More on Yuri Boza, the Cuban defector

From El Nuevo Herald (translation mine):

TV Production Tech defects in San Diego
By Wilfredo Cancio Isla
El Nuevo Herald

The Cuban team participating in the second World Baseball Classic is under extreme pressure from the highest government spheres to guarantee an outstanding performance in the tournament an “elevate revolutionary athletics,” affirmed a member of the Cuban delegation on Monday.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the team, from the coaches to the players, to make a good showing and ensure that the revolution looks good,” remarked Yuri Boza, a broadcast television technician who defected in San Diego to seek political exile in the U.S.

The 31 year old Boza is the first defector among the Cuban delegation that is attending the Classic. No player defections have been reported to date among the national team which has been practically isolated from contact with the international media.

“The security guards [State Security Agents] have maintained the ballplayers under strict control, not letting anyone approach them,” said Boza, who worked as a sports editor from the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT).

Among those traveling in the delegation is a son of Fidel Castro, Antonio Castro, team physician and vice-president of the Cuban Baseball Federation. In a recent article, the ill former leader rooted for a triumph by the national team stating that Cuba can “do something that only free men, without owners, can do, not professionals.”

“Antonio Castro is an intermediary between the team and Fidel, that’s clear to all.” [Boza] asserted.

The young man was interviewed on Monday night on the A Mano Limpia TV program on channel 41-America Tevé hosted by the journalist Oscar Haza.

He made the decision to escape before leaving the island, as soon as he learned he’d be traveling to work on the game broadcasts for the baseball Classic. If the Cuban team didn’t advance beyond the first round in Mexico, Boza had a “plan B” to reach the United States.

But the squad’s 5-4 victory over Australia opened the doors to the second round in San Diego, California.

“That day I celebrated the [team’s] victory made possible by Yosvany Peraza’s homerun with tremendous happiness because it made my plans easier,” he confessed.

He had previously traveled to the Pan-American games in Rio de Janeiro, in 2007, and the Olympics in Beijing last year, but the option of abandoning the island wasn’t as tempting as the day he received the news about a possible trip to the U.S.

“I knew this was my only chance to escape Cuba,” he affirmed. “I wasn’t going to waste it.”

Since he arrived in Mexico, the young man had been in contact with his brother Orestes Boza, a Miami resident for six years. Last Friday, upon arriving in San Diego, he made dash to that city’s airport to take the first flight which would bring him to south Florida.

He arrived in Miami midday last Saturday.

I want to feel free, do what I want, decide for myself where to go,” said Boza during a brief interview with El Nuevo Herald. “Young Cubans don’t have any loyalty to the revolution, we simply don’t want to stay there because we see no future…and I’m not daunted by the current economic crisis because in Cuba we were born in and have always lived in crisis.”