Baseball: Player Yadián Martínez was promised a home six years ago

Havana/One of the figures of Mayabeque, pitcher Yadián Martínez, is still waiting for the home he was promised six years ago. The complaint from the ruling party came through journalist Pavel Otero, who posted photos of the unfinished work on his networks: concrete blocks without a roof and in the middle of a weed that grows day by day. “Martínez has been in need of housing for several years, and is still swimming in the turbulent waters of bureaucracy and unfulfilled promises,” the communicator stressed.

“This is a lack of respect towards an athlete who has dedicated his career to Cuban baseball,” stressed the Facebook space Somos los Cachorros de Holguín. “We are talking about the most important pitcher in his province, a man who has defended the colors of Cuba at the international level,” he pointed out.

“The matter is serious, although it is not an isolated procedure. Hundreds of baseball players and Cubans in general are involved in similar difficulties,” explained the specialized media Swing Completo.

The baseball player, who is in Canada fulfilling a contract agreed upon by the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) with Kitchener Panteras, was promised a home by the management of the province of Mayabeque and was granted the land six years ago, but in the last three years there has been no progress. “At that rate, Yadián is retiring and he still won’t have his home,” Otero ironically said.

The communicator recognized the difficult economic situation that the Island is experiencing, but “it is irritating that they use it as an excuse to justify everything” and regretted that the Mayabeque directors “cannot give a finished house to the main pitcher that the province has.”

“If there is no home built, can’t they offer you a disused location that has good construction conditions and can be quickly adapted to a habitable home, without having to start manufacturing from scratch?” questioned Otero while warning that due to omissions, several baseball players emigrate and are granted in other provinces what they are not granted in their place of origin.

The communicator recalled that baseball players with a salary of 3,500 pesos can do little on their own, “one of the lowest figures on the country’s salary list.” At the current exchange rate it is around five dollars. Especially when a carton of eggs is priced at 3,000 pesos and a knob of oil at 1,500 pesos..

The breach of promises to athletes is not new on the Island. In July 2025, it was revealed that the coach of the five-time Olympic champion Mijaín López and other medalists, Raul Trujillothe National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) gave him a vehicle with more than 190,000 kilometers traveled and worn tires.

A unit, denounced by retired fighter Roly Dámaso, with “three 14 wheels and one 16 (tires), without spare rubber, in addition to the fact that the tires are smooth and has two visible dents on the body.”

Months before, in March, the Olympic boxing champion, the Cuban Erislandy Alvarezcriticized the delivery of vehicles with defects that Inder made days ago to encourage its outstanding athletes. “Why tag me in that delivery if what they gave me was shit,” the boxer posted on Facebook and shortly after deleted the post. The boxer had to invest more than $5,000 to get it in acceptable condition.