Boxers Rigondeaux y Lara return to Cuba after desertion in Rio

Guillermo Rigondeaux y Erislandy Lara were repatriated two weeks after they disappeared from the athletes' village and reportedly signed contracts to compete in Europe with German managers.

 When they were detained Thursday by police in a Rio suburb, the boxers claimed that they had been drugged and kidnapped, and coerced into signing lucrative deals to defect, according to reports in Brazilian media quoting police officials.

 But Rigondeaux, Olympic gold medalist at 54 kilograms in both Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, and Lara, the reigning world amateur champion at 69 kilograms, refused offers of legal counsel and told police they wished to return to Cuba.

 The boxers' desertion had angered Cuban President Fidel Castro, who lashed out against foreign predators for raiding the island's athletes during international events. 

   But the communist leader pledged that the prodigal boxers would not be punished, and would instead be offered position to continue working in the development of Cuban national athletics.

 Castro seized the opportunity to contrast his official stance of  forgiveness with policies of his arch-enemies, saying, "These citizens will not be subject to arrest of any kind, much less to methods such as those used by the United States in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, which have never been utilized in our county."

   In comments published in Juventud Rebelde newspaper, the convalescing octogenarian called Cuba "a country where sports and politics mix in search of correct solutions and principles."//dpa