Mon Dec 17, 9:12 AM ET
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Three Cuban musicians who went missing in Brazil
last week will ask for political asylum, Brazilian television reported
on Monday.
Singer Miguel Angel Costafreda and guitarists Juan Alcides Diaz and
Arodis Verdecia Pompa of the group Los Galanes told Globo television
they wanted to stay in Brazil.
A Federal Police spokesman in northeastern Pernambuco state, where Los
Galanes were touring under the auspices of an official Cuban cultural
exchange program, said they would make a formal request in the state
capital Recife on Monday afternoon.
The three disappeared from their guest house in Pernambuco last week and
the other group members returned to Cuba without them.
Costafreda said he wanted to form a new group in Brazil.
"We decided to ask for political asylum. I love Brazil," he told Globo.
Brazilian dance teacher Gledson Silva said he had helped the musicians
to get away from the guest house.
"All I was thinking was to help them ask for freedom," he said.
The musicians had arrived in Brazil in early December to play shows in
Recife, Olinda and other cities in Pernambuco.
The government's swift deportation in August of two internationally
known Cuban boxers caused concern among human rights groups and led
Congress to launch an investigation.
However in September, the government granted asylum to two other Cuban
athletes who had also abandoned their team during the Pan American Games
in Rio de Janeiro in July.
(Reporting by Guido Nejamkis and Pedro Fonseca; Writing by Angus
MacSwan; Editing by Bill Trott)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071217/wl_nm/brazil_cubans_dc_1
No comments:
Post a Comment