U.S. baseball defeat a birthday present for Castro

[Say_What]

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The Cubans beat the United States 3-2 on Tuesday night in the Dominican Republic to win the Pan American Games baseball gold medal for the ninth time in a row.

The triumphant players chanted "Viva Cuba, Viva Fidel" on the field at the end of the game and dedicated their gold medals to Castro for his birthday.

At a concert staged by Cuba's Communist Youth on Havana's Malecon waterfront, 3,000 people watched the baseball victory on a giant screen and, at midnight, performers cut a large cake for Castro as the band played the happy birthday tune.

Elian Gonzalez, the shipwrecked boy who was at the center of a custody battle between Cuba and exiles in Miami in 2000, wished Castro all the best for the day in a letter published by the youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth).

<http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/08/13/cuba.castro.birthday.reut/index.html>

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Players and the team doctor for Cuba's national baseball team celebrate victory over the U.S. in the Pan American Games.
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