Cuban and US officials to meet on baseball-report

CNN February 11, 1999 Cuban and US officials to meet on baseball-report
                  BALTIMORE (Reuters) -- U.S. and Cuban officials, facing a deadlock in
                  their plans for "baseball diplomacy," could meet as early as Thursday in a bid
                  to stop the games from being put off until another year, baseball sources
                  said.

                  But with Havana and Washington still divided by a wall of mistrust, sports
                  representatives from the two sides were not expected to make much
                  progress in cementing arrangements for a pair of exhibition games between
                  the Baltimore Orioles and Cuba's national team.

The games tentatively have been set for March 28 in Havana and for April 3
in Baltimore's Camden Yards stadium.

                  Officials from the Orioles baseball club hoped to find out from Cuban
                  representatives whether the communist-ruled nation still wanted to proceed
                  with the games.

                  With the Orioles due to begin spring training on Feb. 19 in Fort Lauderdale,
                  Florida, baseball officials would like to have plans firmed up this week.
                  Much more delay could end hopes for an exhibition series this year.

                  The United States and Cuba, who have been bitter political foes since the
                  1959 revolution of President Fidel Castro, each fear the other will gain too
                  much of a public relations advantage from the human drama provided by
                  baseball.

                  An agreement would need approval from Major League Baseball and the
                  Major League Baseball Players Association. Anti-Castro members of
                  Congress already have urged the players union to oppose the exhibition
                  plan.

                  The Baltimore Sun, which first reported the prospect for a new meeting on
                  Thursday, said little has happened since Orioles owner Peter Angelos and
                  representatives of Major League Baseball met with President Bill Clinton's
                  national security adviser, Sandy Berger, at the White House on Jan. 29.

                  Angelos, who has been pressing for the games since 1996 and who travelled
                  to Havana last month in hopes of setting them up, was not available to
                  comment. The Orioles had no comment.

                  The Sun quoted U.S. officials as saying the Clinton administration would
                  decide whether to issue a license allowing the games to proceed, after
                  finding out from the Orioles whether Cuba still favoured the plan.

                  Baseball officials have said they want the Clinton administration to provide a
                  unified position on how proceeds from the exhibition games can be used.
                  Without U.S. flexibility on the question, the Orioles would not be able to win
                  agreement from Havana.

The White House wants money from gate receipts and broadcast rights to
go to a nongovernmental charity in Cuba.

                  Havana wants to send profits to Central American victims of Hurricane
                  Mitch. A main stumbling block has been Clinton administration demands that
                  proceeds from the Havana game not benefit the Castro government.