Five Cuban soccer players defect after game vs. USA

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Miami Herald

By MICHELLE KAUFMAN
[e-mail]

Five members of the Cuban Under-23 national soccer team bolted from a Tampa hotel late Tuesday night following a 1-1 tie with the United States, slipped into the waiting car of a mutual friend, and headed to Lake Worth, where they spent Wednesday trying to figure out how to begin life as new immigrants.

They bought a cell phone, contacted a lawyer, and celebrated their newfound freedom with a nice Cuban meal.

Team captain Yenier Bermudez, goalkeeper Jose Manuel Miranda, defender Erlys Garcia Baro, midfielder Yordany Alvarez and defender Loanni Prieto hatched the plan back in Cuba, but didn't tell anybody. Not even their families knew of their intent to defect.

The Cuban team is in Tampa, competing in the 2008 Olympic qualifying tournament. All five of the young men played in Tuesday's game, knowing the adventure that was to come hours later. The team bus got back to the Doubletree Airport Hotel around 10:45 p.m., and by 11, the five players had left behind life as they knew it.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/454044.html

[d_b]

1. lou dobbs to the rescue

oh, they're cubans.

[Xipe Totec]

3. We hate Cuba, so they're okay

We only hate immigrants from friendly countries.

[Pavulon]

2. People do not defect from great places...

not many defectors to N. Korea, the USSR did not have to many people trying to get behind the iron curtain.

[MaryCeleste]

5. That's a clue...

[merwin]

7. To be fair, I think the immigration to N Korea is about zero.

And that's only because they rarely even accept visitors, let alone immigrants. Immigrants would be shot on sight.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Set aside some time to do some serious thinking. What about all the "defectors" from Mexico,

from Haiti, the Domican Republic, Puerto Rico, Central America, South America, Canada, China, India, Europe, etc.

U.S. supported butcher tyrant Hugo Banzer drove indigenous Bolivians out of their own native homeland and used that land to give to a wave of white South Africans in his attempt to create a "white Bolivia." Imagine that: white South African defectors taking the land which truly wasn't Hugo Banzer's to give to them.

The U.S. has opened a huge array of benefits to Cuban immigrants who can make it to the States on their own steam: instant access to free legal status, with no INS people trying to find you and deport you, instant social security, work visa, food stamps, U.S. taxpayer-financed public housing, financial assistance for education, free medical treatment, etc., etc., etc.

This smorgasbord of perks is not available to any other national group of any kind. All others, especially Haitians, are rounded up and deported, even if it means being sent to a country where they will be slaughtered for their political association.

You're not going to find enough stupid people at D. U. to make it worth your while to spew disinformation.

[Bacchus39]

20. so what does Cuba offer them?

"The U.S. has opened a huge array of benefits to Cuban immigrants who can make it to the States on their own steam: instant access to free legal status, with no INS people trying to find you and deport you, instant social security, work visa, food stamps, U.S. taxpayer-financed public housing, financial assistance for education, free medical treatment, etc., etc., etc."

and despite all those goodies you just mentioned for Cubans, its noted that people from those other countries still emigrate to the US anyway without those things.



p.s. Puerto Ricans are US citizens.

[Judi Lynn]

25. The point seems to elude you, doesn't it?

It would be natural to grasp the obvious, and that is that if these same inducements were offered to people in the other countries whose populations come here now in large, desperate numbers, there would be so many people in the U.S., we'd be stuffed in here like sardines.

Those people ALSO go through horrendous hardship, as they die in the HUNDREDS annually attempting to cross the desert, or, in the case of people from the Caribbean, sometimes travelling as far as SEVEN HUNDRED MILES in inadequate boats, and often drowning miserably at sea in the effort. ALL THESE OTHER PEOPLE run the risk of being sent right back as soon as they arrive, and usually are, when discovered, and they still keep coming, because they are driven, not to become wealthy, but to be able to afford to live, or, in some cases, escape REAL political threats to them, as in the case of the Haitians who attempted to escape from the blood bath, as _Bush surrounded their island and captured and fed back all the fleeing, desperate people right into the murderous hell going on there.

