Cuban baseball star Misael Siverio 'defects to US'
A baseball player from Cuba's
national team has reportedly
defected to the United States ahead
of five matches against a US college
stars team.
The 24-year-old pitcher Misael Siverio is
said to have disappeared from the hotel
where the Cuban national team had been
staying in the US state of Iowa.
The heads of the Cuban delegation do
not expect him to return, reports say.
At least two of the American Major
League Baseball's rising stars are Cubans
who recently defected to the US.
Mr Siverio, one of the 24 players in the
US for a five-game series, told the El
Nuevo Herald newspaper that he was
going to try to make it in the US baseball
leagues.
'Not easy'
"Leaving behind your country is not
easy, but this was a decision that I gave a
lot of thought," Siverio reportedly told
Miami's El Nuevo Herald.
Siverio was not in the Cuban team list
published by the US organisers on
Wednesday.
The Cuban delegation has reportedly
declined to comment on the situation.
"From their perspective, he's no longer a
member of their delegation," US Baseball
director Paul Seiler told the Des Moines
Register.
Cubans Yoenis Cespedes, from the
Oakland A's and Yasiel Puig, from the Los
Angeles Dodgers, who defected in the
last two years, are considered to be
among the US major baseball league's
(MLB) rising stars.
