Cuban Baseball Players Reportedly Make It To Land Broadcast Report Unconfirmed By Dominican Republic Officials

Dominican Republic officials could not verify Friday a broadcast report that four Cuban baseball players and a coach who fled their country in a rickety boat were alive or that they had made it to the neighboring country.

The mother of one of the players missing for more than a week told The Associated Press that she does not know anyone who has spoken directly with her son.

“No, only what they have said on the radio,” said Francisca Gomez. “I cannot communicate with him.”

WTVJ, a TV station, reported that the five players landed Thursday morning on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, about 300 miles from their departure city of Holguin in eastern Cuba.

The station said Gomez’s son, first baseman Jorge Luis Toca, 23, called relatives in Havana from the Dominican Republic and said the players had no food or water and were “barely alive” when they washed ashore.

However, Dominican officials said the report could not be confirmed, deflating hopes of family members who had begun to celebrate in Cuba.

Later Friday night, the station said its “exhaustive efforts have not been able to confirm” that the Cubans had landed in the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. Coast Guard said an unmotorized boat leaving Cuba’s northern coast would be swept by the currents that flow north-northwest, toward Florida or possibly the Bahamas, but not to the Dominican Republic, in the opposite direction.

Those familiar with the seas around the island of Hispanola said it would be difficult to survive such a trip in a small vessel.

“When I heard the news this morning, I didn’t believe it that they had crossed the Winward Passage (between Cuba and Hispanola). That has broken up big ships,” said Jose Basulto of Brothers to Rescue, a group of volunteer pilots that searched the Florida Straits for the players.

The other players who fled were catcher Angel Lopez, 25; second baseman Jorge Diaz, 23; and Michael Jova, a 17-year-old shortstop from Cuba’s junior Olympic team. Pitching coach Enrique Chinea, 41, was with them.

All five were banned from baseball on the Caribbean island in July because Cuban authorities suspected they were planning to defect.

The broadcast report was based on information from Rene Guim, spokesman for sports agent Joe Cubas, who represents several high-profile defecting Cuban baseball players.