The president of the Cuban Baseball Federation, Higinio Vélez, died this Wednesday in Havana at the age of 74 from covid-19, that entity reported in a press release.
Vélez is the second loss of the directors of Cuba’s national sport due to this virus, after the death of National Commissioner Ernesto Reynoso, on April 27, at the age of 56.
“Faithful to his warrior ancestry, he battled for days against the complications derived from covid-19 that ended up causing his death despite the efforts of the specialists who treated him,” said the text published in the digital sports newspaper Jit.
Vélez led the Cuban baseball team in the 1987 and 2003 Pan American Games, the 2001, 2003 and 2005 world cups, and the 2004 Athens Olympics, the note recalled.
He was also behind the team that raised the subtitle in the I World Classic, considered a climax in Cuban baseball history.
He held the command of the National Sports Directorate between 2007 and 2014, and the presidency of the Cuban Federation since 2008 to which he added international responsibilities, including that of vice president of the Pan American Confederation.
During the recent 60th national baseball series and the preparation of Cuban athletes for the Tokyo games, there have been several cases of contagion of covid-19. Reynoso and Vélez are the first sports figures to die in the country from this disease.
Cuba has registered a rebound in covid-19 cases in recent months, although it continues to maintain a better situation than its neighbors, with 119,375 positive cases and 768 deaths since March of last year. (AFP) (GG)