Cuban baseball player who defected to speak in Hialeah
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- Caribbean
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- Havana
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- United States
- Politics and Government
- 06 / 09 / 2008
The agent for 18-year-old Dayan Viciedo says he arrived in the United States at the end of May and is now living with friends and family.
Viciedo is from the central province of Villa Clara. He was a third baseman with the Villa Clara team, one of Cuba's major league teams. He started playing baseball in the Cuban majors when he was 15 and was included on the roster for the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Word of his defection spread quickly in Cuban baseball circles yesterday as the island's national team played an offseason exhibition with Puerto Rico. El Nuevo Herald was the first to report the defection.
Viciedo is the latest high-profile athlete to leave Cuba for the United States. In March, seven Cuban soccer players defected at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Tampa. Cuba called the act "dishonorable" and a "low blow." In May, 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Yurisel Laborde left Cuba's women's national judo team during a competition in Miami.
(AFP)
Viciedo is from the central province of Villa Clara. He was a third baseman with the Villa Clara team, one of Cuba's major league teams. He started playing baseball in the Cuban majors when he was 15 and was included on the roster for the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Word of his defection spread quickly in Cuban baseball circles yesterday as the island's national team played an offseason exhibition with Puerto Rico. El Nuevo Herald was the first to report the defection.
Viciedo is the latest high-profile athlete to leave Cuba for the United States. In March, seven Cuban soccer players defected at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Tampa. Cuba called the act "dishonorable" and a "low blow." In May, 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Yurisel Laborde left Cuba's women's national judo team during a competition in Miami.
(AFP)
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