Six Cuban women’s field hockey players and an athlete of the same nationality left the Cuban delegation in the Pan American Village, where the athletes have stayed during the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile and until Monday night their whereabouts are unknown. . The Government of Gabriel Boric has reported that no one has so far presented any type of requirement to settle in the country and that they have a visa for 90 days, which can be renewed for another 90. “There is always concern in these cases” said La Moneda spokesperson Camila Vallejo, a communist militant. The hypothesis being considered in Chile, according to local media reports, although it has not yet been officially confirmed, points to a desertion. It is something that happens quite frequently among the island’s athletes when they leave Cuba to compete.
The Investigative Police (PDI) clarified that the visa of the athletes – referring only to the six women – will remain valid until November 12, according to a statement published by the Santiago 2023 Corporation, formed by the National Sports Institute ( IND) and the Chilean Olympic Committee. Neither the Government nor the Pan American Sports Organization, known as Panam Sports, have confirmed the information, because Cuba has not made it official. There is not even a consensus on how many there are, because some local media have only referred to the six hockey players, while others include Yoao Illas, who won the bronze medal in hurdles.
Was Cuban sports journalist Francys Romero the first to break the news on their social networks, which in the following hours has forced the highest authorities to refer to the case. At 8:16 p.m. on Saturday, the reporter published that six hockey players “deserted” from the Cuban delegation after their participation and one day before the championship ended. “The players left the concentration at noon after finishing the fifth place game that they lost against Uruguay (3-0),” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The baseball reporter and author of the book Stories of Cuban baseball emigration (1960-2018) He maintained that the athletes in question are Yunia Milanes -the team captain-, Jennifer Martínez, Yakira Guillén, Lismary González, Helec Carta and Geidy Morales. Some 61 Cuban athletes have broken contracts or abandoned their delegations so far this year, according to Romero.
Asked about the matter, Lautaro Carmona, the president of the Communist Party, which is part of Boric’s Government, celebrated the fifth place of the “great power” of Cuba in the medal table of the Pan American Games (30 gold, 22 silver and 17 bronze) and assured that “situations like this have been experienced before and they mean nothing more than a fact of choice for these athletes. The others return, but they are the options of those athletes.” “What would be the meaning that I could give according to the arguments that appear in some versions? The conditions in which they live in Cuba. And who creates those conditions, if not the economic blockade?” added Carmona, alluding to the United States sanctions. The deputy of Renovación Nacional, of the traditional right, Diego Schalper assured: “What has happened to the Cuban athletes could perfectly be classified as a case of political asylum.”
The Chilean Minister of Sports, Jaime Pizarro, has assured that neither the Cuban delegation nor the head of mission have provided information in this regard. This medium tried to communicate with both without success. “There is a possibility that they could leave the country, or that they could stay for some time, because the entry authorization is still valid. We have to wait for the process accordingly,” Pizarro added.
The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, asked for caution before describing what happened as a “leak.” “We must remember that athletes who have participated in the Games have a visa that allows them to stay in Chile for 90 days. Therefore, they are in a legal situation from an immigration point of view,” he noted. Spokesperson Vallejo added that if there is any type of request or requirement regarding the visa situation, it must be channeled through the National Immigration Service, dependent on the Government.
One of the most symbolic cases of these Pan American Games was that of Santiago Ford, of Cuban origin, who became a Chilean national at the end of last year. The athlete left the island for sporting reasons. He finished fourth at the 2016 World Youth Championship in Poland and felt that no one valued him. In 2018 he boarded a plane to Guyana and from there he undertook a long journey by land to Chile, a country he entered walking through the desert. In these games he thanked the South American country by giving them a gold medal in the decathlon competition.
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