By Full Swing
In Cuba there is a saying that when a leader is replaced from his position by a bad job he ends up benefiting from the consequence. In other words: “explode up.”
Of course, there are a few examples of the opposite effect, as is the case of Heriberto Suárez from Pinar del Río, the man who inaugurated the position in 2014 with the name of National Baseball Director (before he was basically known as National Commissioner).
For two years, Heriberto was in this role after serving as Director of INDER in his native Pinar del Río. For many people, his management was highly questionable, and perhaps his main contribution was in defending the celebration of the first and so far only colloquium of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame that allowed the selection of ten members to the virtual venue.
However, the following year with him at the head of the Commission, it was when this project was suspended indefinitely, which to this day has not been resumed for purely political reasons.
Without sufficient knowledge in the field of baseball, with a lack of organization, serious internal divisions, lack of courage to face problems of all kinds and achieve a good debate with their superiors in the face of unfair decisions, it was combined with other elements such as the lack of transparency in their treatment of players, coaches and journalists.
By 2017, the position of National Baseball Director had been deserted with INDER’s decision to remove Heriberto, which although many thought it was a punishment for his poor management, shortly afterwards it became evident that the opinion “above” was different. Suárez was chosen to lead the mission of Cuban collaborators in Peru, no less than in the middle of the cycle towards the Pan-American Games that would precisely host the capital of the Andean country.
But Heriberto did not last long in his new role and shortly thereafter he would regress considerably in the typical ladder of levels of cadres and leaders. Some coaches point out that in Peruvian lands he was persecuted by many of the mistakes made from Cuba, and although in theory this type of foreign duties may seem easier, there was a decrease in most of the parameters that had his direct responsibility.
After having left Pinar del Río with his promotions to DNB and Head of Mission in Peru, the controversial official returned to a lower position than he had before directing the Cuban ball.
It was the post of provincial commissioner in a province that, although it has an enormous tradition, does not escape from great socio-economic complexities that make the panorama extremely difficult and now with fewer possibilities of all kinds to try to improve in the vast majority aspects.
Many people today may wonder how, with so many adverse opinions and well-known errors in his different functions, Heriberto continues to walk around the INDER environment.
Unfortunately, this has been a reality in Cuba, and there is also the totally true fact that there are not many who are willing to assume management positions, because the benefit is limited in most cases while honesty is in the middle, and as Many times that is left in the way, there are those who fear a disastrous end due to corruption. Many problems, yes, it is the best guarantee of having responsibilities on the Island, so that those few with a little more preparation than former athletes of low and medium cultural level (the percentage is high) are relocated again and again, although many times fall into a specialty they don’t know much about.
So it is with Heriberto Suarez and with many more, so it is not surprising that tomorrow we will see him heading again beyond Pinar del Río. Maybe not in baseball, but nobody stops him from doing it in any other discipline or taking a plane again to try a regular to good leadership in a country with ties to Cubadeportes. With him and with INDER, practically everything is possible.