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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Six players survive exodus by sea to
Miami
By Kevin Baxter, kbaxter@herald.com.
Posted on Sun, Oct. 10, 2004.
Five veterans of Cuba's national series
and a member of the country's national junior
program are in Miami after the largest mass
desertion of baseball players since Fidel
Castro's revolution.
The six players, all reportedly under the
age of 24, arrived in the Keys a week ago
after spending two days at sea. They are
infielder Yunel Escobar Almenares, pitchers
Yamel Guevara, Jose Angel Cordero Valdez,
Rafael Galbizo Figueroa and outfielders
Yoel Perez Mendieta and Yoan Limonta Zayas.
Of the six, Guevara, a 21-year-old right-hander,
likely will draw the most interest from
major-league scouts. He went 10-0 with a
2.06 ERA in helping Havana's Industriales
to the 2002-03 Cuban championship and has
a 17-2 lifetime regular-season record. Teammate
Escobar, 21, hit .317 that year in 63 at-bats
and has a .270 lifetime average in three
seasons, and Limonta hit .250 in 28 at-bats.
Cordero, who pitched in league play for
the Metropolitanos, reportedly possesses
a 95-mph fastball.
None of the six was on Cuban's powerful
national team, but Escobar, Perez and Galbizo
have all played for the junior national
team. The defection of a half-dozen players,
coming in the wake of the recent desertions
of standout pitchers Maels Rodriguez, Alay
Soler and Jose Contreras and first baseman/outfielder
Kendry Morales, is a crippling blow to the
island's baseball league, which its new
season next month.
After being released by immigration officials,
the players told a harrowing story about
the state of baseball in Cuba. Because of
the island's deep economic crisis, the players
said there is a shortage of gloves and bats
and the baseballs used in Cuban league play
are of inferior quality. Cordero told El
Nuevo Herald that many players are using
homemade bats, and Galbizo said he has seen
players nail broken bats together to keep
playing.
''If it wasn't for our natural talent,
Cuban baseball would have disappeared a
while ago,'' Galvizo said.
Cuban in court fighting to keep his
citizenship
An appeals court in Atlanta
heard arguments in the case of a Cuban man
in Miami who claims that a paperwork error
shouldn't cost him his U.S. citizenship.
By Louise Chu, Associated
Press. Posted on Sat, Oct. 09, 2004
ATLANTA - A Cuban man whose U.S. citizenship
is under question because he didn't show
up for his naturalization ceremony 13 years
ago should not face deportation over a paperwork
error by immigration officials, his lawyer
argued in federal court Friday.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
heard arguments in the case of David Sebastian,
38, of Miami, who claimed he has been a
citizen since he signed a piece of paper
containing an oath of allegiance to the
United States before a citizenship examiner
on March 11, 1988.
Immigration officials said Sebastian failed
to show up for his naturalization ceremony
-- the last step in the citizenship process
-- thus voiding his application.
Sebastian's case was further complicated
in 1997, when he was convicted of selling
stolen marine equipment. Immigration officials
said that his felony conviction was grounds
for deportation, since Sebastian was not
a citizen at the time, and that the felony
conviction also makes him ineligible to
reapply for citizenship.
Officials began deportation proceedings
after Sebastian completed his prison sentence
in 2002.
In his appeal to the 11th Circuit, Sebastian
claimed officials from the U.S. Immigration
and Naturalization Service sent his invitations
to the naturalization ceremony to the wrong
address and therefore never gave him the
opportunity to take the final oath.
Government attorneys acknowledged the paperwork
error but said that did not change the fact
that Sebastian never completed the citizenship
process.
A Justice Department attorney argued that
Sebastian should have known that simply
signing a piece of paper before a citizenship
examiner was not enough to become a citizen
because the law states that applicants must
take an oath administered by a court official.
Sebastian, who arrived with his family
from Cuba when he was 2 , has said he fears
he will be deported back to a country he
doesn't know.
The court did not immediately issue a ruling
on the case.
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