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Rio de Janeiro - Two Cuban boxers arrested in Brazil after defecting during last month's Pan American Games will be deported back to Cuba, police said Friday. Erislandy Lara, 24, and Guillermo Rigondeaux, 25, told police they are "repentant" and wanted to "return home," authorities said. They were arrested a day earlier after disappearing during the games on July 21 and reportedly signing contracts with a German promoter.
"They do not have documents. That alone would be enough for them to be deported," federal police commissioner Felicio Laterca said.
Laterca said Brazilian authorities have already asked the Cuban government to send plane tickets for the two sportsmen and also their passports, which remained in the hands of the Cuban delegation at the Pan American Games when they defected.
Should Cuba not pay for their return, the Brazilian federal government will assume the cost of their deportation, Laterca said.
Lara and Rigondeaux were staying at a hotel in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, whose name was not made public for security reasons. They are no longer under arrest but being kept under surveillance because they are in Brazil illegally, Laterca said.
The two boxers told police they left the Pan American Village in the company of two businessmen - a German and a Cuban citizen - who promised to take them to Europe to embark on a professional career.
But they have since apparently changed their minds, saying they regretted the defection and hoped to return to Cuba. The sportsmen rejected the assistance of lawyers who said they had been sent by the businessmen.
Police said the two Cubans were identified Thursday because they spoke no Portuguese and had no money or papers on them.
Brazilian daily O Globo reported that they had spent the past few days with two Europeans and three prostitutes in a hotel, and were expecting forged documents from Germany in order to leave Brazil.
Ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro last month accused a German "mafia" of being behind the defections, using "psychological methods" and "millions of dollars" to recruit them.
Days after their disappearance from the games, Hamburg-based Arena Box-Promotion announced that Rigondeaux, 2000 and 2004 bantamweight Olympic champion, and Lara, world amateur welterweight champion, had signed 5-year-contracts.
"We are in contact with the Brazilian authorities. Maybe there is still a chance that Rigondeaux and Lara come to us. I wish as much for the sake of both young men, who just want to be free and earn money," company owner Ahmet Oener said in a statement Friday.
Rigondeaux's defection was a particularly strong blow for Cuban sport. Boxing is one of the country's showcase sports and Rigondeaux, who won 142 consecutive fights from 1999-2003, was seen as the last great boxer of his generation.
The two followed a trend of Cuban boxers defecting. In December 2006 during a tournament in Caracas three big Cuban boxing stars - Yan Barthelemy, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis - defected and now box professionally in Germany.
Copyright © 2007 Respective Author
"They do not have documents. That alone would be enough for them to be deported," federal police commissioner Felicio Laterca said.
Laterca said Brazilian authorities have already asked the Cuban government to send plane tickets for the two sportsmen and also their passports, which remained in the hands of the Cuban delegation at the Pan American Games when they defected.
Should Cuba not pay for their return, the Brazilian federal government will assume the cost of their deportation, Laterca said.
Lara and Rigondeaux were staying at a hotel in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, whose name was not made public for security reasons. They are no longer under arrest but being kept under surveillance because they are in Brazil illegally, Laterca said.
The two boxers told police they left the Pan American Village in the company of two businessmen - a German and a Cuban citizen - who promised to take them to Europe to embark on a professional career.
But they have since apparently changed their minds, saying they regretted the defection and hoped to return to Cuba. The sportsmen rejected the assistance of lawyers who said they had been sent by the businessmen.
Police said the two Cubans were identified Thursday because they spoke no Portuguese and had no money or papers on them.
Brazilian daily O Globo reported that they had spent the past few days with two Europeans and three prostitutes in a hotel, and were expecting forged documents from Germany in order to leave Brazil.
Ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro last month accused a German "mafia" of being behind the defections, using "psychological methods" and "millions of dollars" to recruit them.
Days after their disappearance from the games, Hamburg-based Arena Box-Promotion announced that Rigondeaux, 2000 and 2004 bantamweight Olympic champion, and Lara, world amateur welterweight champion, had signed 5-year-contracts.
"We are in contact with the Brazilian authorities. Maybe there is still a chance that Rigondeaux and Lara come to us. I wish as much for the sake of both young men, who just want to be free and earn money," company owner Ahmet Oener said in a statement Friday.
Rigondeaux's defection was a particularly strong blow for Cuban sport. Boxing is one of the country's showcase sports and Rigondeaux, who won 142 consecutive fights from 1999-2003, was seen as the last great boxer of his generation.
The two followed a trend of Cuban boxers defecting. In December 2006 during a tournament in Caracas three big Cuban boxing stars - Yan Barthelemy, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis - defected and now box professionally in Germany.
Copyright © 2007 Respective Author
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