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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Cuban dancers defect
A young couple performing with the Cuban National
Ballet in Daytona Beach took a taxi to freedom
after quietly slipping away.
By Tere Figueras. tfigueras@herald.com.
Posted on Thu, Oct. 16, 2003 in The Miami Herald.
The day before the renowned Cuban National Ballet
took to the stage in Daytona Beach, two of its
young dancers slipped away in a startling pas
de deux, hoping for a new life in America.
Gema Díaz, 21, and Cervilio Amador, 20,
were supposed to perform in the company's production
of Don Quixote on Sunday.
But the pair had already defected, spirited away
Saturday in a taxi that ferried them to West Palm
Beach.
By Wednesday, they were meeting with an immigration
attorney in Coral Gables, preparing to officially
ask for political asylum.
''This is an extraordinary story,'' said attorney
Nelson Rodriguez-Varela. "This is a very
nice couple that were up-and-coming dancers with
the national ballet, but artists in Cuba are extremely
suppressed.''
Amador, who spoke to reporters at Rodriguez-Varela's
office Wednesday, said the company's tours through
the United States and Europe inspired him to defect.
''I began to see how people around the world
live, what their individual capacities can achieve
in an atmosphere of freedom,'' he told El Nuevo
Herald.
The ballet company is on a seven-week, 20-city
tour and now is in New York. Daytona Beach was
the closest it came to Miami.
''They feel they have a lot of support here in
the exile community and that people will help
them realize their dreams,'' said Rodriguez-Varela,
who said he was referred to the couple by friends
in Miami.
The ballet company didn't acknowledge the pair's
absence Sunday in Daytona Beach: Díaz and
Amador were still listed in the programs for Don
Quixote, based on Cervantes' tale of idealism
in the face of ridiculous odds.
Díaz was to dance the role of Dulcinea,
Don Quixote's ideal love. Amador was to dance
the part of a young gypsy. And as of Wednesday,
the Cuban National Ballet's website made no mention
of the defections: Diaz and Amador were still
listed on the company's roster.
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