Cuba Says It Is Not Leaving : Will Stay in Games Despite Protests

Cuba said Monday it was staying in the Pan Am Games despite protests by an anti-Castro group and then upped its gold medal total to 14 with three more medals in weightlifting.

Cuban officials never threatened to withdraw their 452-member delegation from the games, which began Saturday, but they did protest the activities of a local anti-Castro group. Tempers also rose after a skirmish between protesters and the Cuban delegation at Sunday’s baseball game, when Cuba beat the Netherlands Antilles, 12-1.

Raul Villanueva, Cuba’s vice minister of sports, called the fight “an unfortunate spectacle” but said his country was not leaving.

“Cuba’s going to be here until the 25th of August sharing with the people of Indianapolis,” he said.

Indianapolis Police Chief Paul A. Annee promised extra security for the Cubans after several demonstrations by the anti-Castro group and the fistfight.

“It’s obvious to me now this group is intent on being disruptive,” Annee said of the Cuban-Americans. “Consequently, we will be escalating our security as it relates to the Cuban participation in the games.

“We have a much-heightened awareness. We learned something yesterday. We are on a higher state of alert and more selective in positioning officers around athletes.

“We hold in high regard the right to dissent, but not the right to disrupt.”

“It’s something that’s rather unfriendly,” Villanueva said of the protests. “What they’re doing is damaging everything the organizing committee has done. I think they should take measures to avoid aggression of Cubans, but I’m sure we’ll be able to avoid the problems.”

The extra security measures were not readily noticeable at the weightlifting, track and field or swimming venues Monday afternoon.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, certainly liked what he saw here. Not even the housing shortage of last week was a major problem, he said.

“Many times, problems like that occur when you have prepared for 5,000 athletes and officials and 6,000 show up,” he said. “But these things are able to be solved.

“For me, these are excellent games. I have been to several sports and they were excellent. The athletes’ village is one of the best I have seen in my life.

“This organization is of an Olympic level,” he said.

Things were disorganized Sunday at the drug testing facility for track and field, however.

“Everything we planned didn’t work out,” said Dr. Ronald Blankenbaker, co-chairman of medical services for PAX-Indianapolis, the local organizing committee. “At one venue, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong . . . .it was just a comedy of errors.

“But we’ve tested out there today and there haven’t been any complaints.”

The problems on Sunday ranged from some men’s and women’s marathon runners not properly being escorted to drug tests and fluids that were to be supplied to athletes taking urine tests being sent to the wrong site.

A portable bathroom delivered to the track stadium also malfunctioned.

As for the competition, in weightlifting, featherweights Gabriel Ensenat and Julio Loscos each won three golds, duplicating the feats of countrymen Juan Hernandez and Pedro Negrin on Sunday. Ensenat and Loscos shared the championships in the 60-kilogram class because they lifted the same totals and weighed the maximum of 132 pounds. They both snatched 120 kilograms and lifted 150 in the clean-and-jerk.

“I did not mind sharing the golds with someone from my country. The important thing is to win for your country,” Ensenat said.

In swimming and diving, American swimmers led qualifying in three events.

Sara Linke of Walnut Creek, Calif., the silver medalist in Sunday’s women’s 100-meter freestyle and part of the victorious 800-meter freestyle relay team, was the fastest qualifier in the 200-meter freestyle.

Jerry Frentsos led the men’s 400-meter individual medley, and Kathy Smith edged Dorsey Tierney, by one-hundredth of a second, 2:40.06 to 2:40.07, in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke.

In the second day of softball, Peter Sandman fired a three-hitter, striking out 13, as the United States defeated the U.S. Virgin Islands, 7-0. Jim Clark had a two-run home run for the United States.

In field hockey, the Americans won for the second straight day, defeating Jamaica, 6-1.