Miami, FL
WATCH: Venezuela fans in Miami celebrate World Baseball Classic triumph over USA
Pablo Cuerta was watching batting practice before the U.S.-Venezuela championship game at the World Baseball Classic, when the realization hit him.
He couldn’t lose.
There were thousands of Venezuelans at the game in Miami on Tuesday night. There were thousands of Americans at the game as well. And some — like Cuerta, a Venezuelan-American — got to basically cheer for both sides. His shirt: a Venezuela jersey. His hat: the Venezuelan team cap. And draped over his shoulders, tied across his chest: the U.S. flag.
“I was born in Venezuela, and this country gave me the opportunity to come, to be a citizen,” said Cuerta, who drove from his home near Orlando for the final days of the tournament in Miami. “I appreciate both countries, you know. One, I was born in Venezuela. And two, this one gave me everything I’ve got. So, I’m proud to have both countries.”
Venezuela won 3-2, taking the WBC title for the first time. And when the game ended, loanDepot Park became one giant, deafening roar. Venezuela might have been the visiting country, and the visiting team on the scoreboard, but a very Latin-flavored crowd in Miami sure made the new champions feel right at home.
IN PHOTOS: From Caracas to Miami, Venezuela fans celebrate World Baseball Classic win
“This is a celebration for all of the Venezuelan country,” said designated hitter Eugenio Suárez, who drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the ninth inning.
As they have throughout the tournament, Venezuelan fans showed up in a big way to see their team in Miami; all seven of Venezuela’s games at the WBC were played inside the Miami Marlins’ ballpark. From the outset, these unusual political times — Venezuela’s deposed leader Nicolás Maduro is currently jailed in New York and facing drug trafficking charges, after American forces executed a military operation in Venezuela earlier this year to capture him — have not had much of an effect on the joy Venezuelans have for this event, even with it being played on U.S. soil.
When both flags were brought to home plate as part of the pregame ceremony, the building seemed to shake with noise.
“Super emotional with Venezuela and being here for the championship game. This is beyond sport. It is well deserved,” said Argenis Masiaf, a Miami resident who had the Venezuelan flag painted on his face for the game. “We have lived through many difficult things inside our country. This is the moment for Venezuela to accomplish something so special and memorable.”
Venezuela’s players and coaches tried to avoid all political talk throughout the tournament. They’ve said in many ways that they’re at the WBC to play baseball, and manager Omar López reiterated that sentiment before the final.
López did, however, acknowledge how much the WBC has meant to the baseball-mad South American country.
“Together we are going to have better generations for our country, united with no color, political colors or ideology,” López said. “We have people with double citizenship. … Baseball is one of the best tools or ways to educate a country. Discipline, dedication, determination.
“If you don’t believe in that, you should start believing. You have to believe in that. Thirty human beings today are going to unite Venezuela through a baseball game.”
He was right.
In Caracas — Venezuela’s capital and highest-populated city — the streets were empty Tuesday night. Everyone was watching baseball. Thousands of people, many of them children, gathered at a public plaza to watch the game, many dancing and waving Venezuelan flags.
“Long live Venezuela! Truly, I am very happy,” acting President Delcy Rodriguez said after the game. “I want, on behalf of our people and the government of Venezuela, to thank and embrace each one of our players.”
The party kept going after the final out. Bands played, flags waved and some fans cried — both in Caracas and Miami.
“The USA is (the) best country in the world,” Enrique Cabrera, a retired teacher, screamed over the din of a celebration that basically became a human parking lot along the right-field concourse at loanDepot Park after the game. “But Venezuela is the best at baseball.”
In Venezuela, a deeply divided nation, baseball is one of the few activities that bring together young and old no matter their political beliefs.
Take 75-year-old Miguel Blanco for example. He traveled roughly 43 miles (70 kilometers) to watch the game with other fans at the plaza in Caracas because his home was without power for 12 hours Monday and he did not want to risk missing the game if another outage — a frequent occurrence — took place.
And 26-year-old Ashley Peña, a youth organizer in Caracas, said the game gave Venezuelans a much-needed distraction.
