With the U.S. government's blessing, negotiators for Major League Baseball and Cuba worked through last evening to nail down an agreement on a pair of exhibition games between the Orioles and a Cuban national team, sources said.

The State Department notified interested members of Congress and their staffs yesterday that a deal was near on both a March 28 game in Havana and a subsequent game at Camden Yards. One congressional official was told agreement could be reached last night.

"There appears to be some progress although nothing is finalized," a State Department official said early last evening. "Discussions are under way between Major League Baseball and the owners of the Orioles and the Cuban government to bring the matter to closure. We are hopeful for a positive outcome."

Orioles owner Peter Angelos attended the meeting, as did Sandy Alderson, the executive director of baseball operations in the commissioner's office, according to a baseball official who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition he not be identified.

Although details were not disclosed, it appeared that the U.S. government and Cuba had found a way to get past their weeks-long impasse over the issue of proceeds. The State Department had insisted that the money be used to benefit the Cuban people and be distributed through a private charity; Cuba demanded that it go to Cuban doctors helping flood victims in Central America.

Earlier this week, sources reported that an understanding had been reached that there was little point in arguing about the proceeds until it was learned whether there would even be any significant profits from the exhibition games.

"The department's tone was positive with respect to the Cubans' proposal," a congressional official said. The Havana game was expected to yield no profits in any case. "I think the issue on proceeds in Baltimore was much ado about nothing."

The talks, which got under way in earnest two months ago, have reached a point where there is no more room for delay. Both sides would have to scramble to make travel arrangements and the Orioles would have to cancel their March 28 game against Boston at Fort Myers, Fla.

The Orioles are currently scheduled to face the Philadelphia Phillies in an exhibition game in Alabama on April 3 and open the regular season April 5. If there is to be a home game against Cuba, the Orioles will have less than a month to print and sell tickets.

Cuban exile groups plan to protest tomorrow at Fort Lauderdale Stadium when the Orioles play the Florida Marlins.

"Especially now with the crackdown on civil society and independent journalists, it shows an incredible lack of sensitivity for American baseball to go play in Cuba," said Ana Carbonell, a director of Alliance of Young Cubans, a group that aims to raise awareness about Cuba's communist society.

"We never would have accepted American baseball playing in South Africa or in Hitler's Germany. Why are the Cuban people any less deserving of solidarity?"

The Cuban American National Foundation, the country's most vocal and effective anti-Castro lobbying group, will participate in tomorrow's protest. CANF petitioned the U.S. Senate to pass a resolution condemning Castro's recent crackdown on dissidents and independent journalists, and they hope lawmakers will vote on it next week.

"We deplore the attitude of Major League Baseball and the Orioles management," said CANF Chairman Alberto M. Hernandez. "They should have summarily ended the talks as soon as the crackdown began."

The Sun-Sentinel of South Florida contributed to this article

Pub Date: 3/06/99