Most DU'ers are sober enough to grasp the meaning behind luring people of Cuba with a lot of perks to make it worth their while, like free housing, food, medical treatment, work visa, etc., and NO perks whatsoever to people who are desperate to escape death squads, or crushing poverty.

[Bacchus39]

27. so I ask again, what then does Cuba offer them?

if Cuba is so wonderful, why are they leaving?

as opposed to Cuba, the governments of other countries don't prevent them from leaving. and Cubans also flee the island in unsafe boats and rafts risking their lives.

and to reiterate as I have already mentioned was that people from other countries emigrate to the US as well sans "inducements".
so your point is what now???

[AlphaCentauri]

33. There are 20 000 visas for Cubans to apply every year, many of them are rejected

by the US interest section in the Island, in past years they had only received 15 000 application for those visas, not even reaching the top of 20 000. People with family in the US prefer to induce them to the quick and duty instant visa system, that is, pay the speed boats coyotes to transfer them near Mexico or Florida.

so "what then does Cuba offer them?"

If your talking about artist and other professionals what Cuba can't offer them its become a celebrity without probing they are, they won't be in poster and magazines because they are defectors, instead in Cuba they will be in posters and magazines because they have the talent and have won their place to be there.

[AngryAmish]

22. "defectors" from Puerto Rico????

Darling, not all brown people are alike.

Puerto Ricans are US citizens. Kinda like I am defecting from Illinois to Wisconsin if I move there.

[AlphaCentauri]

31. 1950 the great Puerto Rican migration to NY

Lets review your history

Puerto Rican migration to New York
As stated by Lolita Lebron, there were signs in restaurants which read "NO DOGS or PUERTO RICANS ALLOWED"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_migration_to_New_York

oops!!! sorry!!! I got you!!!

[Pavulon]

39. Miami seems to disagree

considering the number of cubans and Haitians who live there.

They have flown here in migs. In cars converted to boats. People have died trying to help them, and died trying to get here.

Because communist shithole nations suck. They always will.

Communist cuba sucks. Che is dead. Castro is walking worm bait.

Once he croaks all agreements die with him. The soviet model is dead. Time to dump lime on it to cover up the stink.

NO one here is stupid enough to think that N. Korea and Cuba are free societies.

This post would be banned in both places!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

41. Haiti leads the Western Hemisphere in "suckiness"

Remember the article a few weeks ago about people literally eating dirt? There is essentially no law and order, and the slums are some of the worst in the world. You name any measure of social prosperity or social justice, and Haiti is at the bottom. Oh, and the U.S. overthrew their elected president and shuttled him off to Africa.

Yet Haitians are rounded up and sent back if they make it to Florida, while Cubans, even international class athletes, are treated like royalty if they just show up.

People from Communist countries, especially high-profile people, have always been welcomed, no questions asked. I recall incidents of athletes "defecting" from China or East Germany after being lured on the sly by coaches and actually admitting in interviews that they had no political disagreements with their governments.

[AlphaCentauri]

45. Yeah! communism sucks!, now how can our free society end poverty?

since we are not leaving in a communist country let's fix our problems and let the communist fix theirs (you notice the Chinese are doing it?)

So the big question is do we have problems to solve, like poverty? is our system designed to end poverty? is poverty a collateral damage of our system? why poverty?

[AlphaCentauri]

32. Just make it clear other countries don't pay you to defect

attach to reality, no other country in the world will pay to some one leaving an unfriendly country. Cuba may have 12 million people and they had the door open to leave at one time, how many of them left?. The Cuban migrations it's in the same state as the Mexican migration, Mexico has 103 million people and only 6 to 7 millions had left the country maybe in the past 20 years, many of them work and go back to their country.

[Pavulon]

40. East Germany was great..!!

I mean that is why they built a wall. To keep all the proletariat workers safe from the evil west...

