14ymedio, Havana, December 5, 2023 — “When I was at my peak they gave me everything. Now what?” The claim of Ariel Hernández Azcuy, a 53-year-old former boxer and two-time Olympic champion of Cuba, is nourished by his desperation. After his retirement, he says, the Cuban authorities stopped paying attention to him, and with the 7,200 pesos that they allocated to him as payment for a lifetime in the ring, he barely has enough to live.
The interview with the athlete, published in the official newspaper Trabajadores, makes clear Hernández’s disappointment with the system. “Money is not enough. Everything is very expensive. We have to meet with someone from the Government to fix it. It’s not a matter of politics but of necessity. People from the Athletes’ Attention Commission have come here, but they don’t decide anything,” he complains.
In an attempt to find this institutional abandonment logical, Hernández lists his achievements: two Olympic golds — Barcelona, 1992 and Atlanta, 1996 — two youth world titles, the first of them at just 16 years old, and, in the World Boxing Championship, two golds (1993 and 1995) and one silver (1997).
He argues that “it’s time to remind the press.” The helplessness, however, is palpable, and old age in those conditions has led him on unexpected paths. “I am a custodian in a private business. Before I worked at Finca Holbein Quesada (training center for Olympic athletes) and then here in La Lisa,” he summarizes.
“I am disgusted with the Inder [National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation]. I’ve been trying to get them to change my apartment for years. They come and take note, but I’m still at the top of the building,” he explains, alluding to