“This is a moment for every Venezuelan to regain faith,” she said. “Wherever we are in any country, we are all supporting the national team.”
Josh Rojas, a student from Utah, was outside the stadium three hours before first pitch Tuesday, soaking up the atmosphere. He had a “V” for Venezuela painted on both sides of his face, proudly carrying a flag as well.
“Me and my family knew Venezuela would make a good run, so we came,” Rojas said. “Man, it’s meant everything. I’m a Latino American, and it’s just making me more proud of my Latin heritage. It’s just awesome to see a whole country, a whole community come together to support this country through baseball.”
Jaci Douglas said she “hates” baseball. The medical student from Pennsylvania viewed Tuesday’s game as something well beyond sport.
“My mother is Venezuelan. I have in-laws who are Venezuelans,” Douglas said. “They’re all here tonight and they told me that if I miss this, I’d regret it. … It’s an event.”
Cuerta left Venezuela eight years ago, but knew even before Tuesday’s game what this WBC run meant to his homeland.
“When we’re born, that’s the first thing your parents do. Before they send you to school, they send you to the field,” Cuerta said. “That’s what they mean when they say it’s in our blood.”
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Associated Press Reporter Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela contributed.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Two separate tragic incidents in Miami’s waters — both tied to prominent local real estate figures and which each ended in the death of a teen — are headed for very different legal outcomes.
Commercial broker George Pino, CEO of Doral-based State Street Realty, faces a felony vessel homicide charge, and his attorneys recently filed a slew of court motions seeking to keep statements made by Pino and other information related to his alleged alcohol consumption before the crash from being mentioned by prosecutors during his trial, slated to start on June 1, the Miami Herald reported.
Pino was steering the boat on Biscayne Bay on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend in 2022 with 14 occupants, including his wife, daughter and 11 other teenage girls when the craft crashed into a concrete channel marker. The crash killed 17-year-old Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez and left Katerina “Katy” Puig, now 21, with a lifetime of physical disabilities.
Pino’s defense team is asking the court to exclude during trial a statement he made to an investigator the night of the crash that the wake of a larger boat headed toward his vessel and caused the crash.
His attorneys are asking Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez to bar testimony from the jury trial that recounts a witness’ statement that Pino had bloodshot eyes the night of the crash and that he had told police he had had “two beers” that day. The defense also wants to preclude the jury from hearing that Pino’s boat contained 61 empty alcohol containers when it was pulled out from the water after the crash.
Pino had given some of his statements to police and an investigator before he was read his Miranda rights, according to his attorneys.
Pino’s attorneys also filed motions to dismiss the criminal charges or to move the trial to Palm Beach or Orlando due to extensive media coverage of the crash in Miami-Dade County.
Pino originally faced misdemeanor charges of careless boating, but prosecutors issued the more serious vessel homicide charge in 2024 after a witness came forward.
This year, a neurologist issued a report on whether Pino had suffered a traumatic brain injury, causing amnesia and false memories for his recollection of the incident. The neurologist was hired by Pino’s attorneys, indicating they may use the doctor’s testimony in the trial.
In another fatal incident in Miami’s waters that devastated the real estate community and the city as a whole, 15-year-old Ella Riley Adler –– daughter of Adler Real Estate Partners’ Matthew Adler –– died in a 2024 incident. Adler was wakeboarding in May 2024 in waters off Key Biscayne. She had fallen off her wakeboard when another boat struck her.
The captain of the yacht that was towing the 15-year-old struck a plea deal, the Miami Herald reported.
Edmund Richard Hartley pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of navigational rule violations. Under the plea deal, prosecutors dropped two other misdemeanor charges, and Hartley was ordered to complete a boating safety course, barred from steering a vessel for 60 days starting next month, and was sentenced to six months probation. For the second charge, he also faces a second six-month probation term, though prosecutors could terminate this if he completes the first term. In addition, no criminal conviction will appear on Hartley’s record.
Adler’s parents approved of the plea deal, though Matthew Adler told Hartley during a court hearing on Tuesday that he should have been more cautious.