I was happy to watch the USSR die. A defining moment in history.

I will be happy to watch communism in cuba die. Just waiting on fidel..

Then all bets are off.

[AlphaCentauri]

44. Wow, now compare the southwest and Mexico, a nation that was divided in two

Mexicans defecting to north Mexico that's why they are building that long and tall wall to keep the poor out in the south.

[davepc]

4. idiots

giving up free health care.

[saigon68]

6. At 23 you don'r really appreciate free health care

Especially if you are healthy as these boys are.

When you are old and living only on social security, you get shitty medical care by Indian subcontinent H-1B visa holders putting in their time for a slice of the "american pie"

[burrowowl]

8. Amen!

especially if they think they can make big bucks with an American soccor league. If they were baseball players they were make more moola.

[roody]

9. They were probably actively lobbied

by the U.S.

[ConcernedCanuk]

17. Spot on Sai 68 - I value our Health-Care quite highly, and would never move somewhere without it.

.
.
.

Like the "Greatest Country in the world - the USA"

One major operation can wipe out a life-savings if you don't have insurance in the USA

I could have open heart surgery, knee replacement, many emergency services, and that would cost me - - hmmm

NOTHING

I paid for it during almost 40 years of working through taxes

Yes, our taxes may be higher than some places,

But well worth it IMO

Keep ur "Amerikkan Pie"

[AlphaCentauri]

34. My friend had a brain surgery 2 weeks ago and her insurance only cover 80%

Surgery cost $300,000 dollars her balance $60 000, she has to into therapy for about 6 months, add that cost. She is her mid life years and was working as a cashier. Can she afford that health care system?

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. The healthcare in Cuba is not "free"

Cubans pay the price with restrictions on expression, assembly and travel.

[AngryAmish]

23. it is not free monetarily either

SOmeone does the work and they have to be paid. Medical professionals in Cuba get paid a lot less than the US. No such thing as a free lunch and whatnot.

[AlphaCentauri]

35. Many Cubans travel to Mexico and other countries

what is behind the short vision that everything has to be like in the US

[JackRiddler]

38. Is that a joke?

The restrictions on political speech and travel are not the price Cubans pay for health care. Other countries have free health care without such restrictions, no?

Perhaps if the United States had not waged a 50-year war on Cuba, including an economic blockade, military invasions, sabotage on a mass scale, terrorist attacks and countless assassination attempts on Castro, there might be less restrictions on freedoms there today. Has that ever occurred to you?

[skyounkin]

10. Either way....

WELCOME TO AMERICA!!

LAND OF THE FREE

HOME OF THE BRAVE!!

Woot woot!!!

[AlphaCentauri]

14. Yeah! and we are recruiting now

:bounce:

[daleo]

11. With Castro gone, the Cuban embargo may soon be lifted

Especially if a Democrat wins the White House. So it would make sense for Cubans who want to immigrate to the U.S. to defect now - in a year's time they may be no more welcome than Haitians are now.

[AlphaCentauri]

15. Navratilova's effect may become an epidemic at that time n/t

[Mudoria]

21. Doubtful

:eyes:

[Judi Lynn]

28. Very little is ever admitted outside Miami about the Cubans who simply return to Cuba.

Yuo may recall a recent story of the little girl in Miami whose mother came here, and the father deserted them as soon as they got through the airport in Miami.

The mother was left with two children, alone in a foreign country where she knew no one, while he went off and lived with his relatives. She started working, and word got out that she was miserable, wanted to return home, and people started talking about her, and in no time at all someone arranged to have her food stamps and housing taken away. She moved to Houston, hoping to find work there, couldn't, called the police to come get her children as she couldn't take care of them, and tried to slit her wrists.

A custody fight ensued in Miami while the "exiles" attempted to take both children and adopt them out before even contacting the fathers. Throughout the trial, the mother told reporters her only hope for her daughter was for her to be able to return to Cuba with the father.

