Defectors featured in Cuban baseball video game

HAVANA (AFP) – Havana on Tuesday debuted a baseball video game which includes famous Cuban-born defectors long expunged from official memory here after they abandoned the Communist island to play in the United States.

The country's first baseball video game, MVP Cuba 1.0, features a number of Cuban stars who triumphed in the US major leagues, including star pitchers Orlando Hernandez -- nicknamed "El Duque" -- and Jose Contreras.

The game was unveiled at a state information science center over the weekend, according to Juventud Rebelde daily newspaper.

Livan Hernandez and Kendry Morales also figure in the game, as does Yadel Marti, who defected from the Caribbean island last December to pursue a professional baseball career in the United States.

"It's wise to include them. They're Cuban players who are giving prestige to Cuban baseball abroad, even though they're censored here," a young Cuban requesting anonymity told AFP.

Baseball, a national passion, is one of the sports hardest hit by defections in Cuba, which eliminated professional leagues in 1961.

Experts from the Havana University of Information Science and the COCO sports radio program adapted the video game, which fields 30 virtual teams, 16 of which face off in the Cuban championship.

The creators of the game underscored difficulties surrounding its official release, without giving details.

But Cubans waited five years before they were finally last December allowed to view on the big screen the movie "Fuera de Liga," a 2003 baseball documentary including several defectors.