Serie Nacional: Julita Osendi Díaz, a pioneer for women journalists in Cuba

We had the privilege of speaking renowned journalist, Julita Osendi Diaz. Here’s what she had to say about La Serie Nacional and more!

Julita Osendi Diaz is without a doubt is the matriarch of women’s journalism in Cuba. Osendi graduated from the University of Havana in 1977 and started her career on the island in 1980. During her illustrious career, she has worked on over 50 documentaries and has made a name for herself worldwide in journalism.

She has interviewed such greats in Cuban baseball as Omar Linares, Agustin Marquetti, Luis Giraldo Casanova, and Rogelio Garcia to name a few. The veteran of four Olympic Games gave me a very candid interview.

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We have very different opinions on certain things, but what opinions do we share?

We share our love for Cuban baseball. In every Cuban household, we eat congri, listen to the Van Vans and love Marti. We have different opinions to a certain point. We both like to travel, we both love to have a nice household and automobile. I lived a dream for a long time that I later found out was a fallacy. We are also all the same on the surface. I’ve been a dreamer my whole and have dreamed about having a better society in Cuba.

Which was your toughest interview ever?

The last one I conducted with  Orestes Kindelan, because he had an ax to grind with us journalists because my colleague “Piti” Rivera made a comment that he was better suited to play first base than catcher for the Cuban National Team. It was a hassle to get the interview with him to start with and then he gave a bunch of vague answers to my questions. After that experience, I crossed him off my list as anyone I would ever like to interview.

What was your opinion about the now-defunct accord between MLB and the Cuban Federation?

I was elated when it was signed because now we could finally have a Cuban team with all our players in the World Baseball Classic and other international competitions. Politics has always done its damage to sports, finally, Cuban players didn’t have to leave Cuba and establish residency in a third country. But it was all taken away with the stroke of the pen.

How could we better the Serie Nacional?

There are many things to do, we need to invest more in better training facilities. The ones we have now are antiquated. The country is full of baseball fields, but they need a severe makeover. We need to restore complexes like the “Cerro Pelado” and the “Cordova Cardin”, we need a serious campaign to reinforce our sports infrastructure. We also need better people training our athletes, we have had a massive exodus of talent and trainers in many sports and not only baseball but in sports in general.

Our athletes although talented are unprepared and lack experience when they make their debuts in international competitions is noticeable, this is something that needs to change if our sports programs are to survive.

Should we have professional sports in Cuba?

To think about it, our athletes have always been professional. They just weren’t being paid for it. We need to enter the realm of professionalism with baseball, we need to stop swimming against the current. Today sports are a business, our athletes need to be compensated for their labor and hard work. I think little by little we have realized this in Cuba and are heading in that direction. The Federation needs to stop looking at our players as possessions and look at them as the special people they are.

We need to insert our baseball players in the other professional of the world, until we can revisit the MLB-FCB agreement. We need to allow athletes to have their own representation and also give them the ability to look for contracts outside of Cuba. So as of today, I say .”YES TO PROFESSIONALISM AND YES TO CUBA!!!”

Give me your all-time Serie Nacional team?

Catcher: It’s a tie between Juan Castro y Ariel Pestano.
First Base: Antonio Muñoz.
Second Base: Antonio Pacheco.
Third Base: Omar Linares.
Shortstop: Germán Mesa.
Outfielders: Armando Capiró, Víctor Mesa, Luis Giraldo Casanova y Lourdes Gurriel.
Designated Hitter: Orestes Kindelán.
RHP: Braudilio Vincent.
LHP:Jorge Luis “Tati” Valdés.
Closer: Pedro Luis Lazo.
Manager: Jorge Fuentes.

I couldn’t make my mind up so I went with four outfielders…