And traveling with smugglers can be risky. If they make it to U.S. soil, Cubans can apply for political asylum, but those who are caught at sea or wind up in nations like the Bahamas can be returned. As a result, the efforts to smuggle relatives out of Cuba are often shrouded in secrecy. Most players whose families have made it to America have denied they knew about or had a hand in the plans. For instance, the wife and two sons of Rolando Arrojo, the Tampa Bay right-hander, joined him two months after his 1996 defection, but the details of their flight by sea have remained closely guarded.
Silence is the rule among relatives of defectors in Cuba, as well.
The secrecy is understandable. After a day at sea, the players were picked up by a Bahamian fishing boat, but only Toca was ultimately allowed to stay aboard because of his Japanese wife. Since then, Chinea says, life has become intolerable. His house is kept under surveillance, he said. He has been banned from working as a coach.