May 14, 1999
By Patricia Maldonado
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HIALEAH, Fla. _ Cuban baseball coach Rigoberto Betancourt Herrera had told his wife that he would one day try to defect to the United States. His chance came this week - and he took it.
After hiding out in the bushes of a Baltimore park for about seven hours, Betancourt Herrera walked into police headquarters Tuesday morning and requested asylum. The move followed the Cuban national team's 12-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles the previous night.
``I've wanted to leave for a while but just didn't have the opportunity,'' he said Friday.
``In Cuba the situation is precarious,'' he said. ``Life is difficult - getting transportation, housing and even medication. Here I have family. I decided to start a whole new life.''
Seven Cubans who traveled to Baltimore with a 300-member Cuban delegation for Monday's game missed the return flight home the following day. Six said they had overslept and have since returned to the island.
Betancourt Herrera, 54, was the only one to stay. He said he planned to walk out of Camden Yards after the game along with the thousands of fans.
``I was going to leave just like a normal person. But I realized I couldn't do it after the game,'' he said. ``I left my passport and other papers at the hotel.''
When he got back to the hotel, Cuban officials told all the delegates to pack their bags and be ready in a half-hour.
Betancourt Herrera grabbed his bag and walked outside under the guise of smoking a cigarette. But he kept walking and hid in a nearby park until daylight.
He is now living with two aunts in Hialeah, a predominantly Hispanic community west of Miami. Cubans in southern Florida are trying to help the pitching coach get the papers needed to stay in the country.
Baseball agent Joe Cubas, who represents Cuban pitcher Orlando ``El Duque'' Hernandez of the New York Yankees, vowed to help.
Betancourt Herrera, once a famous left-handed pitcher on the island, played Cuban baseball between 1965 and 1975 and was known for an excellent curve ball.
He said he hopes to arrange for his wife and their kids, ages 29, 28, 13 and 7, to move to the United States.
``I'll be lonely here,'' he said. ``Life alone here makes one nostalgic.''
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