Margarita Skeet, one of the greatest figures in Cuban women's basketball, is currently living in abject neglect, surviving thanks to the help of her neighbors in the Cotorro municipality, Havana. The disheartening situation of the former athlete was reported on Facebook by a user named Ramón Rodríguez Cordero in the group “Holguín: The City We Want.”
According to the post, Skeet is blind, lives in a modest space, and survives due to the charity of some friends, lacking any support from the island’s athletic authorities despite her significant past achievements. “This lamentable situation of a Cuban sports legend of all times cannot be allowed to continue, as it is an affront to our ethical and moral values,” Rodríguez wrote.
With remarkable performances in the 1970s, Skeet, known as the “Antillean Cyclone,” was the star of basketball in the largest of the Antilles, despite being only 1.67 meters tall.
Similar Struggles Among Other Cuban Athletes
A similar scenario was described to CiberCuba by former basketball player Yuliseni Soria: “After more than fifteen years on the national team, no one remembers me,” she said in an exclusive interview. “I never expected to feel so abandoned at this stage,” confessed Soria, who was born in the Boyeros municipality, in June 2021.
In February 2023, Félix Isasi, a legend of Cuban baseball, denounced the neglect by authorities in Matanzas, after receiving no support or visits following a transient ischemic attack, and struggling “even to find parts for his car.”
In September 2022, former world junior javelin champion Marisleysis Duharte Morell criticized the government and the authorities amid her battle against a chronic and autoimmune rheumatic disease. The ex-athlete from Santiago recalled that she was “a healthy, joyful, and lively person,” but now “at INDER, no one remembers me, who I am, who I was, or what I contributed as an athlete to the nation.”
Last July, former volleyball player Abel Sarmientos Bios, a member of a generation that brought Cuban volleyball to the top ranks in the world, passed away in Havana at the age of 61, mired in poverty and neglect. Sarmientos was an extraordinary attacker for the national team for 14 years, from 1981 to 1994.
Questions About the State of Former Cuban Athletes
This section provides answers to some of the most pressing questions regarding the current conditions faced by former Cuban athletes.
What is the current situation of Margarita Skeet?
Margarita Skeet is living in neglect in Havana, surviving with the help of her neighbors and friends, without any support from Cuba's athletic authorities.
How have other former Cuban athletes described their post-career lives?
Other former Cuban athletes, like Yuliseni Soria and Félix Isasi, have described feeling abandoned and lacking support from athletic authorities, even facing difficulties in daily life.
What actions have been taken by former athletes to address their neglect?
Former athletes like Marisleysis Duharte Morell have publicly criticized the government and authorities, highlighting their struggles and lack of support.