MADRID, Spain.- “I made the decision when we started our training camp in Portugal. I wasn’t sure about waiting four more years to have the opportunity to look for a better future,” said Leonardo Hierrezuelo, the young 23-year-old Cuban goalkeeper, explaining his decision. decision to escape from the concentration of the national futsal team in Huelva, Spain.
The team was in Spain preparing for its participation in the 2024 World Cup in Uzbekistan. During the early hours of August 26-27, Hierrezuelo left the hotel where the Cuban team was staying and took a train to meet up with a friend living in Spain, who provided him with help for his escape.
In a recent interview with the Spanish media The Vanguard, Hierrezuelo said he made the decision to escape during his pre-team training camp in Portugal. He had left his parents and brother in Havana, hoping that they could join him in Spain in the future. Despite his talent in futsal, he received no income from playing in the Cuban first division with the Havana club. “My mother only earned about 3,000 or 4,000 Cuban pesos, which is equivalent to 10 euros,” he said, highlighting the difficult economic conditions he faced in Cuba. So the desire for a better life led him to seek opportunities outside the island.
“It is very difficult to find food in supermarkets and, when there is, it is at very high prices,” said Hierrezuelo, who also said that during trips with the Cuban team he took the opportunity to buy sports clothing and shoes that he sold in Cuba. In this way, he obtained additional income to help his family. His main desire, now that he has managed to escape, is to establish himself financially in Spain and start sending money to his family. “Living in Cuba is very difficult, It has always been bad, but after the coronavirus everything has gotten worse,” he said.
Leonardo Hierrezuelo is currently looking for work and hopes to be able to register in Spain, while dreaming of playing professional futsal. His career in the sport He is outstanding; he began to stand out at the age of 16 and, by the time he was 20, he had already won titles, such as the provincial championship with Old Havana and the national championship with Havana. He was also champion at the Caribbean Games with the Cuban under-23 team. Recently, he had been the substitute goalkeeper for the national team at the 2024 Futsal Pre-World Cup in Nicaragua.
A few days before Hierrezuelo’s escape, he had escaped from the same team Harold Aguileraone of the most prominent figures of the national team. Aguilera left the team in Viseu, Portugal, prior to the game in Spain.
