A Third Cuban Athlete Decides to Defect to U.S.

Another Cuban baseball player defected Monday during the World University Games in Buffalo, N.Y., the third Cuban to defect since the competition began last week.

Reinaldo Ordonez, 22, a 5-foot-8 shortstop, defected after he was approached by a radio reporter from Miami at the athletes’ village at the University of Buffalo.

“I made my decision to stay when I got here,” said Ordonez, who was making his first trip to the United States. “All the ballplayers in Cuba are aware of what (Rene) Arocha (St. Louis Cardinals rookie pitcher) is doing. He has been our motivation (for defecting).”

Arocha defected two years ago.

Ordonez is staying with family in Miami. The other defectors, pitcher Edilberto Oropesa, 23, and fencer Geovanni Perez Gonzalez, a 21-year-old saber specialist, are also in Miami. The three have requested political asylum.

“In the first place, I wanted the opportunity to be free, and the opportunity to do what I wanted to do, which was play to professional baseball,” said Oropesa, who left a pregnant wife in Cuba. “I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time, but I couldn’t tell anybody so as not to compromise family members (in Cuba).”

Oropesa began the most recent series of defections Saturday, jumping a fence at Sal Maglie Stadium in Niagara Falls before Cuba’s game with Taiwan.

“They are here on a voluntary basis to compete,” said Manuel Morales Quintana, chief of mission for the Cuban delegation in Buffalo. “If someone has decided to stay, it’s a personal decision.”

Since last October, seven baseball players, a fencer, a water polo player and a team doctor have defected from Cuban athletic teams during international competitions in Mexico, Curacao and the United States.

Times staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this story.