and waving Venezuelan flags.<\/p>\n
Even acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez weighed in ahead of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight, all of Venezuela has an appointment with baseball,\u201d she shared on social media. \u201cFor the first time in our history, we reached the World Classic final. To our guys, we say with our hearts: Let\u2019s go Venezuela! The whole country is with you.”<\/p>\n
Josh Rojas, a student from Utah, was outside the stadium three hours before first pitch Tuesday, soaking up the atmosphere. He had a \u201cV\u201d for Venezuela painted on both sides of his face, proudly carrying a flag as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and my family knew Venezuela would make a good run, so we came,” Rojas said. “Man, it\u2019s meant everything. I\u2019m a Latino American, and it\u2019s just making me more proud of my Latin heritage. It\u2019s just awesome to see a whole country, a whole community come together to support this country through baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaci Douglas said she \u201chates\u201d baseball. The medical student from Pennsylvania viewed Tuesday’s game as something well beyond sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother is Venezuelan. I have in-laws who are Venezuelans,\u201d Douglas said. \u201cThey’re all here tonight and they told me that if I miss this, I’d regret it. … It’s an event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuerta said he heard everyone in Venezuela \u2014 the country he left eight years ago \u2014 was watching.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s going to be a lot of parties, everywhere,” Cuerta said. \u201cEvery space, every restaurant, every street, everywhere. Everybody\u2019s watching. When we’re born, that’s the first thing your parents do. Before they send you to school, they send you to the field. That’s what they mean when they say it’s in our blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press Reporter Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela contributed.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Pablo Cuerta was watching batting practice before the U.S.-Venezuela championship game at the World Baseball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25123,25124,2205,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-195770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-ap-sports","tag-ap-u-s-news","tag-associated-press","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}