Ivan Prieto, who served as the bullpen catcher for the Cuban baseball team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), has disappeared in the United States.
American media such as the Miami Herald said on the 21st (Korean time), “The Cuban baseball team, which competed in the WBC, returned to Havana, Cuba through Miami International Airport on the 21st,” and “But the bullpen catcher Prieto did not appear at the airport. The Cuban baseball team returned home without Prieto.”
Prieto is a catcher who played eight seasons in the Cuban domestic league, but this time he did not play as a bullpen catcher.
Prieto, who has disappeared from the United States, is expected to seek asylum in the United States.
In Cuba, which was once called the strongest baseball player, exiles were frequent, especially for baseball players. There were also cases of disappearing during international conventions.
In October 2021, nine Cuban players who participated in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Under-23 (U-23) World Championships disappeared from Mexico, the host country.
Previously, in June of the same year, there were players who chose exile among the Cuban national team who visited the United States to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifiers.
Cuban players who defected to a third country often seek contracts with American Major League (MLB) teams as free agents (FA).
According to local media, about 650 Cuban baseball players have abandoned their nationality and headed to the United States in the past six years.
Due to political and diplomatic issues with Cuba, a communist country, the United States does not allow Cuban players to enter the American professional leagues. Because of this, a line of Cuban players sought asylum to play in the United States.
As the successive disappearance and exile of Cuban players became a problem, at the end of 2018, the MLB Secretariat signed an agreement with the Cuban Baseball Association to allow them to play for MLB clubs without exile or escape.
But in 2019, when former US President Donald Trump invalidated it, Cuban players’ attempts to seek asylum increased again.
The WBC organizing committee has allowed exiled players to represent Cuba in this tournament.
Accordingly, Lewis Robert (Chicago White Sox), who escaped from Cuba in 2016, played an active part in the Cuban national team.
It is the first time since Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution in 1959 that an exiled player has played for the Cuban national team in an international competition.
Cuba was knocked out by a 2-14 defeat in the quarterfinals against the United States held at Londipo Park in Miami, Florida on the 20th.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.