SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The baseball player Cuban Reinier Hernández Echevarría, 35, was located after his family in the city of Miami, United States, reported his disappearance at the beginning of the month.
Hernández Echevarría, a native of Pinar del Río, was in Tijuana when he stopped showing signs of life. As he himself explained to the media Cubalitehe is fine. He had surrendered to the Border Patrol to request political asylum so he could see his newborn daughter in the United States.
“I really wanted to be with my daughter, but my appointment through CBP One did not arrive, so I took a risk and requested asylum at the border, without telling my family. I thought they would allow me to make a call, but they didn’t,” he said.
He went almost three weeks without communication, which caused concern among his family.
“I was detained for 19 days without any communication,” said Hernández, and alleged that he had suffered mistreatment and that his asylum requests had not been respected.
After the petition, he was deported from the United States to Mexico, lost his belongings and is trying to obtain a new appointment to enter the country legally.
His wife, Yedenia Pereda, who resides in Miami For five months, he had informed Cubalite at the beginning of October that she was desperate due to the lack of information about her partner.
The player was using the application CBP Oneintended to manage appointments at the United States border, but the WhatsApp messages sent to his cell phone did not arrive. “The last time it was connected was at 3:30 in the afternoon [del viernes 4 de octubre]. Since then we have not heard from him,” his wife added.
Hernández Echevarría had worked in several amateur baseball leagues in Mexico since emigrating in 2016. In addition, he had a brief participation in the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs club of the Atlantic League in the United States. Despite his career in baseball, he decided to temporarily abandon his sports career to seek a better future for his family in the United States.
According to Cubalitehis family had filed a complaint at the police station closest to Tijuana, but no information had been obtained about his whereabouts. “They told us that they don’t know about him,” Pereda commented. “I am very distressed, my heart is in my mouth,” she confessed.
The Cuban had been part of Pinar del Río’s pre-selection for the National Baseball Series, but was eliminated in the previous cuts. On the Island, he played in multiple editions of the Provincial Series and was preparing to return to the Cuban championship, where he hoped to debut in the National Series. “I would very much like to be in the next National Series, it would be my debut, but it depends on the managers’ plans,” the athlete had declared.
