Seven years ago, Red Sox pitcher Roenis Elias risked up to 30 years in prison when he fled Cuba in hopes of making a baseball career for himself in the United States.
At the time, Cuba was led by the late Fidel Castro, who ruled like a tyrant, controlling every aspect of the island. If Elias was going to leave Cuba, he wasn't going to do it under the Communist country's watch. That's why when Castro died in November, people around the world celebrated his death.
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Elias was not one of them.
In his first comments since Castro's passing, Elias criticized the reception people had toward his death.
"I didn’t really like the reaction some people had,” said Elias through translator Daveson Perez, via WEEI in Boston. “They were happy he passed away. But at the end of the day, someone who, in though it was a little bit, helped me out when I was living there for 21 years. I had a normal day when he passed away. I just didn’t like how some people were happy he passed away, because he’s a person, too.
“Good or bad, I think he definitely helped a lot of people who are living here today. People who lived in Cuba ate his food, they took what was given to them. To have a party, all of a sudden, during his passing doesn’t seem right to me.”
Elias is not alone, Castro's mixed legacy will be debated for years to come. While he tirelessly defended the poor, he forced Cuba into economic ruin and withheld basic freedoms from millions of Cubans.