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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ish who wrote (238804)	8/4/2007 2:28:21 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 281500

Cuba makes early Pan Am Games exit to prevent mass defections Released : Sunday, July 29, 2007 2:16 PM About 100 Cuban athletes remain in the Villa Panamericana here after most of the members of their country's delegation left Rio de Janeiro on the weekend to prevent potential mass defections, Brazilian media reported Sunday. Globo television said a rumor about the presumed mass defection of Cuban athletes spurred Havana to order the early return on Saturday night of the majority - between 200 and 240 - of the members of the Cuban delegation. The absence of Cuba's volleyball players at the medals ceremony, where they were due to receive the bronze, was interpreted as a sign of unexpected developments within the communist island's athletic contingent. Officials with the Pan American sports organization told Efe that Cuba had told them that most of their delegation returned to Havana on Saturday night because of athletic commitments in Europe. However, sources with the games' Organizing Committee told Efe that they had not received any word from Cuba that would justify their absence from the volleyball medals ceremony. Cuban athlete Norbert Gutierrez participated on Sunday morning in the marathon, but he did not manage to finish the race. Globo reported earlier that the order to return from the games, in which Cuban participated with 470 athletes, was issued by the island's acting president, Raul Castro. During the games, four Cuban athletes defected: handball player Rafael Capite, gymnastic coach Lazaro Lamelas and two boxers - Guillermo Rigondeaux, double Olympic and world champion in the bantamweight category and standardbearer of the island's boxing team, and Erislandy Lara, the world welterweight champ. Fidel Castro addressed in a commentary published Saturday by the Cuban press the problem of the defections, referring to the "repugnant buying and selling" of athletes, and the brain and talent drain - which he called "theft" - from poor countries. Copyright 2007 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc., Source: The Financial Times Limited Provider: Financial Times Ltd. macroworldinvestor.com