[Marxism] Cuban boxers to be sent home from Brazil

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

("Despite the desertions that often hit Cuban teams at international
events, Cuba still snatched more gold medals in boxing than any other
country at the Pan American Games with five out of 11."

=========================================================================
Here's what Fidel said about their defections when it happened:
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2007/ing/f270707i.html
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Cuban boxers to be sent home from Brazil

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/08/03/cuba.brazil.reut/

    * Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has accused two boxers of defecting
    * Boxers deserted their team during last month's Pan American Games in
Brazil
    * Brazil police source said they now wanted to go home

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) -- Two Cuban boxers who deserted
their team during last month's Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro
will be sent home to the Communist-run island, Brazilian police said
Friday

Guillermo Rigondeaux, two-time bantamweight Olympic champion, and
welterweight world champion Erislandy Lara were briefly detained
Thursday in a resort town in Rio de Janeiro state for not having
travel documents.

After leaving their team, they apparently had wanted to go to Europe
and made no request for asylum in Brazil, but a police source said
they now wanted to go home.

"They expressed their will to return to Cuba," a police source told
Reuters. "They will be deported; we are waiting for their documents
and air tickets from the consulate."

Travel documents of Cuban athletes are usually kept by the leaders of
the country's delegation.

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has accused the two boxers of
defecting, saying they betrayed Cuba for dollars.

Police chief Felicio Laterca said Friday that the two were in a Rio
hotel and police were watching them to prevent them "being seduced
again" by foreign sports agents. One agent had sought to send them to
Germany on professional contracts.

Despite the desertions that often hit Cuban teams at international
events, Cuba still snatched more gold medals in boxing than any other
country at the Pan American Games with five out of 11.

Rafael Dacosta, a member of the Cuban handball team, left the Rio
athletes' village in the first week of the games and later was seen
in Sao Paulo state trying to arrange a contact with a local handball
team.

At the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 13 Cubans
defected, while last December Cuban boxers Yan Barthelemy, Yuriolkis
Gamboa and Odlanier Solis deserted while training in Venezuela.

All three are now pursuing professional careers in Germany.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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