Cuban basketball players Yusleidis Miranda and Anay García made their best play, but it was not on the court, it was against the regime. Both were hired last June through the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) to play three months with the Monseñor Romero Municipal League club in El Salvador. The athletes have just broken that bond and this week they arrived in the US.
In a video shared on social networksMiranda documented his journey through El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico, until he reached the southern border of the United States, which he described as “the country of freedom.”
The three months he had to be with the Salvadoran team were reduced to three games. His goal since he left the Island, like his partner’s, was to emigrate, as stated in a post of gratitude to his family: “Thanks to all the people who trusted me and reached out to me. One more goal, overcome, and we go for more”.
Miranda documented his journey through El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico, until he reached the southern border of the United States, which he described as “the country of freedom.”
In his brief stay with the Monseñor Romero Municipal League, Miranda got 49 points with a shooting effectiveness of 44% and recorded 41 rebounds, meanwhile, García got 58 points with 47 rebounds. Both were recognized on the Island as athletes of the year in 2018.
Her level of play led Miranda to be hired for a month in 2018 by the Dominican team Santiago de Los Caballeros. “Following that contract we came back and I was selected to play in Colombia at the Central American in Barranquilla, where I got a silver medal,” the athlete told the communicator.
As she admitted to the journalist Daimir Díaz Matos, she dreamed of “being part of the National Team and being an athlete recognized by Cuba.”
Miranda’s next move was to head out to El Salvador. She was hired by the same team that she resigned from a few days ago: Monseñor Romero Municipal League, but with permission from Inder. The institution allowed him to establish the necessary contacts and procedures to emigrate.
Anay García’s experience, on the other hand, was different. This athlete, 1.92 centimeters tall, was one of the members of the team from Pinar del Río that consecutively won four titles in the Superior Basketball League, the last one in 2016.
With playing experience in the Dominican Republic and Argentina leagues, García spent the covid-19 pandemic in isolation, training alone in the San Juan y Martínez gym. Her contract with El Salvador represented the opportunity not to return to the Island and to break her dependence on Inder. The basketball player now sees her sporting future in the US.
With playing experience in the leagues of the Dominican Republic and Argentina, García spent the covid-19 pandemic in isolation, training alone in the San Juan y Martínez gym.
The exodus of Cuban athletes has also generated a notable void in athletics. After three dropouts and a failure at the XVIII World Athletics Championships, held in Eugene, USA, where no medals were obtained, the National Athletics Commissioner herself, Yipsi Moreno, was removed from her post.
The Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 and silver in Athens 2004 was accused of privileging athletes close to her, while harassing others who ended up withdrawing from athletics or leaving the country.
The abandonment of Yusleidis Miranda and Anay García adds to the bleeding of Cuban athletes in recent months, including that of the Olympic medalist and world discus champion, Yaime Perezwho fled after Cuba’s sporting failure in Eugene, USA.
During that championship, the physical therapist Carlos González Morales and the javelin thrower also deserted Yiselena Ballar Rojaswho left the delegation in Miami, barely landed his plane.
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