Published Tuesday, May 9, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Cuban collegiate defects
After flying to Miami with uncle, Chaoui seeks agent Cubas' help
By Stephen F. Holder. sholder@herald.com
A Cuban college baseball player who vanished Saturday after arriving in Minnesota for an exhibition game resurfaced Monday in Miami and said he plans to defect.
Mario Miguel Chaoui, a 20-year old second baseman for La Universidad de Habana (the University of Havana), spoke Monday of his plans to continue his career here with assistance from a sports agent who has helped several Cuban players reach the major leagues.
Chaoui plans to apply for political asylum after abandoning his teammates Saturday in Minneapolis, where he and two dozen teammates were to play St. Thomas (Minn.) University.
Much to Chaoui's surprise, his uncle, Arturo Espina, greeted him at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and persuaded him to defect. While the team boarded a bus, Chaoui and Espina sneaked away to Espina's waiting car and headed to Chicago -- an eight-hour drive -- where they boarded a
plane for Miami. Chaoui has stayed with Espina in Miami since.
The family has solicited the help of well-known agent Joe Cubas, widely known for his involvement in the defection of Livan and Orlando ``El Duque'' Hernandez and several other players. Both Hernandez brothers are starting pitchers in the major leagues.
Cubas, Espina and Chaoui's grandmother, Maria Espina, held a news conference at Cubas' office Monday evening.
``The first thing he should do is make sure he takes care of his immigration status,'' Cubas said. ``Hopefully, we'll have him on a baseball field by the end of the week.''
Said Chaoui: ``Like every Cuban baseball player, my dream is to one day play professional baseball.'' He added he would like to continue his education. ``The first thing I want to do is learn the English language, perfect it, and study.''
Chaoui left both his parents and a younger sister in Cuba, but he said the decision to stay in the United States was not difficult. He has plenty of family in Miami, including two aunts, two uncles and several cousins. He is especially close to his grandmother, who left Cuba two years ago.
Cubas reiterated he does not represent Chaoui. Nonetheless, Cubas plans to arrange a time and place for professional scouts to watch Chaoui play.
``For me to comment about him as a baseball player is not fair because I have never seen him play,'' Cubas said. ``But the fact that he made a collegiate team in Cuba leads me to believe that he could play in the major leagues, if not now, then in the future.''
Cuban songstress rediscovers herself
By Daniel A. Grech. dgrech@herald.com
Albita's head was cocked slightly to the side as she listened to herself broadcast over speakers in Club Goddess a half-hour before going onstage Monday night.
``It starts out like a normal ballad, about my search for something in my heart to offer to people,'' she said of Corazón Adentro, or Inside the Heart, the first track on her new album Son. ``Until . . . there!'' She slapped her thigh at the trumpet solo. ``Here I incorporate a little bit
of jazz, and things accelerate into full salsa.''
Then Albita, or Alba Rodriguez, recited lines from Cuban national poet Jose Marti that she would repeat later in front of 300 fans at Spec's Music on South Beach.
`` `One who is filled inside doesn't need to show a lot outside,' '' she said. ``That sentiment captures my essence as a woman and a Cuban.''
It is a wisdom Albita says has been reinforced by two long years of searching for a label -- and her soul. The singer-songwriter's rapid rise seven years ago has only been matched by her fall from the spotlight.
Following a hugely popular album Qué Manera de Quererte -- roughly translated, she says, as ``I love you so much'' -- Sony Records dropped her. The label's executives had said her latest album, comprising five original songs and several reinterpretations of traditional Cuban songs, lacked
popular appeal.
It took a performance in the Blue Note in New York and a gamble by Times Square Records, an independent label that normally releases orchestral movie soundtracks, for the woman Madonna admired and Newsweek covered to be rediscovered.
The daughter of two well-known folk troubadours in Cuba, Albita says her fourth album returns to her musical roots: the son, the Cuban name for salsa.
But with the help of her nine-member band and traditional son instruments, Albita fused elements of tango, Latin jazz and rap into a music she hopes grandparents and their grandchildren can enjoy together.
Albita stood up from the couch and walked outside into a white stretch limo to take the two-block drive to the music store, which had already sold hundreds of her CDs, to be officially released today.
It was a final quiet moment before the first leg of a world tour that will take her to four sold-out concerts in Mexico City and Europe in the fall.
She sucked at her teeth and asked her manager if she looked all right. She sprayed Niki perfume on her neck and smoothed her pants, designed by Mayda Cisneros.
``I can feel the butterflies,'' she said, and laughed.
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald |