U.S. Won’t Admit 5 Cubans With Pitcher

The State Department said Friday that five Cubans who fled to the Bahamas with a star pitcher, his girlfriend and a catcher will not be allowed to enter the United States.

The five, who remained in a Bahamian immigration detention center, are not eligible for the “humanitarian parole” offered to pitcher Orlando Hernandez, his companion Noris Bosch and former teammate Alberto Hernandez Perez, officials said. Humanitarian parole, which is granted by the attorney general, allows foreigners in special circumstances to enter the United States without visas and apply for asylum here or to become legal residents.

Orlando Hernandez, half-brother of star Florida Marlin pitcher Livan Hernandez, vowed not to leave his comrades in jail and indicated he was not immediately prepared to take up the U.S. offer. Instead, Cuban American and Bahamian sources said, he and an agent were exploring prospects for asylum in the Bahamas or Costa Rica.

According to a State Department official, the five are not eligible to come to the United States because they have not faced the same “harassment” and reprisals from Cuban authorities as the baseball players, who were banned from the sport for life and thus “deprived of their livelihoods.”