Almost every day, I talk to him via the Internet, which is like saying that almost every day I discuss baseball with him, because there is no way that our friendship, from childhood, youth, and part of old age, is not sprinkled by that sport that saw us grow and witnessed our friendship, "forever and ever", as he described it in his first message after "moving" from the neighborhood.

He in Florida, United States, less than a year ago, and I in our Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, since our whole lives, we talked about everything, except political issues.

For the record, it is not because our essential concepts are different, but because, from his point of view, "in politics we all believe we are right and it's not worth arguing."

That is why his message on Monday morning caused me surprise, since, although I expected it, when I read it I verified that, for once, the internals of the baeball game between Cuba and the United States was not the central axis. I am not going to reproduce the 16 paragraphs that he dedicated to the subject, but I am going to reproduce a summary that reflects his state of mind after the Sunday night event.

“You must already imagine how I suffered last night with our defeat. I knew it was very difficult to beat the Americans. They have a tremendous team. Nevertheless, my anger is not only because of the failure, but because of the offenses that the players had to endure from their own Cuban countrymen.

“Last night, I learned that there is a factory here in Miami and that it leaves a lot, but a lot of money to its owners. The product they make is that we hate each other more and more, here and there. The more hate, the more profit. I always told you that politics is the most disgusting thing there is. Well, last night I was disgusted."

This time my friend spared me the comments, although the statement that struck me the most was his farewell phrase: "here, there were more of us who wanted to win than those who looked like hyenas applauding defeat."