{"id":25307,"date":"2025-08-15T13:46:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T17:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/abandonments-in-cuban-sport-a-persistent-problem-for-decades\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T13:46:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T17:46:14","slug":"abandonments-in-cuban-sport-a-persistent-problem-for-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/nationals\/abandonments-in-cuban-sport-a-persistent-problem-for-decades\/","title":{"rendered":"Abandonments in Cuban sport: A persistent problem for decades"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Cuban Athletes Disappear in Asunci\u00f3n: A New Chapter in the History of Abandonments<\/h2>\n\nThe possible defection of four Cuban athletes in Asunci\u00f3n, Paraguay, during the 2025 Junior Pan American Games, has revived a problem that has affected Cuban sport for more than three decades.\n\nEnrique Riera, Paraguayan Minister of the Interior, confirmed that authorities are searching for the athletes following a complaint from the Cuban delegation. It is presumed that the athletes abandoned the team, although they have not yet requested political asylum.\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cThese have not yet taken any steps with Conare (National Commission for Stateless Persons and Refugees), but in principle that is the presumption we have,\u201d said Riera.<\/p><cite>Enrique Riera<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nAccording to information from ABC Cardinal, the athletes are three rowers and a handball player.\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Baseball, Historically Affected<\/h2>\n\n\nBaseball has been one of the sports most impacted by the defection of Cuban athletes. Figures like Ren\u00e9 Arocha, Aroldis Chapman, Yoenis C\u00e9spedes, Jos\u00e9 Abreu and Orlando \u2018El Duque\u2019 Hern\u00e1ndez, who escaped from Cuba in 1997, are examples of this situation.\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.efeservicios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ARO-CHAPMAN-BEISBOL-CUBA-BOSTON-1-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Fotograf\u00eda de archivo del jugador de b\u00e9isbol Aroldis Chapman, de los Medias Rojas de Boston.\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cuban Boxing and Other Sports<\/h2>\n\n\nCuban boxing, the cradle of legendary figures like Te\u00f3filo Stevenson, has also suffered significant losses. Guillermo Rigondeaux, Odlanier Sol\u00eds, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Yan Barthelemy, Andy Cruz, Yoenlis Hern\u00e1ndez, and Osvel Caballero are some of the boxers who have left the Cuban ranks.\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.efeservicios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/RIGO-BOXEO-CUBA-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Fotograf\u00eda de archivo del boxeador Guillermo Rigondeaux (d), de Cuba.\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Abandonments have affected other disciplines, including athletics. Before the London 2012 Olympic Games, several elite athletes made the decision to represent other nations, such as Jordan D\u00edaz and Yulenmis Aguilar (Spain), Pedro Pablo Pichardo (Portugal), Andy D\u00edaz (Italy) and Yaim\u00e9 P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.efeservicios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/YULENMIS-ATLETISMO-CUBA-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Fotograf\u00eda de archivo de la atleta Yulenmis Aguilar, que proviene de Cuba pero representa a Espa\u00f1a.\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Paraguay and Previous Cases<\/h2>\n\n\nParaguay has been the scene of similar situations with athletes from other countries. In 2018, a Paraguayan rugby club &#8220;sponsored&#8221; three Venezuelan players who decided to stay in the country after an under-20 championship.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cuban Athletes Disappear in Asunci\u00f3n: A New Chapter in the History of Abandonments The possible defection of four Cuban athletes in Asunci\u00f3n, Paraguay, during the 2025 Junior Pan American Games, has revived a problem that has affected Cuban sport for more than three decades. Enrique Riera, Paraguayan Minister of the Interior, confirmed that authorities are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[997],"tags":[7324,6739,7325,6864],"class_list":{"0":"post-25307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nationals","8":"tag-abandonments","9":"tag-asuncion","10":"tag-cuban-athletes","11":"tag-pan-american-games"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}