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July 15, 2005
Two Cuban Soccer Players Defect to the United States
While we were in Havana highlights of Cuba’s 4-1 loss to the United States in the Copa de Oro were shown on the local news. What we did not see reported while we were in the city was that Maikel Galindo, who scored the team’s only goal against Costa Rica two day later, along with another player, defected to the United States. Here are some details of the affair:
Galindo describes how Saturday night after the match he decided to make his escape. With just the clothes on his back and a little money, he left his hotel and caught a bus with no idea where he was going.
"I took the elevator down, I pushed open one door and it opened to the parking lot. I pushed open another door and just a few steps in front of me a bus was loading and I just got on the bus," he said.
Galindo asked the Metro bus driver to call the one man he knew in Seattle – Alex Zahajko, a high-school Spanish teacher and soccer coach who was acting as a liaison for the Cuban team.
"I asked him: Are you lost? Do you want to go back to the team? He said, 'No, I'm not lost, I want to stay,'" said Zahajko.
Posted by Peter Mork at July 15, 2005 9:53 AM
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