“At just 15 years old, Ella was flourishing. Her final year was in many ways her happiest and most exciting,” Matthew Adler said in court, the publication reported. “She was thriving academically, participating in debate, performing in the school musical ‘Chicago’ and growing into an exceptional young woman with limitless potential ahead of her.”
The captain of the boat that struck Adler, Carlos Guillermo “Bill” Alonso, also received a deal, pleading guilty to misdemeanor careless boating charges. He was sentenced to six months of probation and ordered to complete a boater safety course.
The Adler family started the Ella Ridley Adler Foundation that supports Jewish life, education and art. —Lidia Dinkova
Miami, FL
Carlos Vives Pours Colombian Pride Into Miami With Tour Al Sol: ‘It Is Important to Be in This City’
Miami’s Kaseya Center filled up with sombrero vueltiaos and Colombian flags to receive Carlos Vives’ Tour Al Sol on Saturday night (May 23).
At 9 p.m. sharp, three large screens — including a round one in the center that represented a sun (hence the tour’s name) — lit up the sold-out arena: “We all need the sun to be happy,” Vives’ voice recited in an intro video.
In the conceptual two-hour show, the Colombian star took spectators on a journey through the solar system all the way to infinity, but “in my homeland, the sun hits incredibly hard,” he continued in the clip before he got on stage.
Flaunting a black denim jacket and jeans, and his bouncy, signature dirty blond curls, Vives kicked off the concert with “Volví a Nacer,” followed by “La Bicicleta” and “Canción Bonita.”
“How are you, Miami? The city of all,” he said. “For me, it is important to be in this city. Music took me around the world — not to become more famous, but to show my family what lay beyond Colombia. I have been singing for many years, and one learns who it is they sing for: my country, my land, my people, my region.”
Throughout the night, Vives, who was joined by 11 musicians, also serenaded fans with his vallenato and cumbia classics, including “La Gota Fria,” “El Cantor de Fonseca,” “Carito,” “Pa’ Mate,” “Cuando Nos Volvamos a Encontrar,” “Fruta Fresca” and “Robarte un Beso.”
Among his notable surprise guests were Niña Pastori for a performance of “Sombra Perdida”; Sergio George for “Si yo volviera a nacer”; Grupo Niche for the salsa-cumbia version of “La Tierra del Olvido”; and Fonseca for “Quiero verte sonreir.”
“Each show of Tour al Sol will be a concert from sunrise to sunset — a journey through the emotions of music that moves with the sun,” Vives previously told Billboard Español. “In short, Tour al Sol is a concert with the sun of La Provincia.”
The Tour Al Sol, which kicked off April 16 in Toronto, will wrap June 5 at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan.
Last season, the Cinderella run to Super Regionals as the No. 3 seed was just the start of what the Miami Hurricanes baseball program could return to under J.D. Arteaga.
This season, the Canes finished with a 38-18 record and in fifth place in the conference, while playing like a two seed all season, ranking as high as No. 17 in the country before falling out and remaining in the low 20s to high 30s in their RPI rankings.
However, the Canes’ goals have always been to get to Omaha, and now they know where their journey begins as they look to make that dream a reality. Moreover, that reality can quickly change overnight.
Arteaga highlighted this after the Canes’ loss to eventual ACC Baseball Championship winners Georgia Tech. It’s the survive-and-advance season.
“It’s not another chance tomorrow,” Arteaga said. “So that’s something we talked about coming into this is understanding what a loss at this point of the season means. It’s kind of a practice run this week. If we lose we’re out of the tournament but we got a chance to dress out and compete next weekend. Next weekend we lose and then season’s over and for some guys their careers are over. So a learning lesson that we can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to show up, we’ve got to be ready to go for nine innings every game.”
The Hurricanes land in the Gainesville Regional. They have a chance to redeem themselves after the series loss early in the season, while also having a chance of making it out and having a strong Super Regional hosting chance in the 8th seed pod.
This story will be updated with game dates and times once the NCAA bracket is fully revealed on Monday morning.
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