Alfonso Urquiola takes charge of Panama's national selection for the 2021 Caribbean Series

January 12, 2021

The Cuban manager Alfonso Urquiola will be the manager of the Panama team that will play in the 2021 Caribbean Series, which will take place from January 31 to February 6 next in Mazatlán, Mexico, reported this Tuesday the Professional Baseball League of Panama (PROBEIS).

"The decision to designate Alfonso Urquiola to manage Panama was based on his merits as a coach and his knowledge of Panamanian baseball," David Salayandia, president of PROBEIS, told EFE.

"He has already managed Panama's national team in regional competitions and it cannot be overlooked that he knows well the matter of managing in a Caribbean Series, where he was already a champion with Cuba," the executive emphasized.

Urquiola won the Caribbean Series with the Vegueros de Pinar del Río team in the 2015 edition in Puerto Rico, while in Panama he managed in national tournaments the provinces of Chiriquí and Los Santos.

PROBEIS was unable to celebrate its 2020-2021 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so it had to make a combined team of national and foreign players that were on the lists of the four participating teams to compete in the annual regional event.

The institution advanced this Tuesday the list of 28 preselected players to face the tournament, where the name of the Panamanian major leaguer with the Boston Red Sox, Jonathan Arauz, stands out.

The executive reported that Urquiola will arrive in Panama on Wednesday and that training for the pre-selection will begin next Saturday at Rod Carew National Stadium in "bubble" mode, following all the biosecurity protocols of the Panamanian Ministry of Health.

In addition to the preliminary roster, the league is awaiting some permits it has requested from Panamanian players, such as pitcher Javier Guerra, from the San Diego Padres, and catcher Iván Herrera, from the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Panamanian team is scheduled to travel to Mexico on January 30 to face its first game the next day against the Venezuelan representative.

At the beginning of 2020, the Cuban state National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) expressed its concern because the Caribbean Baseball Confederation (CBPC) did not mention Cuba among the teams invited to the 2021 Caribbean Series.

According to a statement published on the official Jit website, the CBPC decided to include Colombia and Panama as special guests to the tournament, but would have ignored "Nicaragua's request" to be included and did not mention Cuba.

INDER's complaint appeared after the Government called the organizers of the regional tournament "liars and slanderers," who blamed the Island's authorities for their absence from the Baseball Caribbean Series held in February 2020 in Puerto Rico.

Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez himself wrote on his Twitter account that "Cuban sports" were also being "attacked by the empire," after mentioning the alleged "obstacles" put in place by the CBPC against Cuba due to "pressure from the USA".