The Bearded Stooge Caught in a Lie - Busted!

Update: Read my cross-post at Babalú

Via The Miami Herald:

In a speech Tuesday, Castro boasted that the Bush administration's initial attempts to bar his country from participating in the tournament had backfired, and that Cuba's take from the tournament would go to ``Katrina's martyrs.''

Not so say MLB officials who responded to The Bearded Stooge's rant with the following:

Major League Baseball Thursday denied a claim by Cuban leader Fidel Castro that his government will donate proceeds from the World Baseball Classic to U.S. victims of Hurricane Katrina.

''Based on the agreement, Cuba doesn't have a cut of the proceeds from the tournament, and there is nothing for Cuba to donate,'' he added.

You see according to the agreement the WBC organizers signed with the Treasury department, Cuba receives nothing, nada, zilch. Profits, if any, would be divided among the other countries. So there is nothing for Cuba to donate in its name, as it receives no money directly or indirectly.

I say, if any profits, because, well, no one at all might receive any money, as there may not be any money to distribute:

In fact, there's a chance none of the countries will get paid. Initial estimates put the cost of staging the 17-day, 39- game tournament at $50 million. Gene Orza of the major league players union, said the event could wind up losing money. The participating teams, Cuba included, had their expenses paid for.

But of course, we all know that Cuba is about propaganda, about making themselves look like the good guys and USA like the bad guys, making the Cuban regime look like the good benevolent victim. Well the gig is up. They went as far as telling reporters in the US to include the money donation in their stories.

Before the Havana team left San Diego, site of the championship game, Cuban spokesman Pedro Cabrera told reporters that the team would be donating tournament proceeds to Hurricane Katrina victims and asked reporters to include that in their stories. Cuban manager Higinio Velez made a similar claim before the tournament began.

Now, where are all those who hailed The Bearded Stooge's goodwill? Know that it was all a lie, a blatant lie, a manipulation, a propaganda tool. You were all duped, used by the Cuban government's propaganda machine. YUP. Lied to, taken advantage of. How do you feel now?

Cuba, Baseball, Katrina, WBC, MLB