Former Cuban baseball player Reutilio Hurtado receives permanent residency card in the United States.

The former baseball player Reutilio Hurtado, one of the best Cuban center fielders in history, received his Green Card in the United States and took another important step in his new life away from his hometown of Santiago de Cuba.

The news was revealed by the journalist Yasel Porto, who also shed light on the current situation of the now coach on US soil.

Hurtado has been living in the city of Houston since arriving through the border two years ago. Currently, he works at a children's academy and plays in the city's independent league," wrote Porto on his Facebook page.

Likewise, he recalled that the outfielder was part of both versions of the famous "Santiago steamroller", the epithet for those nearly invincible teams led by the late manager Higinio Vélez.

Owner of number 52, the brother of former professional boxer Diosbelys Hurtado accumulated 21 National Series titles, with an offensive line of .289 average/.400 OBP/890 OPS, according to statistics from the official Cuban baseball website.

Other noteworthy statistics include his over a thousand runs scored (1,059) and runs batted in (1,083), as well as the 252 home runs, making him the fourth Santiago-born player with the most homers, only behind the three greatest hitters that region has produced: Orestes Kindelán, Antonio Pacheco, and Gabriel Pierre.

In an exclusive interview with CiberCuba in 2021, Hurtado commented that "the executives of that time never separated me from my brother. I'm talking about the then president of INDER, Humberto Rodríguez, the national commissioner Carlos Rodríguez, the technical director Benito Camacho (previously Miguel Valdés), Higinio Vélez, mentor of Santiago de Cuba, may he rest in peace."

He reported that Vélez told him "Taking me to the (Cuban) team was like me waking up with my brother in Miami. Everyone mentioned me as a possible defector."

In the conversation with our media, he recalled: "I was deprived of participating, at least, in the Central American and Caribbean Games of Maracaibo 98, the World Cup in Italy of the same year, the Pan American Games of Winnipeg 99, the Olympics in Sydney 2000, the World Championships in Taipei, China 2001, and so on, any major event ranging from the Athens Olympics 2004 to the first World Baseball Classic in 2006."

"Those were years in which my performance was far above that of the other center fielders throughout the island. Of course, I felt very bad, so bad that at times the thought of leaving baseball crossed my mind, but thanks to my family who always supported me, I didn't do it," he stated.

In his biography, there are six national titles and two Copa Revolución trophies; however, Olympic and World Championship medals are absent, despite having shown enough talent to be part of several Cuban teams.