The eighth Cuban baseball player of the U-23 team that disputes the World Cup in Mexico defected

Miguel Antonio Gonzalez

The Cuban player Miguel Antonio Gonzalez, 21, left the concentration of his country’s team in Hermosillo and became the eighth baseball player to defected at the U23 World Cup.

The specialized journalist Francys romero reported that the departure occurred between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., Mexico time, this Friday. “According to sources close to the situation, he is no longer with the team”, He detailed.

Then the communicator indicated that the Cuban delegation could continue to leak in the next few hours due to the proximity of the return to the island.

González, born in Granma, had been the captain of Cuba in the U-18 World Cup which was held in Canada in 2017. The young man “came from hitting .218 / .417 / .439, in 107 at-bats with Granma in the last 60 National Series“Said the communicator; and underlined: “Gonzalez was batting 13-5, .385 in the tournament”.

The newspaper Cuba news reported that, thanks to Mexico because it was imposed by the minimum against Panama, Cuba will discuss the bronze medal against Colombia. Nevertheless, now he will face that commitment with just 16 players available.

Colombia had already beaten them with total superiority in the second match of the Super Round and it is most likely that they will finish in fourth place, “which is already a worthy place in itself,” said the aforementioned media.

Cuban players in West Palm Beach (Matias J. Ocner / Miami Herald via AP / File)
Cuban players in West Palm Beach (Matias J. Ocner / Miami Herald via AP / File)

The other players who defected are Luis Dany Morales (Pitcher), Ubert Mejias (Pitcher), Loidel Rodriguez (Receiver), Reynaldo Lazaga (Gardener), Diasmany Palacios (Utility), Yeinel Zayas (Launcher) and Miguel Antonio Gonzalez (Infielder).

The political, economic and social situation in Cuba is critical. Thousands of people took to the streets of the country on July 11 to demand better living conditions. The dictatorship responded with repression, censorship and arrests.

This Friday, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) awarded the Grand Prize for Press Freedom 2021 to journalists Holmann Chamorro, from Nicaragua; and Henry Constantín Ferreiro, from Cuba, who have suffered imprisonment and persecution for doing his job in “one of the darkest periods” in the region.

Both of them “represent the struggle and courage of independent journalism to keep the population informed, despite the strong reprisals adopted by the totalitarian regimes of Nicaragua and Cuba against critical voices and freedom of the press, “he said. Jorge Canahuati, President of the IAPA, when announcing the winners.

Ferreiro, director of the magazine The Time of Cuba, He was detained and held incommunicado for 10 days after being arrested on July 11, when the unprecedented protests against the regime began.

The Cuban remained under house arrest until August 23 and was released, but continues under constant siege, as well as the rest of the independent journalists of that country.

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