The Communist Party of Chile is trying to discredit the Cuban athletes who defected during the Pan American Games held in Santiago de Chile and requested political asylum in the South American country.
According to Mijail Bonito, legal representative of the athletes, he and his partner, José María Hurtado, decided to make this information public due to the political nature of the situation.
“The Communist Party continued with its spiel about the Cuban Interests Office in Santiago. “He has tried to delegitimize the reasons of these boys for staying in Chile, which was also what forced us to come out and say that we were the lawyers and explain what the case was about,” Bonito told the local media. From before.
The lawyer points out that this is a rare case, since these are usually handled discreetly and without the asylum seekers making their intention public, unlike the island’s athletes. some of whom told how their escape was to the media.
“In fact, we had had a case four months earlier and no one had heard about it, appropriately,” he said.
The expert, also originally from Cuba, was referring to the failure of lawn hockey players Lázaro Tolón, Yuri Brown and Yordanqui Méndez, who abandoned an official delegation in May, when it traveled to Chile during a stay to train.
Bonito points out that the athletes requested refuge between May and June, but no one else had found out about this, since that is how such cases should be treated. However, the actions of the Chilean Communist Party caused them to adopt a different position.
“But in this specific case we had to leave because there was a kind of communication strategy to delegitimize the position of these boys, even though these boys had not even closed with us. We had not even taken the case officially,” the lawyer said.
Eight of the nine athletes who deserted during the Pan American Games have requested asylum in Chile. These are the handball player Lidier Vergarasix hockey players and a hurdler.
“The truth is that the Chilean Communist Party has acted throughout this time and in this specific case as the Havana Interests Office in Santiago,” declared Bonito when speaking about the alleged strategy of the Communist Party of that country.
These statements totally contradict those made by Karol Cariola, a representative and communist activist who stated that the Party did not feel any discomfort regarding the escapes and asylum requests.
“I have no discomfort and, to make it clear to everyone, I believe that anyone has the right to make this decision,” he quoted Infobae.
When asked if the athletes could continue their careers in Chile, Bonito stated that it was very likely, since there were “people from the Hockey Federation, people close to athletics who have communicated and have achieved many meetings.”
Finally, the jurist considers that Cuban athletes would like to be nationalized, so they could represent Chile in upcoming international competitions.
