With Cuba slow to change, defections rise
Defections of artists and athletes from Cuba have become more prevalent
since the power shift on the island.
Posted on Fri, Mar. 14, 2008
BY TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE, ALFONSO CHARDY AND JORDAN LEVIN
Ballet dancers. Boxers. This week, soccer players.
A flurry of young athletes and artists from Cuba has sought asylum in
the United States since an ailing Fidel Castro ceded power 20 months ago
-- slipping away from minders, leaving behind families and striking out
for new lives across the Florida Straits.
While high-profile defectors from Cuba have systematically wound up in
the United States in the five decades since Castro's rise to power, the
most recent wave arrives against the backdrop of his departure from the
political stage.
The timing of the defections, say both Cuba watchers and some of the
defectors themselves, underscores dissatisfaction with both the
political and economic situation on the island and a belief that change
under Castro's successor, brother Raúl Castro, may come more slowly than
many had hoped.
''The timing of the defections is significant,'' said Andy Gomez, senior
fellow at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban
American Studies. ``It shows that there is a frustration among Cubans,
especially young Cubans, who see this change as simply a continuity of a
different regime.''
Seven Cuban soccer players defected in Tampa this week -- all members of
the under-23 national team -- slipping away from the team's hotel. Five
players managed to sneak away Tuesday on the heels of a surprising 1-1
tie with the United States in an Olympic qualifying match. Two more
bolted on Wednesday and said they planned to join their teammates and
fellow defectors in Lake Worth -- eventually, they hope, signing on with
a professional soccer league, either in the United States or elsewhere.
The notable defections also mirror a larger trend: Overall migration
from Cuba has been on the rise since Castro initially turned over power
to his younger brother in July 2006.
Last year, 3,197 Cuban migrants were intercepted at sea -- the highest
number in a single year since the 1994 rafter crisis, when 37,191 Cubans
were interdicted.
Experts say Raúl Castro's ascent to power has sparked widespread
expectations for change -- and that impatience for reform may be among
the reasons behind the recent defections.
DISILLUSIONMENT
That frustration can span both philosophical and practical concerns,
said Issac Delgado, a celebrated Cuban salsa singer who defected in
November 2006.
He cited a sense of disillusionment among artists, but also an inability
to travel freely outside the island to perform and a lack of access to
the Internet -- a necessary creative outlet in an increasingly digital
marketplace -- as especially galling.
''More and more people in Cuba are realizing that their work gives them
possibilities, but in Cuba, professional artists always hit a ceiling,''
Delgado said from his Key Biscayne apartment. ``They don't let you fly.
You don't have the possibility, like you do in every country in the
world, to try and reach your maximum potential, to attain your dream.''
In addition to Delgado, other notable artists and athletes have
orchestrated defections since the change in power.
Star Cuban boxers Yan Barthelemy, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis
defected while their team visited Venezuela in December 2006.
Baseball player Alexei Ramirez defected in September 2007 and signed
with the Chicago White Sox.
In December alone, defectors included three top dancers from the Cuban
National Ballet, four members of the Cuban National Circus, six members
of the musical group Los Tres de La Habana and seven young members of
the Spanish Ballet of Cuba -- who defected during an arts festival in
Mexico, with several winding up in Miami.
That same month brought the defection of famed TV personality Carlos
Otero, who quickly found work in Miami hosting a comedy and musical show
on AméricaTeVe Channel 41 titled Pellízcame que Estoy Soñando.
Translation: ``Pinch Me Because I'm Dreaming.''
''In Cuba, people in the arts, medicine, the professions, sports are
tired of waiting for change that never comes,'' said Otero, who defected
while in Canada. He came up with the show's name while driving on
Interstate 95 after arriving, when he asked his wife to pinch him
because he felt he was in a dream now living in the United States.
''There is widespread expectation for change,'' Otero added. ``But
people see that Cuba is suspended in time since Fidel fell ill.''
High-profile defections from Cuba are, of course, nothing new. Baseball
players like Orlando ''El Duque'' Hernandez, musicians such as singer
Albita Rodríguez and dancers, among them ballerinas Lorena Feijoo and
Joan Boada, have left Cuba over the years seeking freedom and lucrative
careers.
Possibly adding to the current sense of discontent is Raúl Castro's
decision to encourage public debate and discussion of frustrations with
the Cuban revolution, said Brian Latell, a former CIA analyst on Cuba
and Latin America.
''Societal stresses have been rising, maybe even dangerously, over the
last year or so,'' said Latell, who is now a senior research associate
at UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies. ``Raúl has also
been simultaneously raising expectations for change by opening up the
debate, but has not been able to deliver any significant improvements in
the standard of living.''
EXIT PERMITS
Max Lesnik, a controversial Miami radio commentator who regularly visits
Cuba, echoed that sentiment. Among new measures young Cubans have been
widely expecting is the elimination of exit permits that the government
requires Cubans to have to leave the country legally even if they have
secured visas from a foreign country, he said.
''The delay in introducing that measure could be one of the reasons for
impatience among talented young people to stay in other countries,''
Lesnik said.
He plans to travel to Havana to cover a meeting called by the Cuban
Foreign Ministry for Cubans living abroad.
Both Lesnik and Francisco Aruca -- another controversial Cuban-American
radio commentator who frequently travels to the island -- said
elimination of the exit permit could be one of the measures announced at
the three-day émigré meeting, which starts Wednesday.
But not all defectors see their recent arrivals as heralding a larger trend.
Taras Domitro, one of the three leading dancers who defected from the
Cuban National Ballet in December, said dancers have been leaving Cuba
for as long as he can remember.
''A lot of dancers have left, on all levels,'' Domitro said from his
mother's home in Pompano Beach, where he's living as he waits for his
work permit so he can start a job with the San Francisco Ballet. ``It's
been happening all my life.''
But while contemplating a defection may be commonplace, discussing it
remains strictly taboo, he said.
''We never talked about it in the company,'' he said. ``Those are things
you can't say. To talk about abandoning the country -- that's not OK.''
Miami Herald staff writer Michelle Kaufman contributed to this report.
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