MADRID, Spain.- The current migratory crisis that Cuba is going through, the biggest in decades, has been reflected exponentially through sport in the last year. Of the most diverse disciplines, athletes, ex-athletes and coaches left the country during 2022.
Emigration occurred both through the abandonment of delegations in international competitions or training bases, the non-return to the country at the end of contracts or by legal departures to nations such as Nicaragua, with the aim of following the Central American migratory route until reaching the United States.
Today in CubaNet We are counting the athletes who left Cuba in 2022, a year in which the number of emigrated athletes exceeded one hundred.
Baseball, national sport
During this year baseball was one of the sports most marked by emigration. Both experienced and retired players or young talents left the Island.
experienced
Among the renowned baseball players who have left Cuba in 2022, the experienced pitchers Yosimar Cousín and Yunior Tur stand out, who emigrated to the Dominican Republic just at the beginning of the year.
While crossing borders, pitcher Misael Villa from Artemisa arrived in the United States; Adriel Labrada from Santiago; Tony Guerra from Pinar del Río; pitcher Dayron Alpízar and infielder Miguel Rolando Camacho Yanes. The latter lost his father during the migration path.
For his part, Wilfredo Aroche independently managed a contract to play in the Italian Professional Baseball League.
In addition, the “abandonment” of the baseball player Elianni Castellanos, a member of the Island team that triumphed in the first Baseball5 World Cup, held in Mexico last November, was revealed.
prospects
If the departure of experienced players is highly commented by the fans, the high number of prospects leaving the country is also striking, further confirming the decline in the short and medium term of the national sport.
In the long list of young prospects who have left Cuba in 2022 are: Alejandro Prieto, Anthony Santa Cruz, Christian SaezLuis Valdés, Yeison Acosta, Yadier Batista, Earle Rafael Zulueta, Johan Rodríguez, Yorelquis Hernández, Danell Figueroa, Luis Miguel Rives, Maykol Valdivia Brown, Alain López, Yeison Rodríguez, Boris Sarduy, Alex Rodríguez, Laydiel Yunior Romero, Dairon Pimentel, Juan Miguel Fernández, Roberto Álvarez, Yuxnel Gato, Miguel Flores, Yan Carlos Valle, Alex Santiago Acosta and Jonathan Echavarría.
Most of these youngsters emigrated to the Dominican Republic, where they are trying to establish themselves and sign with a professional team.
former players
Among the retired baseball players who have left Cuba during the current year and have arrived in the United States making the usual Central American migratory journey are former pitcher Ángel Peña, who played for 23 seasons in the National Series; and the also ex-launcher of Granma and the national team, Ciro Silvino Licea. Known as the Indio del Datil, at the time he left Cuba Licea he was the pitching coach of the Alazanes de Granma.
For his part, Eliut Torres Ramírez, one of the most talented Cuban baseball players of the beginning of this century, arrived in the United States by crossing the border with Mexico through the Piedras Negras area.
While Yoelvis Fiss, from Ciego de Avila, nicknamed “the fireball of the bases”, left Cuba last October, a year after retiring from active sports.
The most recent release of former baseball players reported in 2022 was that of receiver Javier Carabeo, who arrived in the United States in November.
combat sports
Cuban boxing, one of the sports most followed by the fans, was left this year without some of its best boxers, such as the Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020, Andy Cruz; and Dainier Peró, gold medalist at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games.
Kevin Brown (67 kg) and Herich Ruiz (86 kg) deserted from the national delegation during the Continental Championship held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, last March.
Billy Rodríguez stayed in Mexico in August after his professional debutand a little later he came to the United States.
Last November Osvel Caballero did not return to the Island after achieving his third success in professional circuits, during a tournament held in the Mexican city of Aguascalientes.
Albert González and Carlos Castillo left the national team in the city of Cologne, Germany, where they were playing the World Cup.
In the fight, one of the most significant “loss” was that of the Olympic champion of Greco-Roman wrestling (59 kg) in Rio 2016, Ismael Borrero, who “deserted” from the delegation with which he traveled to Acapulco, Mexico, where he would participate in the 2022 Pan American Wrestling Championship.
Nor did Amanda Hernández (53 kg), Leonardo Her (60 kg), Cristian Solenzal (65 kg) and Yolanda Cordero (62 kg) return from that same championship.
The sixth wrestling figure to leave the country this year was double world wrestling champion Reineris Andreu (57 kg), who defected from Team Cuba this month during the qualifying event for the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador 2023. , held in the Dominican Republic.
On the other hand, the taekwondoka Yamitsi Carbonell (+73 kg) left the Cuba Team with which she traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico, to participate in the 25th edition of the World Championship of this discipline.
While Dalisdaivis Rodríguez, a two-time Paralympic judo champion, left the team this month with whom she traveled to Edmonton, Canada, to compete in the Pan-American Tournament of the International Federation of Sports for the Blind.
The king sport
Among the “fugues” of athletics, those of the javelinist Yiselena Ballar and the discus thrower Yaimé Pérez stand out; both left the national delegation with which they traveled to the United States last July to participate in the Eugene 2022 World Athletics Championships.
The already retired discus thrower Yarelis Barrio, world multi-medalist, arrived this month in the United States following the Central American migratory route.
Also left Cuba were hurdler Lázaro Taylor, sprinter Jenns Fernandez and pentathlete Melissa Garlobo.
While in July 2022 at least three members of the Cuban delegation that attended the Mexican Para-athletics Open in Monterrey abandoned the selection of the Island, before the event began. On that occasion, the names of sprinters Christian Carlos Guillén (T-47) and Elvis Nules (400 meters) and jumper Lázaro Yarlo Rodríguez came out.
Watersports
Kayakers from Villa Clara Reinier Carrera Monteagudo and Yoel David García González stayed in Canada during the Pan American Canoe Speed Championship in August of this year.
These casualties in water sports are added to those of Fernando Dayan Jorge, Olympic canoeing champion in Tokyo 2020, and that of the kayaker Fidel Vargas; both left the delegation with which they traveled to Mexico last March for training.
In the same month the young sailors Iris Laura Manso and Carlos Miguel Expósito arrived in the United States after a long migratory journey.
Last November it turned out that rowers Boris Luis Guerra, Ernier Tamayo, Alexei Carballosa and Nayala Torres left the national delegation that they were at a training base in Mexico, preparing for the Central American and Caribbean Championship.
Another sports
Although in fewer numbers, a host of other sports lost their top athletes this year. Among them the volleyball player Yamisleydis Viltres, the basketball player Neslier Raul Abreu, and the soccer players Mario Planchet, Christian Temprano and Leonardo Acevedo. These last three did not show up to the semifinal of the UNCAF FIFA Forward U-20 Futsal tournament, which took place in Guatemala in July 2022.
For their part, badminton players Osleni Guerrero Velazco, Leodannis Martínez and Thalía Mengana left the delegation with which they traveled to Mexico to compete in the II Future Series 2022.
While field hockey players Wilfredo Sánchez, Wilmer Verrier, Maikel Triztán and coach Alaín Bardají decided not to return to Cuba after ending their contracts in Mexico with the Indios de Guadalajara team.
This massive exodus was motivated, in most cases, by the great economic crisis that the country is going through, as well as by the restrictions and limitations with which athletes live on the Island.
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