Cuba fears defections by players at world junior baseball championship here
By David Carrigg, Edmonton Sun. Canada. Wednesday, August 2, 2000
Cuba fears its baseball players competing at this month's world junior championship in Edmonton could leave the plate and never make it home.
With defections by Cuban athletes an ongoing problem for the Communist nation team, managers have put a blanket ban on any unapproved contact with scouts, agents or the general public. And they've relayed their concerns to organizers. But Canadian officials say they won't be guarding the players
and they have no control over their decisions.
"There is concern by the Cubans about the possibility of defections caused by player access to scouts and agents," Ron Hayter, spokesman for the 2000 World Junior 'AAA' Baseball Championship, said.
"The fear is scouts could encourage them to defect.
"What we've done is lay down the rules that scouts and agents can't communicate with players without permission of the team manager.
"We'll also be keeping a close eye on any contact with the general public.
"But we've got no armed guards following them around and if they decide to leave Lister Hall and meet with somebody at a corner cafe, we have no control over that."
At last year's Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, six Cubans defected and sought refugee status with Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Han Lee, owner of Havana Man Tobacconists at 86 Avenue and 99 Street, has visited the sunny island 12 times.
"I love it and hope to retire in Cuba but for people born there, it's rotten. It's a hopeless cause, no matter how hard you work or how good you are you'll never make it under that regime. A few high-ranking officials and their friends do well, the rest struggle," Lee said.
The 25-strong Cuban team arrives this afternoon and plays its first game, against Taiwan, at Telus Field on Saturday. All players and staff with the 12 countries involved in the tourney will stay at the University of Alberta's Lister Hall.
The players are aged 17 and 18, "the prime target age for colleges and major leagues," Hayter said.
"In the old days the Cubans would always bring five or six 'trainers' who were all security people because they had such outstanding players. This time with the juniors they are bringing a couple of 'trainers,' " he said.
Lee won't be surprised if there's a defection in Edmonton this week.
"They are well-educated in Cuba and young people know how bad it is there compared to the U.S. or Canada," Lee said.
About 30 major league scouts have registered to attend the 10-day tournament, which runs Aug. 4-13, with a raft of college scouts also expected to show.
Randy Gurlock, Alberta spokesman for CIC, said about 10 people a month walk into his Edmonton office seeking refugee status.
"We get people from all over the world seeking refugee status but in Edmonton they are rarely from Cuba," Gurlock said.
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