Caracas. Mexico thrashed Venezuela 7-0 on Monday to establish itself as the sole leader, adding four wins and one loss after the first five matches of the first round of the Caribbean series.

Cañeros de los Mochis shared first place with Leones de Caracas with a similar record of 3-1.

A few hours earlier, the Tigres del Licey of the Dominican Republic defeated the Federales de Chiriquí of Panama 10-1, the Vaqueros de Montería of Colombia defeated the Agricultores de Bayamo of Cuba 5-4, and the Indios de Mayagüez of Puerto Rico they beat Curacao Wildcats 3-1.

With these results, Venezuela now shares a similar 3-2 record with Colombia and the Dominican Republic for second, third and fourth positions. While Panama, Puerto Rico and Curaçao remained at 2-3 and out of the rankings as of the start of the day this Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Cuba (1-4) dropped even further to the bottom of the standings after its fourth straight loss.

The tournament is played on the principle of “all against all” in the first seven dates, with the first four advancing to the semi-finals.

Cuba and Puerto Rico (1:00 p.m.), Panama and Mexico (2:30 p.m.), Colombia and the Dominican Republic (6:00 p.m.), Venezuela and Curacao (7:30 p.m.) will compete in today’s Tuesday, the sixth qualifying round.

A win for De Mexico tonight will see them through to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the Puerto Ricans are practically forced to win to improve their chances of reaching the semifinals of the tournament.

The winners of the semifinals, where the first and fourth in the standings, and the second and third, get the right to play in the final on February 10 in the capital of Venezuela.