Arozarena has split loyalties
Tampa Bay star grew up in Cuba, defected to Mexico
Randy Arozarena was born in Arroyos de Mantua, a small town on the northwest coast of Cuba, a 41⁄ 2- hour drive from Havana. He has fond memories of dancing in the streets and playing soccer, his first love, with his brothers and his friends. He remembers his father watching him play for the Vegueros de Pinar del Río, a professional Cuban baseball team. His nickname is El Cohete Cubano (“The Cuban Rocket”).
Make no mistake, Arozarena is Cuban. But deep down, his heart has become intertwined with the country only 30 minutes away from San Diego’s Petco Park, where he has starred over the past two weeks and powered the Tampa Bay Rays to within one win of the World Series.
Mexico is where Arozarena, 25, found a home after fleeing Cuba on a small boat five years ago, where his daughter was born two years ago and where he started a journey that vaulted him to the major leagues last year. And one day, he hopes to wear the country ’s uniform in international competitions.
“I feel like I represent Mexico,” he said in Spanish during a recent interview. “I have a daughter in Mexico, and I’d do it in honor of her and for the part of my career that I spent in Mexico and for all the friends I’ve made in Mexico.”
Arozarena’s experience is familiar to many of his fellow Cuban-born players in Major League Baseball. The island is their homeland, but dozens have escaped the communist country to chase their dreams, often putting their lives in the hands of smugglers or taking harrowing boat rides.
After Arozarena said his father died unexpectedly of an allergic reaction to shellfish in 2014 and he began feeling alienated by his team in Cuba — he was left off Pinar del Río’s roster for the 2015 Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico despite hitting .291 as officials feared he might defect — he decided that he needed to leave to provide for his mother and two younger brothers.
“At 19, I earned more than my mom,” Arozarena said. In his first season in Cuba, he said, he made $4 a month and then eventually $38 a month.
So in June 2015, Arozarena said, he took an eight-hour boat ride to Isla Mujeres, just off the coast from Cancún.
Arozarena wants to become a Mexican citizen. He said he had already taken the citizenship test and was waiting to hear back in order to apply for a passport.
“I’m Cuban, but it’d be an honor for me to represent Mexico,” he said, “and for my daughter.”