MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Baseball is the national pastime of Venezuela, but the sport has been hit hard by the country's long-running economic crisis and the increasingly authoritarian government. As John Otis reports, the latest sign of trouble was the mass defection of Venezuelan baseball players to Europe.
JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: An under-23 Venezuelan baseball team was supposed to play tournaments last month in Italy and Spain. But after the team's manager fell ill and returned to Venezuela, 19 of his players suddenly showed up at a police station in Barcelona, where they petitioned for asylum.
HERBERT GONZALEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: "We made this decision on our own," one of the players, Herbert Gonzalez, said in a social media post. "We hope Spain gives us the chance to fulfill our potential in the sport of baseball."
Unlike Cuba, where defecting athletes must sneak out of the country, Venezuelan ballplayers can come and go as they please. Although the under-23 team is betting on Spain, most Venezuelan players try to pursue their dreams in the baseball mecca of the United States.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #1: Acuna's got the big arm. The throw into third base is there, waiting for him. They got him.
OTIS: For decades, Venezuela has supplied Major League teams with hundreds of players. Some become superstars, like Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros and Ronald Acuna Jr. He's the Atlanta Braves' outfielder who, in 2023, was named National League MVP and who often wows TV sportscasters.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #2: Ronald Acuna Jr. is showing you why he might be the best player in baseball.
OTIS: Still, the sport is feeling the pain of Venezuela's worst economic meltdown in history - a crisis that convinced nearly 8 million people to migrate overseas. Twenty-three Major League Baseball teams used to operate training camps in Venezuela to groom local talent. But political instability, rising crime and food shortages prompted them to relocate to the Dominican Republic.
MARI MONTES: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: Baseball writer Mari Montes says Venezuelan players who signed contracts with Major League clubs come under pressure to give some of that cash to criminal gangs who threaten them and their families. Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's authoritarian president, who's widely accused of stealing last year's election, is also throwing his weight around.
MONTES: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: Montes says that when Venezuelan players - even big leaguers - express support for the country's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, they have received threatening messages from Maduro cronies.
MONTES: Be quiet. Be silent. Don't talk about Maduro's regime. Don't talk about Maria Corina.
OTIS: NPR reached out to Maduro's press office, but there was no response.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #3: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: Yet, for all of its problems, Venezuela still produces more big leaguers than any other foreign country, except for the Dominican Republic.
IGNACIO SERRANO: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: One reason, says TV sportscaster Ignacio Serrano, is that scores of Venezuelan-run baseball training camps have sprung up to replace those shut down by Major League clubs. Serrano also points to another factor.
SERRANO: Remember - baseball is the national pastime, but also a way to run away from the poverty.
OTIS: Indeed, just like the under-23 team in Spain, legions of Venezuelan youngsters see baseball as a means of escape. For NPR News, I'm John Otis. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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