Higinio Vélez

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Higinio Vélez Carrión (27 July 1946 – 12 May 2021) was a Cuban baseball manager and administrator. He was the long-time president of the Baseball Federation of Cuba and the manager of the Cuba national baseball team during a successful era.

Vélez was born in Songo–La Maya, Oriente Province, Cuba, into a peasant family. He learned to play baseball from his father and played shortstop on regional teams. While studying at the Higher School of Physical Education in Havana, he became the school’s baseball team manager in his third year.

After graduating in 1970, Vélez joined Mineros (the Santiago de Cuba team) as assistant to manager Roberto Ledo, later serving as first-base coach and physical trainer. He rose to prominence by leading Santiago de Cuba to three straight Cuban National Series titles (1999–2001).

He then became manager of the Cuban national team. Under his leadership, Cuba won Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 and earned multiple Baseball World Cup titles in the early 2000s, along with a silver medal at the first World Baseball Classic in 2006. He was replaced as national-team manager after the Classic to head the Cuban National Baseball Commission.

In June 2008, Vélez was elected president of the Baseball Federation of Cuba, a position he held until his death in 2021. His tenure is seen as polarizing: some view it as a period of decline due to player defections, while others credit him with opening up Cuban baseball to more opportunities abroad and brokering a deal that would let Cuban players sign with MLB teams without defecting (a deal later revoked by the Trump administration in 2019).

Vélez died of COVID-19 on 12 May 2021 in Havana, at the age of 74.