I am writing this quickly and a
little late. I should do this because of the strong
emphasis I have placed in the analysis of this matter.
Besides, the news is not
disheartening. The wire services announced that the two
boxers who had defected in Rio de Janeiro had been found and
arrested by the authorities on a beach close to that city.
Remember that they had been given up for missing. They were
there without any documents.
They were not sent to prison. They
remained in the same hotel where they were staying, under
the surveillance of the Federal Police. The boxers told the
police that they had made a mistake and regretted it. They
refused to see a German citizen who very promptly took
interest in them, following instructions from a mafia
company. We learned about this later.
The authorities asked us for their
documents, and the Cuban consular representatives, following
our Ambassador’s instructions, proceeded up to complete all
relevant arrangements.
The news stating that the boxers
were in Turkey while immigration matters were being looked
after had obviously been released by the mafia as a smoke
screen. There was even a German Member of Parliament who
attempted to hit a home-run with a fake ball. The company
that had invested more than two million dollars in this
grotesque business was talking about the "human rights" of
the athletes' families. What will the United Nations say
about this unfair competition?
This is where sports and politics
get together in the search for concrete and principled
solutions, over and above fondness and bitterness.
Those citizens will not be submitted to
any sort of arrest, much less the kinds of methods being
used by the United States Government in Abu Ghraib and
Guantánamo, which we have never used in this country. They
will be temporarily transferred to a guest house and allowed
family visits. The press will also be able to contact them
if they so wish.
They will be offered decent jobs for
the benefit of sports, given their knowledge and experience.
The Brazilian authorities should not
be worried in the face of the inevitable campaigns being
launched by our adversaries. Cuba’s behaviour will rise to
the occasion. I, for one, shall have a good sleep.
Fidel Castro Ruz
August 4, 2007
10:56 p.m.
