Commander Tomas Borge, the interior minister, is honorary president of Boer, Nicaragua's oldest team. Commander Humberto Ortega, the defense minister and brother of President Daniel Ortega, sponsors the Dantos team but tries to help them all.

The official policy is not to aid in the recruitment of Nicaraguans for U.S. professional baseball. Nicaraguan athletes, in the Sandinista view, should play for the glory of Nicaragua.

As Nicaragua's baseball prestige has dipped, so has the interest of professional baseball scouts. [Carlos Cuadra] said he has heard of no scouts in Nicaragua since he became baseball commissioner at the beginning of the year.