Marlins Manager Suspended for Castro Comments
BLITZER: The manager of the Miami Marlins is learning the hard way that Cuban politics is a very sensitive subject in Miami. Ozzie Guillen was suspended from his job today for five games because he praised Cuba's Fidel Castro. Guillen is apologizing for what he calls the biggest mistake of his life. CNN's John Zarrella is joining us now from Miami with more. What happened here, John?</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Wolf, he's been on the job literally five days. He's only managed five regular-season games and already suspended without pay as you mentioned for five games and that is because he said perhaps the worst possible thing you can say in this community.</s>ZARRELLA (voice-over): In front of the cameras he was a very different Ozzie Guillen than most people are used to seeing. The former Chicago White Sox manager now with the Miami Marlins was not abrasive, profane, insensitive or defiant. He stood before the cameras contrite.</s>OZZIE GUILLEN, MIAMI MARLINS MANAGER: I'm very, very, very sorry about the problem about what happened, and I will do everything to make it better.</s>ZARRELLA: Sorry because he said perhaps the single most offensive thing he could in Miami. Guillen told "TIME" magazine that, quote, "I love Fidel Castro" and added that he respected Castro for surviving 60 years when a lot of people wanted to kill him. Guillen flew back from Philadelphia where his team had the off day to try to put out the fire.</s>GUILLEN: This has been the biggest mistake so far in my life I make, and when you make a mistake this big I can't sleep and you constantly think about for days</s>ZARRELLA: As Guillen talked outside the stadium a small group of Cuban-American protesters carried signs and waved Cuban flags. Many in the crowd wanted Guillen fired.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If for any reason he continues as manager we will not come to see any games here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like that he would be fired from the job.</s>ZARRELLA: While Guillen seemed genuinely sincere, whether falling on his sword would repair the damage in the community is another story.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know whether he's sorry for --</s>ZARRELLA: Longtime "Miami Herald" columnist and radio talk show host Dan Lebatard (ph) is Cuban American. He says that for Cuban Americans Castro is their Hitler.</s>DAN LEBATARD, TALK SHOW HOST, 790 "THE TICKET": I don't know how many people this guy has killed. I don't know what the numbers are. I don't want to do comparison shopping on atrocities, but I don't know how many Cubans have died in the ocean trying to get away from his tyranny.</s>ZARRELLA: The firestorm is particularly damaging to the Marlins. Their new stadium sits right in the heart of Miami's Little Havana paid for primarily with tax dollars from Miami and Miami Dade County residents. The team was trying to build a new fan base from that heavily Latin community and ironically, one of the main reasons for hiring Ozzie Guillen, to appeal to Latin Americans.</s>ZARRELLA: Baseball -- Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig came out today and supported the Marlins' decision. In part Selig said "I expect those who represent Major League Baseball to act with the kind of respect and sensitivity that the game's many cultures deserved." Interestingly enough here, Wolf, in 1999 Bud Selig himself was roundly criticized as you may recall, when he went to Cuba and sat next to Fidel Castro when the Baltimore Orioles played the Cuban National Team -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes, they love baseball in Cuba and they've got some great ballplayers that have come out of Cuba as we all know over the years.</s>BLITZER: All right, we'll see what happens. Obviously, a very, very sensitive nerve that was hit in Miami and we'll see what the fallout is. John Zarrella thanks very much. We want to get back to the other breaking news story we're following out of Sanford, Florida. We're going to have an update on what these two lawyers who have now dropped George Zimmerman as their client. They're providing new information that they say will exonerate Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin case. Stand by for that.