Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, July 15, 1993, Page 5, Image 5

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    Cuban athletes defect at games
mrnmum
BUFFALO, N \ (AIM -
Two Cuban baseball plavers
defected to the United States
for a shot at the major leagues
The Cohan delegation to the
World University Carnes said
it was no grt'at loss to their country
Si me arriving fur the games last week, the Cubans
have lost three athletes from their 125-member del
egation. their chief of mission, Manuel Morales
Quintana, said Tuesday.
Shortstop Reynaldo Ordonez fieri the team Mon
day. while pitcher Kdilberto Oropesa defer ted Sat
urdny Fencer Giovani Perez Gonzales disappeared
Saturday and is believ ed to have defected, Quin
tana said.
Oropesa and Ordonez have turned up in Mia
mi. where they said they plan to seek political asy
lum
Quintana said Ordonez, and Oropesa were not
starters for the Cuban team, which is favored to win
the gold medal at the VVUGs. There are thousands
of other talented ballplayers in Culm, and the defec
tions were having little effei t on the rest of the team,
he said.
Kven so. Quintana said the Cuban team might
take precautions to prevent more defer tions
Quintana noted that the team defeated Taiwan 8
4 after the first defection Saturday, when Oropesa
jumped a fence at Sal Maglie Stadium in Niagara
Falls and fieri in a car driven by his cousin
Oropesa and Ordonez were not being persecut
ed in (aiba and were Ins- to seek asylum in the l Jnit
ed States. Quintana said Hut Oropesa could have
defer ted in a less dramatic way. Quintana said
"He could have just gone through the doorway
I le didn't have to make it such a grand thing.'' Quin
tana said through a translator at a news i onferem e
Other Cuban athletes want to defect, hut avoid
talking about it because tlie\ fear Cuban officials.
Ordonez said
Ordonez fl«*«i with help from VVCMQ radio. a
Spanish-ianguage station in Miami His mother-in
law who lives in Miami, called the station
requesting h»*lj), and VVC'.MQ sent its sales manag
er. I .a/am Megret. to Buffalo, a spokeswoman for
the station said
Quintana said Ordonez left the athletes village at
the University of Buffalo with Megret. who tried to
get other Cubans to defect, but none did.
"l or main of our athletes, the proudest thing is
to wear the Cuban name on their uniforms." he
said
In Miami on Tuesday. Ordonez at hoed Orope
sa's desire to play in the major leagues Ordonez
said he heard a broadcast of a Florida Marlins
game in Cuba for the first time last week
I want to play for the Martins," Ordonez said
Unlike St Louis Cardinals pitcher Rene Arcs ha,
who defcM ted from Cuba in mot. Oropesa and
Ordonez are longshots to play in the major leagues
Neither wen* top players lor (ailm. and the team the
Cohans sent to the university games is third-rate
i ompared with their national team. Quintana said
Al Avila, the Marlins' assistant dins tor of l-atin
American operations, said he didn’t have am
information about Ordonez He added it was
Oropesa’s first time out of Cuba playing interna
tional ball.
"He's not a (op pros [as t." Avila said II he was,
he would have lieen on the national team
Immigration officials in Florida said they i mild
not comment on whether either player had asked
for asylum
John Ingham, who heads the immigration offit e
in Buffalo, said the athletes entered the l Imted States
legally and might he allowed to stay
"It's not as though they washed up on the l«*ai h
in South Florida and just disappeared into the pop
ulation," Ingham said
Researcher spends birthday in jail
[NORTHWEST
SPOkANK (AP)
— A Washington
Statu University
roseari.her spent
Ins lath birthday behind burs
Tuesday, |ai!fil two months so
far for refusing to toll a grand
jurs what ho knows about an
animal-rights group's Id'll rail!
Kik Si art i' contends that no
amount of time in a Irak up will
gut him to talk and that In* is
being punished lor not cooperat
ing with tlu> federal investigu
lion
"I'm in hero with r>4‘i other
men and women who are heri
tor punishment and I'm not
treated any differently ' Si an e
told the Moscow Pullman Daily
News in an interview at the
Spokane C.ounty Jail
'•Tins will he tin' worst birth
da\ of my lib'
l S IJistrn t Judge Freinming
Nielson, who found Si nrre in
ooiitotnpt April t> and ordered
him puled Mas It. has said
Si an t- would in- released imme
diate!) if he i hanged Ins mind
about testily iug
US. Attorney Carroll Gray
said Ins offii e filed a w ritten
objec tion Monday to a motion
b\ Si art e’s lawyer seeking Ins
c lient's release
We still think lie should be
held until he responds to the
questions.'' Gray said Tuesday
A group < ailing itself the Ani
mal l.iheration f ront claimed
responsibility lor the August
1901 raid at Washington State
University in which research
animals were uncaged and
offices and < omputer equipment
damag'd
S< an e, a graduate student in
sociology, is tile author of "la o
VVarriors," a book on radical
environmental and animal
rights groups
Me i ontends it would bo
unethical for him to disclose
confidential conversations he
had with possible suspects in
the Washington State break ins
bet ause the disi ussious were
part of his rcseari h. said his
attorney. Jeffry finer
The 9th U S (art uit Court of
Appeals in San I'rant isco has
re|i'i ted Scan e's contention that
he has a writer’s and scholar's
privilege to keep promises of
confidentiality to his subjt'ds
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