HAVANA TIMES — Cuban soccer player Maikel Chang Ramirez (one of four players who slipped away from the national team in October while in Canada to seek political asylum in US), said he is “not a traitor,” reported EFE.
“I just want to play football and to advance sports-wise and economically, which are things I couldn’t do in my country. I would love for things to change,” said Chang Ramirez, who doesn’t understand why he and the three other athletes are being branded as traitors.
The player left the team along with sportsmen Raisender Fernandez Cervantes, Elier Cordovez Gonzalez and Odisdel Cuper Despaine, along with the team psychologist Ignacio Abreu, just before playing in a World Cup qualifying match against Canada.
The Cubans now hope to “dispel all the controversy” concerning their allegiances. They also explained that “some Californian team” is now interested in their services. Either way, they will most certainly never be able to play again on the Cuban national team.
The Alhucema Solidarity Initiatives Association based in Seville, Spain also sends medical supplies to Cuba.
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