Sigfredo Barros Dies, Journalist Specialized in Sports Topics

July 22, 2021

On Monday, July 19, journalist Sigfredo Barros passed away, a reporter for decades at the newspaper Granma, specialized in sports topics, fundamentally baseball.

With a recognized trajectory in the profession, he received in 2018 the Lifetime Achievement Award granted by Inder, for his commitment to ethics and dedication to faithfully serve and represent the Cuban sports movement.

The death of a friend is not accepted, less so when the fact catches us by surprise, as in the case of Sigfredo Barros Segrera, at 75 years old, notable sports columnist of this newspaper for more than five decades, expressed Alfredo Nacianceno.

A graduate in Physical Culture and Sports with extensive knowledge in this specialty, he gradually approached the newspaper Granma in days of long work and began covering disciplines such as rowing, fencing, cycling and others of lesser importance.

He quickly became a trusted man in the Sports department to whom one could entrust a piece or an analysis of any specialty that he would quickly and accurately put on the editor's desk.

His passion for statistics led him to baseball, in which he finally became a first-class writer demanded by the fans.

His dedication to that sport became a daily religion, as in previous years he had to write two different pieces on the same day for the same number of editions that the newspaper had.

He thus achieved mastery in informing the population, in addition to the news, his well-known section Mirones, where he spoke even of technical matters and participated in special television programs.

For his quality he was sent as a special correspondent to baseball competitions and other sports abroad. Among them, to cite the most important, he covered the first two World Baseball Classics, Pan-American championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

These same coverage assignments led him to win awards and mentions in the Upec Manuel González Barros sports chronicle contest, in addition to always being recognized by Inder.

He held the decorations Martyrs of Barbados and Félix Elmuza and was a member of the Party.