Fidel and sports defections

Fidel Castro's latest column is about sports, particularly the defection of Cuban athletes. What's interesting is that he refuses to acknowledge any agency on the part of the athletes themselves. They must simply have been sucked into the imperialist machine, for which they are traitors. No one freely chooses to leave: they are "plundered" and the country is "robbed." They are "bought" or "bribed." The male soccer team "let itself be drawn into an act of betrayal inside the United States."

He mentions the embargo several times, using it as a primary reason why Cuba faces such an uphill battle at the Olympics. It bears repeating that the embargo helps the Castros enormously.