Julio César La Cruz Loses Fight, Receives Encouragement from Díaz-Canel

Julio César La Cruz, the two-time Olympic champion and flag bearer for the Cuban delegation at Paris 2024, lost his fight this Sunday against Cuban-Azeri Loren Berto Alfonso Domínguez. In response, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel sent him a message of encouragement via social media.

"Keep your head up, champion! In sports, as in life, you win and lose. You have given much glory to Cuba with 2 Olympic titles and 5 world championships. Recover soon and continue supporting your teammates and the rest of the delegation. A big hug, captain!" wrote the Cuban leader.

Dual Focus: Paris Olympics and Venezuelan Elections

With one eye on the Paris Olympics and the other on the Venezuelan election day, Díaz-Canel, who is also the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, is experiencing a Sunday filled with emotions that could end in tears and confusion for the Cuban regime.

While the captain of the Cuban delegation showed a poor performance in the ring, lacking initiative and often retreating, propagandists at the so-called Palace of the Revolution were on edge with the birthday of Hugo Chávez. They were in a trance, imagining the gift Venezuelans might give to the late dictator and ally of Havana.

"‘He himself didn't even suspect how great he was,’ wrote his great friend and comrade of dreams and achievements, Fidel Castro. Today, on his 70th birthday, Chávez lives on and mobilizes his people in another civic day of the Bolivarian Revolution," said the Cuban leader designated by General Raúl Castro on X.

This Sunday, the 29-year-old Cuban boxer, now naturalized Azeri, eliminated La Sombra, a fighter who idolizes the dictator Fidel Castro and shouted "Patria y Vida no, ¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!" after defeating his compatriot Enmanuel Reyes Pla, who competed for Spain at Tokyo 2020.

The three-year age difference in his favor and his seven centimeters height advantage, combined with the boxing technique from the Cuban school and the training regime followed with his new team, gave Loren Berto an edge that La Cruz couldn't counter.

'La Sombra' has been the captain and a major symbol of the Cuban boxing team in recent years. The Cuban Olympic Committee was counting on La Cruz's gold medal, but three judges saw the Cuban-Azeri Loren Berto winning 29-28, while two judges favored the Cuban's performance (29-28 and 30-27).

"In sports, as in life, you win and lose," Díaz-Canel told 'La Sombra' this Sunday.

Be careful that life, like sports, doesn't give him another chance to console himself with his simplistic philosophy, as María Corina Machado advances towards Miraflores with the intention of shutting off the oil tap that keeps the longest-standing dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere afloat.