At least nine young Cuban
baseball players have defected during a tournament in Mexico, officials
say, in the largest defection of Cuban athletes in years.
Cuban
officials called the players' actions during the World Cup for athletes
under the age of 23 "vile abandonments", state media report.
The rest of the team, which originally had 24 players, will return on Monday.
Cuban athletes have a long history of defecting while competing abroad.
Baseball
players often leave to sign up with Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs
in the US, as strained relations between the US and Cuba prevent them
from taking part in a regular hiring process.
The
statement by Cuba's National Sports Institute, published on the
official JIT website and quoted by the Associated Press news agency, did
not name the players who had stayed in Mexico.
But baseball journalist Francys Romero said a total of 12 players had defected.
A
deal that allowed some Cuban players to sign with MLB clubs was
cancelled by President Donald Trump in 2018, in an attempt to pressure
the island's Communist government to implement political changes. The
agreement meant athletes no longer had to abscond and leave Cuba
illegally.
The
most recent high-profile player to defect was 22-year-old César Prieto,
one of the country's top baseball stars, who abandoned the team earlier
this year while in Florida for an Olympics qualifying event.
Ballet dancers and footballers are also among athletes who have fled during major competitions.
Cuba is in the midst of an economic crisis, with food and medicine
shortages, and has been hit hard by US sanctions and Covid-19. In July,
thousands of people joined the biggest anti-government protests in the
island for decades.
