Seeing this Cuban stamp from the early days of Fidel Castro. I assumed this would be a story of Cuba fighting to stay part of regional organizations against American wishes. Instead the story is how precarious such organizations are. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp is from the first year of the American embargo on the sale of mint Cuban stamps. The embargo never applied to used stamps which this is. The exemption would prevent American collectors from being penalized from keeping a stamp they may have received in the mail. The embargo is still in effect. All that said, this stamp is not much to look at. This is reflective of how tenuous the games were.
Todays stamp is issue A258, a three centavo stamp issued on August 27th, 1962 by Cuba. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating sports of the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games, in this case baseball. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. The catalog does list values for stamps covered by the embargo, which seems to have no effect on the low values.
This stamp celebrates the 9th holding of the games that year in Kingston, Jamaica. The first games were in the 1930s and still continue, making the games second only to the Olympics in longevity. They are open to Central American countries, the countries on the north shore of South America and the Caribbean island nations and colonies. They occur every four years on the even off years between Olympics. The hope was to help the area field more competitive teams in the Olympics.
The 1962 Games were especially tenuous. There were initially no bids at all from cities to host the games. The governing body then voted to give the games to San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was against the vote of the sole Puerto Rican representative. They should have listened to him. The Puerto Rican government then announced that they were refusing to host the games. After much additional deliberation, it was decided to award the games to Kingston, Jamaica. Jamaica accepted. The choice however was complicated by Jamaica only receiving independence a few days before the 1962 games. It was also the first times the games were held in a country for whom Spanish was not the native tongue. The games did come off though. 16 countries and territories sent over 1500 athletes. That year a sailing competition was new but gymnastics were discontinued.
So who did the best at the games? Mexico as per the usual had the highest medal count. This reflects the population of Mexico compared to other competitors. Cuba had the highest gold medal count and no other country came close in the medal count.
Well my drink is empty so I will pour another to toast the CASCO organization for keeping the Games going on for so long. The 1962 games shows how difficult it is to make them happen. The next games will come to Panama City, Panama in April 2022. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.