Illustrative image taken from @MMarreroCruz.

Havana, March 7 (RHC)-- Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz highlighted on Tuesday Cubans' passion for baseball, and affirmed that for the V World Classic of that sport, the country will closely follow the performance of the national team.

In a message on the social network Twitter, the head of government stressed that the team of the largest Antillean island, whose debut in the competition will be on this day against the Netherlands, has players from the MLB (in Spanish: Major League Baseball), something he described as historic, and said that sport breaks down barriers.

"Let those bats sound, boys, our ajiaco is respected," Marrero Cruz told the members of the team that will play its first game at 11:00 p.m. (Cuban time) at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium in Taipei, China.

Last December, the U.S. Government granted permission for athletes of Cuban origin with residence in that country to integrate the Cuban team for the V World Baseball Classic, and finally Major League stars Luis Robert Moirán, Yoan M. Moncada and Andy Ibáñez were approved in the roster.

Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, president of the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), denounced on that occasion that it is arbitrary and discriminatory that a permit from the U.S. administration is needed for the organizers of a sporting event to guarantee Cuba's participation.