March
13, 2008
With
Cuba slow to change, defections rise
By Tere Figueras Negrete, Alfonso Chardy and Jordan Levin, Miami
Herald
Ballet dancers. Boxers. This week, soccer players.
A flurry of young athletes and artists from Cuba have sought asylum
in the United States since an ailing Fidel Castro ceded power
20 months ago -- slipping away from minders, leaving behind families
and striking out for new lives across the Florida Straits.
While high-profile defectors from Cuba have systematically wound
up in the United States in the five decades since Castro's rise
to power, the most recent wave arrives against the backdrop of
his departure from the political stage.
The timing of the defections, say both Cuba watchers and some
of the defectors themselves, underscores dissatisfaction with
both the political and economic situation on the island and a
belief that change under Castro's successor, brother Raúl
Castro, may come more slowly than many had hoped.
''The timing of the defections is significant,'' said Andy Gomez,
senior fellow at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban
and Cuban American Studies. "It shows that there is a frustration
among Cubans, especially young Cubans, who see this change as
simply a continuity of a different regime.''
Seven Cuban soccer players defected in Tampa this week -- all
members of the under-23 national team -- slipping away from the
team's hotel. Five players managed to sneak away Tuesday on the
heels of a surprising 1-1 tie with the United States in an Olympic
qualifying match. Two more bolted on Wednesday and said they planned
to join their teammates and fellow defectors in Lake Worth --
eventually, they hope, signing on with a professional soccer league,
either in the United States or elsewhere.
The notable defections also mirror a larger trend: Overall migration
from Cuba has been on the rise since Castro initially turned over
power to his younger brother in July 2006.
Last year, 3,197 Cuban migrants were intercepted at sea -- the
highest number in a single year since the 1994 rafter crisis,
when 37,191 Cubans were interdicted.
Experts say Raúl Castro's ascent to power has sparked widespread
expectations for change -- and that impatience for reform may
be among the reasons behind the recent defections.
That frustration can span both philosophical and practical concerns,
said Issac Delgado, a celebrated Cuban salsa singer who defected
in November 2006.
He cited a sense of disillusionment among artists, but also an
inability to travel freely outside the island to perform and a
lack of access to the Internet -- a necessary creative outlet
in an increasingly digital marketplace -- as especially galling.
''More and more people in Cuba are realizing that their work gives
them possibilities, but in Cuba, professional artists always hit
a ceiling,'' Delgado said from his Key Biscayne apartment. ``They
don't let you fly. You don't have the possibility, like you do
in every country in the world, to try and reach your maximum potential,
to attain your dream.''
In addition to Delgado, other notable artists and athletes have
orchestrated defections since the change in power.
Star Cuban boxers Yan Barthelemy, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier
Solis defected while their team visited Venezuela in December
2006.
Baseball player Alexei Ramirez defected in September 2007 and
signed with the Chicago White Sox.
In December alone, defectors included three top dancers from the
Cuban National Ballet, four members of the Cuban National Circus,
six members of the musical group Los Tres de La Habana and seven
young members of the Spanish Ballet of Cuba -- who defected during
an arts festival in Mexico, with several winding up in Miami.
That same month brought the defection of famed TV personality
Carlos Otero, who quickly found work in Miami hosting a comedy
and musical show on AméricaTeVe Channel 41 titled Pellízcame
que Estoy Soñando.
Translation: "Pinch Me Because I'm Dreaming.''
''In Cuba, people in the arts, medicine, the professions, sports
are tired of waiting for change that never comes,'' said Otero,
who defected while in Canada. He came up with the show's name
while driving on Interstate 95 after arriving, when he asked his
wife to pinch him because he felt he was in a dream now living
in the United States.
''There is widespread expectation for change,'' Otero added. ``But
people see that Cuba is suspended in time since Fidel fell ill.''
High-profile defections from Cuba are, of course, nothing new.
Baseball players like Orlando ''El Duque'' Hernandez, musicians
such as singer Albita Rodríguez and dancers, among them
ballerinas Lorena Feijoo and Joan Boada, have left Cuba over the
years seeking freedom and lucrative careers.
Possibly adding to the current sense of discontent is Raúl
Castro's decision to encourage public debate and discussion of
frustrations with the Cuban revolution, said Brian Latell, a former
CIA analyst on Cuba and Latin America.
''Societal stresses have been rising, maybe even dangerously,
over the last year or so,'' said Latell, who is now a senior research
associate at UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies.
"Raúl has also been simultaneously raising expectations
for change by opening up the debate, but has not been able to
deliver any significant improvements in the standard of living.''
Max Lesnik, a controversial Miami radio commentator who regularly
visits Cuba, echoed that sentiment. Among new measures young Cubans
have been widely expecting is the elimination of exit permits
that the government requires Cubans to have to leave the country
legally even if they have secured visas from a foreign country,
he said.
''The delay in introducing that measure could be one of the reasons
for impatience among talented young people to stay in other countries,''
Lesnik said.
He plans to travel to Havana to cover a meeting called by the
Cuban Foreign Ministry for Cubans living abroad.
Both Lesnik and Francisco Aruca -- another controversial Cuban-American
radio commentator who frequently travels to the island -- said
elimination of the exit permit could be one of the measures announced
at the three-day émigré meeting, which starts Wednesday.
But not all defectors see their recent arrivals as heralding a
larger trend.
Taras Domitro, one of the three leading dancers who defected from
the Cuban National Ballet in December, said dancers have been
leaving Cuba for as long as he can remember.
''A lot of dancers have left, on all levels,'' Domitro said from
his mother's home in Pompano Beach, where he's living as he waits
for his work permit so he can start a job with the San Francisco
Ballet. "It's been happening all my life.''
But while contemplating a defection may be commonplace, discussing
it remains strictly taboo, he said.
''We never talked about it in the company,'' he said. ``Those
are things you can't say. To talk about abandoning the country
-- that's not OK.''
Miami Herald staff writer Michelle Kaufman contributed to this
report.
Copyright
2008. The Miami Herald. All rights reserved.