Here's a look at the NEVER DISCUSSED phenomenon of Cubans who return to Cuba, as written by former New York Times reporter, Ann Louise Bardach, who made many trips to Cuba researching her books and articles:

In Cuba, one used to be either a revolucionario or a contrarevolucionario, while those who decided to leave were gusanos (worms) or escoria (scum). In Miami, the rhetoric has also been harsh. Exiles who do not endorse a confrontational policy with Cuba, seeking instead a negotiated settlement, have often been excoriated as traidores (traitors) and sometimes espías (spies). Cubans, notably cultural stars, who visit Miami but choose to return to their homeland have been routinely denounced. One either defects or is repudiated.

But there has been a slow but steady shift in the last decade-a nod to the clear majority of Cubans en exilio and on the island who crave family reunification. Since 1978, more than one million airline tickets have been sold for flights from Miami to Havana. Faced with the brisk and continuous traffic between Miami and Havana, hard-liners on both sides have opted to deny the new reality. Anomalies such as the phenomenon of reverse balseros, Cubans who, unable to adapt to the pressures and bustle of entrepreneurial Miami, return to the island, or gusañeros, expatriots who send a portion of their earnings home in exchange for unfettered travel back and forth to Cuba (the term is a curious Cuban hybrid of gusano and compañero, or comrade), are unacknowledged by both sides, as are those who live in semi-exilio, returning home to Cuba for long holidays.


Page XVIII
Preface
Cuba Confidential
Love and Vengeance
In Miami and Havana

Copyright© 2002 by
Ann Louise Bardach

[Bacchus39]

30. never discussed? its right there in the article

yes, there are Cubans who travel from Miami or wherever once they get here. and I'm sure there are plenty who return or would like to return. more are coming and staying than going back thats for sure even if they do go visit.

[Thothmes]

18. Why do you think that

There is still a Castro in charge. Johnson, Carter, Clinton all seemed satisfied with the embargo. Which of the two candidates has stated they will end the embargo?

[daleo]

37. Castro's brother is not exactly a young man

It seems reasonable that changes will come in the near future - perhaps not a year, though. I am not taking a particularly ideological position, more of a historical one. One expects that as the underlying conditions wither away (Soviet Union, Fidel Castro, etc), the U.S.-Cuba relationship will change.

Granted, U.S. politicians on all sides seem paralyzed by the issue. Perhaps I am naive.

[harmonicon]

12. their fruit picking or toilet scrubbing jobs back in Cuba must have REALLY sucked

fucking idiots. Morons should be sent back. I don't want people as dumb as them in my country.

[Codeine]

42. They will be able to play pro soccer here.

Several Cuban defectors play in MLS.

[harmonicon]

43. that sucks

I figured they wouldn't be good enough since it was just the under-23 squad. I would never hire them if I were a team manager. Sure, some of our best players leave the country to play for foreign teams, but they don't defect from our national team!! What goads me the most is that there are legal means by which Cubans can play sports in foreign countries - they just have to pay taxes back in Cuba, which are high, since it's a communist country. I don't think we would be ok with our best soccer players living abroad and not paying taxes. Maybe they're not perfectly happy with their government and tax system, but it's what got them to the point where they were good enough to feel they could leave. What a bunch of ungrateful bastards.

[AlphaCentauri]

13. The shortcut to the pursuit of the American dream

other immigrants waiting at the back of the line

:dilemma:

[Judi Lynn]

24. News sources outside South Florida have called these people "immigrants" for years.

There is very limited, and entirely political appeal to calling them "defectors."

DU'ers who have paid attention to Cuba/US news are aware there are a-holes like well-known Miami personality, Joe Cubas, who follow these athletes around all over the world, meeting with them after hours, getting them loaded, buying them lavish dinners, then making arrangements for them to get contracts in the States with future sources.

Cuban baseball players have told authorities in the U.S. all about it, and they have sued the pig-faced Cubas because it's NOT just enough to be in the U.S. for them. They indicate they were tricked into coming with promises of fat contract, and that once they were here, Cubas conspired to ream them royally and keep most of the money.

