A Cuban father publicly denounced the decision of the National Gymnastics School to remove several children after years of training and called for explanations from the sports authorities regarding how the measure was communicated to the families, as he claimed.
Olieg Guerrero shared a public complaint on Facebook this Monday regarding the case, addressed to the authorities of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation (INDER), the Ministry of Education, the management of the National School of Gymnastics, and other responsible parties.
Guerrero declared that he was writing as the father of María José Guerrero and as a citizen "outraged" by what he considers a lack of respect, sensitivity, ethics, and institutional responsibility towards the affected minors.
"The management of the National School of Gymnastics has decided to dismiss our children after years of training, discipline, sacrifice, and physical and emotional strain," he denounced.
His main concern is directed at the way the decision was adopted and communicated, as he stated: without a direct explanation from the management to the parents or to the athletes themselves.
"Where is the respect for our children? Where is the transparency that they always talk about? Where is the ethics of those who make decisions that directly affect the future of these kids?" she asked.
Guerrero cited the case of his daughter María José, whom he stated won national medals at all the events she participated in during the years she spent at the sports center.
"Where are those medals? Where are the endless hours of training? Where are the tears, the exhaustion, the injuries, the travels, the competitions, and all the sacrifices that our children and their families made to represent this institution and Cuban sports with dignity?" they questioned.
The father rejected the idea that the time and effort invested by the minors could be nullified by an administrative decision: "We are not talking about goods that can be returned when they are no longer needed. We are talking about children," he emphasized.
It also described the financial burden that many Cuban families face in supporting the training of an athlete, including costs for food, transportation, uniforms, and sports equipment.
"Families who, in the midst of the difficult economic situation our country is facing, have had to perform true feats to ensure food, transportation, uniforms, sports equipment, and everything an athlete needs," he emphasized.
According to Guerrero, the parents did not even initially receive the news directly from the school administration; instead, they found out through a teacher who manages a WhatsApp group.
In light of that situation, he demanded that if the absences are due to sports criteria, evaluations, or administrative reasons, these be explained and presented to the families.
"If there are sports criteria, they should be presented. If there are evaluations, they should be shown. If there are administrative reasons, they should be explained. If there are institutional difficulties, they should be communicated directly to the families," he demanded.
Guerrero also questioned whether the measure might be related to the economic and institutional difficulties facing the country, although he made it clear that his publication does not officially identify the cause of the reductions.
"No crisis, no economic difficulty, no administrative problem, and no circumstance justifies treating our children this way," he stated.
He also expressed concern for athletes coming from other provinces, whose families, he said, must make even greater efforts to support their children during their sports training.
Guerrero considered that the situation constitutes, in his view, "a worrying display of contempt towards families and athletes from the provinces," who in many cases must face greater sacrifices to access sporting opportunities.
The father finally requested that the responsible authorities explain the concrete reasons for the casualties and seek solutions for the affected minors.
"Our children deserve better; they deserve respect, they deserve dignity, they deserve transparency, and they deserve that their years of sacrifice are not treated as just a number in a file," she stated.
"As a parent, I will not remain silent in the face of what I consider to be an injustice and a great disrespect," he warned.
We do not ask for privileges, we ask for justice. We are not asking for our children to be favored, we are demanding that their efforts be respected, he concluded.
Although the father stated that the families have not received explanations regarding the reasons for the decision, the complaint arises in a particularly challenging context for Cuban sports.
In May, the national Sub-12, Sub-15, and Sub-18 baseball championships were suspended due to the energy crisis, and were replaced with physical and technical tests to evaluate young talents.
Furthermore, economic difficulties have also eroded the structure that supports high-performance sports for years.
The sports journalist Carlos Hernández Luján recently warned that "much has been lost in the sports pyramid in Cuba" and pointed out several issues, including the emigration of athletes, the lack of international competition, and economic constraints.
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