EL NUEVO DIARIO, HAVANA.- Two Cuban baseball players left the concentration of the national team, which was playing in the U-23 Pan American Championship in Aguascalientes, Mexico, the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) reported Thursday.
They are Alfredo Fadraga and Yosvany Ávalos, both from the eastern province of Ciego de Ávila, specified the FCB, which blamed the escape on “the disqualification of the agreement aimed at normalizing the arrival of our players in Major League Baseball” (MLB ) from the US
This “continues to constitute a stimulus for the orchestrators of these athlete trafficking actions,” the sports entity considered in a statement, quoted by the official sports newspaper JIT.
“With the decision to abandon us, they turn their backs on the commitment assumed with the people that accompany us in the desire to achieve the best possible result in this fair”, lamented the FCB.
The federation also considered that both young players “incur in reprehensible acts” that the institution condemns “since the decision not to give in to this or other obstacles.”
The abandonment of these young people joins the dozens of marches in the country by young Cuban athletes, mainly baseball players, but also wrestlers, karateka and athletes, registered in recent months.
One of the main reasons why many of these athletes leave Cuba is economic. His country is going through a serious crisis and abroad, especially baseball players, they have more options to achieve better salary conditions.
The most prominent case occurred last year, when 12 of the 24 players from the Cuban U-23 team that competed in the World Baseball Championship in the Mexican state of Sonora stayed in Mexico.
The MLB and the FCB agreed in 2018 to allow Cubans to play in the United States without having to defect first, but former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) canceled this advance shortly after.
Two days ago, the independent specialized portal Swing Complete said that at least four Cuban karateka, almost half of the Cuban team of this sport, escaped during a preparatory event with a view to the Central Americans, based in Guatemala. EFE
