The 90-mile sprint
Athletes are making a dash for freedom—and sometimes fortune
IN ONE night on July 15th Ariel Martínez, Cuba’s leading striker, twice showed a nifty turn of foot. On the field he set up the only goal of the game against Guatemala in a regional soccer tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then, after taking a jubilant team bus back to the hotel, he gave his coach a hug and reportedly bolted “into the darkness”.
He was the fourth Cuban footballer to defect to the United States in the 19-day Gold Cup tournament. In the same week four Cuban rowers at the Pan American games in Canada gave their handlers the slip and are assumed to have sped across the United States border. A fortnight earlier, two national baseball players went missing after a friendly match with American rivals in North Carolina. They have not been heard from since.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "The 90-mile sprint"
From the July 25th 2015 edition
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