Díaz-Canel wishes former baseball player a happy birthday

 HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 17 (ACN) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel sent a message to former baseball star Antonio Muñoz—nicknamed the Giant of the Escambray Mountains—on his 74th birthday and shared a video of an interview that the old player gave once in Miami and which the leader claimed to have deeply moved him.

The video in question shows Muñoz, who was wearing a Team Cuba shirt, as he described his work as trainer of the new generations of ballplayers in his home province of Cienfuegos and said to be proud of the quality of Cuban baseball. When asked by the interviewer if he was not tempted by the money paid to MLB players, Muñoz replied that he lived on his salary in Cuba. And the next question was, "So, are you a revolutionary?" The Giant answered with a categorical “Yes”, and went on:

"(…) I have never criticized anyone who comes to this country. On the contrary, I meet with them here. But I am a revolutionary because I was educated with and live with the Revolution, which has given me many opportunities," he said.

Considered the best left-handed hitter of his time, Antonio Muñoz played between 1960 and 1990. In 2014, he was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame.