Cuban Athletes: Regime Tried to Kidnap Us After Defection
Five Cuban athletes who defected during games in the Dominican Republic claim Castro regime operatives attempted to kidnap them, prompting the expulsion of nine Cuban diplomats.
The group of defectors includes fencers Adán Núñez and Hershey Daniela de la Cruz, softball center fielder Yasmani Álvarez, rower Leah Daniel Almeida, and hockey team goalkeeper Moisés David Torres Puig. They escaped from Cuba’s delegation during the sporting event held in Santo Domingo between July 24 and August 8, as Breitbart News reports.
One of the athletes, speaking on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns, told 14 y Medio that he remains in hiding and cannot appear publicly. He said Dominican colleagues warned him that Cuban regime operatives were still searching for him and advised him to stay off social media.
They wanted to kidnap us in a country where they have no right to do so, the athlete stated, adding that the group felt pursued by agents sent from Havana.
The allegations emerged just hours after the Dominican Republic expelled nine Cuban embassy diplomats and their family members from the country. The Dominican Foreign Ministry offered no explanation for the decision, stating only that no further details would be provided.
Espionage and Abduction Operations Alleged
According to Diario de las Americas, the expelled Cuban diplomats were allegedly caught conducting espionage and abduction operations against the five athletes on Dominican soil, acting as though they possessed police jurisdiction in the country. The Cuban embassy reportedly pressured Santo Domingo to immediately deport the defectors and abused security credentials during the games while launching a defamation campaign against the Dominican Republic ahead of the athletes’ escape.
The unnamed athlete told 14 y Medio he believes the diplomat expulsions are directly connected to the regime’s pursuit of the defecting athletes.
However, the Dominican newspaper El Día, citing unnamed diplomatic sources, reported last week that the expulsion was unrelated to the athlete defections and instead resulted from a separate investigation. Those sources claimed the diplomats were removed for abusing their diplomatic status to conduct intelligence and state security operations for the Castro regime.
Havana Blames Washington
The communist regime in Havana reacted angrily to the expulsion, accusing the Dominican government of acting as part of a United States-led plot of subordination. Dominican newspaper Diario Libre reported that the diplomats departed the embassy without incident, apart from one photographer who attempted to scale a fence to photograph the interior of the compound.
For decades, Cuba’s communist dictatorship has maintained absolute control over the nation’s athletes, exploiting them for propaganda purposes to falsely tout the supposed success of communism in sports despite Cuba’s consistently underwhelming performance at international competitions. Athletes permitted to travel abroad to represent the regime at international events are subjected to severe surveillance designed to prevent defections.
Pattern of Athletic Defections
The Santo Domingo defections follow a similar incident roughly one month earlier when nine members of Cuba’s canoeing team abandoned their delegation during the third Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup and the Pan American Championships hosted by Canada in July. Those canoe athletes were reportedly scheduled to participate in the recent games in the Dominican Republic.
The five athletes were part of a delegation of over 500 Cuban competitors who participated in the Santo Domingo games.
With information from Breitbart News
