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Venezuelans enjoy baseball success of their native son

In this baseball-crazed country, the Chicago White Sox' first championship in 88 years belonged to one man, Ozzie Guillen.

He is the first Venezuelan to manage a World Series-winning team and a national hero here. People from the poorest slums to the offices of President Hugo Chavez say they are proud of Guillen because he has never forgotten his roots.

"The best baseball player in the world is from Venezuela, our Oswaldo Guillen," said Luis Alberto Martinez, 38, who sells clothing. "He's the best of the best."

On Thursday, the country's principal newspaper, El Nacional, ran a nearly half-page picture of the jubilant White Sox with the headline "Oswaldo Champion." The paper called Chicago's 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros in the Game 4 clincher "the most important in the history of Venezuelan baseball."

Though Caracas went about its routine on Thursday after bursting into celebration the night before, fans across the city were still ebullient in their praise for Guillen, a 41-year-old former shortstop.

"Guillen is a proud Venezuelan, and he has dedicated his victory to the people of Venezuela," said Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to the US, who spoke to Guillen before Wednesday night's game to wish him luck.

For at least a day, Guillen has united a nation still divided between supporters and critics of Chavez, whose seven years in office have been marked by political tumult and a failed coup. Guillen was pulled into Venezuela's political whirlwind in early October when Chavez, during his weekly talk show on state-run television and radio, called to congratulate Guillen on making the playoffs.

"Congratulations, Oswaldo," Chavez said on the show. "All of us here in Venezuela are so proud of you."

The chat spurred rumors that Guillen was a supporter of Chavez, who frequently mentions curveballs or stolen bases in his lengthy speeches. Domingo Fuentes, 50, a radio producer who works closely with Guillen, said that the conversation sparked a flood of unfriendly e-mail messages from Venezuelans saying they would root for the Astros in protest. Fuentes said that Guillen neither supports nor opposes Chavez.

"But by the time the White Sox had won the first two games, those same people were again cheering for Oswaldo," Fuentes said in a telephone interview. "It just goes to show that Venezuelan pride in Oswaldo's achievements was able to beat out political fanaticism."
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