A second Cuban gymnast who competed in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim defected on Monday, joining a teammate whose uncle had already brought him to his Los Angeles home.
Charles Tamayo Leon told reporters at the Los Angeles home of Ramon Ferrer that he felt good about his decision to defect to the United States.
On Sunday, Ferrer told reporters that his nephew, 23-year-old Michel Brito Ferrer, had long planned to leave the Cuban team during the championships, which started on Saturday at Anaheim’s Arrowhead Pond.
Attorney Luis Carrillo told reporters at Ferrer’s house that the gymnasts were ”exhausted.”
”They’re very tired,” he said. ”These are difficult times for them. They’re here because of political repression, the political persecution for them in Cuba,” Carrillo said.
Brito Ferrer called his uncle to pick him up at the team’s hotel on Sunday and went public with an interview with Telemundo Spanish-language television.
”I want to stay here. I feel good here. I want to feel free here,” Brito Ferrer said in the Telemundo interview.
”I’m young, we don’t have any opportunity over there. We don’t have a future and there’s no way to have any fun over there,” he said.
Brito Ferrer competed for Cuba and was placed 10th in the all-around at the recent Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic.
He did not advance to the individual event finals in Anaheim.
Cuba finished 15th and did not qualify for the team finals.
To qualify for asylum in the United States, applicants must be in the country, apply within their first year and have a credible fear of persecution based on race, religion, ”or in this case, political opinion”, said attorney Meredith Brown.
”I think it’s going to be a very strong case, given that now they’re part of the dissident community. They’re going to have a very strong claim for asylum.”
Marie Sevrechts of the Department of Homeland Security’s citizenship and immigration services said that US immigration officials would neither confirm nor deny any request for asylum.
”If somebody is seeking political asylum, we wouldn’t comment on it,” she said. — Sapa-AFP