Madrid Spain.- Cuban hurdler Lázaro Taylor Fernández was intercepted by the United States Coast Guard while trying to reach the Florida coast.
The athlete had left the national delegation with which he traveled to Freeport, Bahamas, to compete in the IV Track and Field Championship of the Athletic Association of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (NACAC), last August.
According to a report by journalist Mario Pentón for the América Tevé network, the 23-year-old was hidden for weeks.
As Lázaro Taylor’s mother, Yunia Rodríguez, told Pentón, “on August 23 they had to return to Havana. And that’s when he decided to run away. He escaped at the airport”.
“He hid in a boat to come here. The Coast Guard intercepted it and that is what I have until now,” added the woman, who lives in the United States.
Yunia Rodríguez also stated that the family is trying to prevent him from being deported to the Island, fearing that he will have to face the consequences for his decision to “escape.”
Taylor’s mother also referred to the “precarious” conditions her son had in Cuba, despite being a high-performance athlete.
“I lived in a national athletics team school. There were days when she ate half a piece of bread for breakfast. A little bread, half is what they gave them for breakfast”. And the meals of the day were “rice and peas,” Rodríguez said.
At the event in the Bahamas last August, Lázaro Taylor Fernández finished sixth in the final of the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 50.09 seconds. His personal best, achieved this year, is 49.66 seconds.
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