Madrid Spain.- Boxer Andy Cruz, Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, and baseball prospect César Yanquiel Hernández, were released this Wednesday. The Cuban athletes had been arrested by the Cuban authorities for their attempted illegal departure from Cuba.
According to the sports journalist Frances RomeroBoth were arrested last Sunday in Moa, Holguín province.
“Cruz and Hernández were transported to the provincial capital on the same Sunday and remained there until today,” Romero assured this Wednesday.
The specialized baseball reporter explained that the departure from the country could not materialize due to the intervention of Rolando Céspedes, alias “El Fiscal”, who had asked the athletes for large amounts of money to get them out of Cuba.
After not receiving the payment, Céspedes, who has been in the business of sending athletes out of the country for more than ten years, revealed the location of Andy Cruz and César Hernández, Romero says.
According to his considerations, “the future of Cruz and Hernández in Cuba right now is more than dim. Probably, the next step is to ask for the withdrawals from the sport and wait for the release of the passports to be able to travel legally.
Last week, boxing expert Willie Suárez assured that Cruz had left the island. Initially, the Cuban government did not confirm the news, but rather indicated that the boxer had not shown up for the Playa Girón National Boxing Championship that was taking place in those days.
Subsequently, the official media HIT reproduced a note issued by the Cuban Boxing Federation (FCB) in which it was stated: “The Cuban Boxing Federation informs that it has been notified about the participation of the athlete Andy Cruz Gómez in an attempt to leave the country illegally. The fact, which classifies as serious indiscipline in the regulations of our sport, will generate the corresponding analysis, which we will inform in a timely manner.
Yordenis Ugás sends a message to Andy Cruz’s family
After learning about the arrest, the boxer from Santiago Yordenis Ugás, who lives in the United States, sent a message to the family of Andy Cruz, in which he recalled the similar situation he experienced.
“My message to Andy’s family is to raise your voice. Thirteen years ago my mother did not have internet or a telephone, otherwise I am sure that she would have gone out to denounce what was happening to us. Let all of Cuba know. And have faith, this will pass and surely greatness awaits you”, said Ugás through Facebook.
Regarding Cruz’s situation, he considered: “The most difficult thing about all this is that, with this new criminal code that they passed, while the people are queuing, or inventing to be able to have a meal a day, they can put him in prison and screw him for of years to the boy. He would be one more, among the millions of beings that a dictatorship, a system, a party steals their sleep and anyone who wants to take off the chain, break the ceiling and fly tries to clip their wings”.
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