Getting Ozzie Guillen signed to have your baseball team managed and trained is not exactly a bullet proof decision. In fact, it should be a sign somewhere that would remind team owners that Ozzie Guillen’s loud mouth and inclination to speak his mind can get them in trouble. And for Miami Marlins’ the heat over Guillen’s remarks just started. In an interview with Time Magazine Ozzie Guillen made controversial Fidel Castro remarks that South Florida isn’t exactly accustomed with.
Now, don’t imagine what Ozzie Guillen had to say was so out of the box that it would even make a New York high school girl blush. However, in South Florida the Fidel Castro topic is more than sensitive given the high number of people that fled Cuba and found a new home in the United States. For many Cubans the memory of their exodus remains vivid and so is the thought they still have family members struggling in Cuba.
Miami carries a violent history of welcoming the Cuban exiles, as in the 1980s the city’s streets were often scenes of fights between Colombian drug lords, protests against police brutality and the overall South Florida raging over its Cubanization.
Now the setting isn’t exactly a dream, but at least the main problems have disappeared. In this context, what Ozzie Guillen had to say about Fidel Castro can only generate scrutiny. Cuban people of Miami were so discontent with the manager’s comments that they warned they will boycott the Miami Marlins until Ozzie Guillen is fired.
In an interview with Time Magazine, the outspoken Guillen, now manager of the Miami Marlins said: “I love Fidel Castro…I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that … is still there”.
After the community reacted promptly, Ozzie did issue a statement to apologize: “I will apologize if I hurt somebody’s feelings, or I hurt somebody’s thought. 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”. However, Ozzie did explain that he admires Castro because nobody could get rid of him and asked people to read the whole article not only the controversial statement.