Because of this the U.S. baseball commissioner banned Joe Cubas from associating himself with the game ever again. He currently sells real estate in Miami, but a smart person wouldn't want to do business with him, even though he's considered a great hero among the lunatic fringe in Miami.



Mr. Cubas

[robcon]

26. Pure hogwash, Judi Lynn

They defected from their country ONLY BECAUSE THEIR COUNTRY WON"T ALLOW THEM TO LEAVE. They did not immigrate like Mexicans do, because Cuba's police state, like East Germany before 1990, would arrest them if they tried.

It's called defection, not immigration, when someone leaves a country in which they are imprisoned, i.e., prevented by law or police from leaving.

[Judi Lynn]

29. If they don't allow them to leave, why have they gone back there on vacation?

You'd think they'd be afraid they'd be thrown in the slammer, wouldn't you?

_{George W. Bush} and the idiot right-wing "exile" lawmakers in South Florida have gone to extremes to try to find ways to keep Cubans from Miami from being able to come and go to Cuba with the frequency they were accustomed to prior to _Bush's theft of the presidency.

Senator David Rivera introduced legislation in the Florida Senate to allow them to strike down food stamps and housing awards to Cuban immigrants if they were discovered going to Cuba for any reason. Some of the cretins are desperate to discourage a practise which repudiates the asshole right-wing's lies about Cuba.

[AlphaCentauri]

36. Remember los Marielitos

NO BODY STOP THEM FROM LEAVING THE ISLAND

In the spring of 1980, when thousands of Cubans were mobbing the port city of Mariel for their helter-skelter exodus to the shores of Florida, President Fidel Castro denounced the emigrants as escoria (scum). As if to ensure that he was at least partly correct, Castro added some convicts and mental patients to the Mariel horde. Indeed, of the 125,000 "Marielitos" who landed in Florida, 1,709 have been jailed by federal authorities as undesirables, and 587 more have been locked up until they can find sponsors. Nearly all the rest have settled in Dade County, which includes Miami. The great majority of Marielitos are peaceful and eager for work. But a number of hardcore criminals— true escoria who slipped through the screening process—have brought a plague of murder, rape and robbery on south Florida.

Miami may soon become the violent crime capital of the nation, with rates for major crimes at least doubling since 1979. In the past eleven months 66 refugees have been arrested in Miami for homicide; an additional 72 of their own number have been murdered. Florida Governor Bob Graham claims that half of all violent crimes in Miami today are committed by Marielitos and that the refugees represent 20% to 30% of the city's jail population.

The crimes Marielitos commit are sometimes remarkable for their viciousness. Says Lieut. Robert Murphy, head of the Miami police department's homicide unit: "One of them killed two victims, one with a lead pipe, the other by stomping him to death with his feet. Marielitos shot at an eleven-year-old boy simply because he was a witness to a robbery. These criminals have a ruthlessness without any parallel that I've ever seen." The refugees who go wrong tend to be slight young men, gaunt and hollow-eyed, who dress in sneakers, jeans and T shirts. Many wear tattoos advertising their criminal specialties: Madre engraved on a small heart for a hit man, a falling star for a kidnapper. Dade County Medical Examiner Joe Davis last month denounced Marielito murderers on a local TV show: "These guys are not even human. They're animals. Not even animals. That's an insult to the animal kingdom." The murder boom has filled existing morgue space; Davis rented a refrigerated hamburger van to accommodate the overflow.




http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924898,00.html

[New Dawn]

46. Thanks for tirelessly pointing out the truth, Judi.

[Judi Lynn]

47. Hi, New Dawn.You have to hope that after people think the information over,

and take some time to check it out, do more research, it will become easy to tell how to evaluate any new material.

Once something has penetrated the fog of disinformation for you, you really can never go back. It surely sounds like that's the case for you, too.

Thank you for your encouragement. Welcome to D.U.! :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: