Cuban volleyball star Guillermo Roberto Cabrera deserted the national team with his father and have asked Mexican authorities not to be sent back to the island.
An immigration agent, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said on Thursday that 20-year-old Cabrera and his father, Guillermo Cabrera Fernandez, a former Cuba basketball coach, were at immigration offices in southern Chiapas state while their request for a 30-day transit permit was considered.
Such requests by Cubans are usually granted within about two weeks, and the Cubans frequently use the permits to reach the U.S. border by land.
Both men left Cuba's volleyball team when it was visiting Mexico in late March, just before it was scheduled to leave for Guatemala.
Both were detained at an immigration checkpoint on March 31 as they were traveling with a group of Central American migrants in two vehicles near the Guatemalan border.
