``There's great excitement,'' said one Havana resident, even though
the government-controlled media has reported nothing on the Series or the
Marlins' Hernandez, a Cuban
who defected two years ago.
``Everyone is looking for a radio that can get Radio Marti, trying to figure out if they can re-orient or boost their television antennas to get the Miami stations,'' said the Havana man, who asked for anonymity.
``Sure we'll be watching it,'' Sergio Yirat said. ``People here enjoy the World Series and especially the Marlins -- and all the more so with a Cuban playing.''
Some families in tall Havana buildings and in several towns along the coast east of the capital that often get Miami TV are offering guests seats for up to $10.
Havana residents also could pick up some of the Miami Spanish language radio stations that were broadcasting the game or running commentaries.
Cubans are upset over the government's refusal to let Hernandez's mother, Miriam Carreras, go to the United States to see him pitch. Washington granted her a U.S. visa last week, but she needs a Cuban exit permit.
``People are very angry over that,'' one journalist in Havana said. ``That is pure foolishness.''
The scramble for ways to watch or listen to Game 5 of the World Series was on because government-run Cuban Television was not planning to show the game locally, even though baseball is Cuba's most popular sport.
The U.S. government's Radio and Television Marti planned to broadcast the game, but Cuba regularly jams the two as ``enemy propaganda.'' NBC News reported TV Marti was blocked Thursday night, but Radio Marti was thought to go through.
Cuba jammed Radio Marti's live call of Hernandez's first World Series appearance Saturday, a victory over the Cleveland Indians.
That left Cubans with few options for watching the game.
Some fans were heading for Playas del Este, a string of white sand beaches east of Havana where some Miami TV and radio stations can be picked up.
Many fans also were considering going to hotel bars, or even renting hotel rooms, in hopes the game would be shown on the special satellite TV circuit available to most tourist hotels but not to average Cubans.
``It's $80 for the room, so eight of us could pay $10 each. But if the game is not on, each of us would lose almost a month's wage,'' said one dentist in Havana who earns the equivalent of $13 a month.
There are two other little-known places in Cuba that often can receive U.S. television and TV Marti.
One is the hillside suburbs surrounding the city of Santiago, 700 miles east of Havana. The other is the area around the city of Guantanamo, some 40 miles farther east.
Families in both those areas regularly watch U.S. television shows broadcast by the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo, and sometimes even get broadcasts from nearby Jamaica, residents said.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald