Cuba’s baseball team beat its U.S. counterpart 3-1 in the finals of the Pan American Games today. While Fidel Castro, a huge baseball fan claimed the match up between rich and poor countries was “unfair”, he must have been delighted to see the results.

The game, originally scheduled for yesterday, was postponed because of rain, giving Fidel a moment to reflect on the match before it happened in his column:

In many countries, athletes do not even compete for their own nation. Some of them earn up to 102 million dollars a year, more than the owner of a large sugar mill. Cuba only has her own athletes, and they are not professionals. It is an unfair contest.

Cuban players were indeed happy that whatever unfairness existed was overcome, and the team’s manager went so far as to say that they owe success to Fidel’s mention of them in his column: “The words of the Commander are like an injection into our veins; el jefe mentioned us,” he said. Castro’s son is part of the team — he’s the team doctor.

Via / 20 Minutos and Prensa Latina