Rights group asks Brazil to track Cuban boxers

A leading global human rights group asked Brazil yesterday to investigate the deportation of two Cuban boxers and to track how the men are treated by the communist government.

Human Rights Watch sent an open letter to Brazil's Justice Minister Tarso Genro asking for a full investigation into the case of champion boxers Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara.

The Cuban athletes disappeared in Rio de Janeiro during the PanAmerican Games last month but were later located by police and returned to Cuba.

Brazilian lawmakers have said they plan to investigate why the boxers were returned so quickly instead of being granted political asylum.

But Brazil's Justice Ministry said the athletes contacted the police themselves, did not request asylum, and asked to be sent back to Cuba. The boxers reported a similar version of events to Cuba's official newspaper, Granma, after returning to the island.

"Even if the two athletes did not explicitly ask for political asylum, requests for refugee status can be signalled by actions and not just stated requests," Human Rights Watch said in an open letter signed by executive director Jose Miguel Vivanco.

"The government should sponsor a complete and impartial investigation," Vivanco said.

Earlier in the week, Cuba leader Fidel Castro said he was considering pulling the country out of the amateur World Boxing Championships in Chicago in October to avoid new defections.

"Imagine all the sharks of the Mafia wanting fresh meat," the convalescing 80-year-old Castro wrote in a column published on the front page of Granma, the Communist Party newspaper.

"I must tell them: we are not keen on delivering it to their doorstep," Castro said.

Castro, who has not appeared in public since he underwent life-threatening intestinal surgery a year ago, said Cuban authorities were considering whether to change the roster of boxers who will compete in Chicago or not send a team at all.