Corbacho Daudinot v. Puig Valdes et al

Filing 25

NOTICE by MIGUEL ANGEL CORBACHO DAUDINOT re 24 Amended Complaint,, OF FILING CORRECTED EXHIBIT D FOR SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A)(Gonzalez, Avelino)

EXHIBIT D
AFFIDAVIT OF YUNIOR DESPAIGNE
STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF MIAMI-DADE
BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority personally appeared YUNIOR
DESPAIGNE, who after first being duly sworn states:
1.

I am over 18 years of age and legally competent to testify as to the facts

herein of which I have personal knowledge.
2.

I am familiar with all pertinent facts of this case and specifically with the

contents of this affidavit.
3.

I am an eyewitnesses presented by the MIGUEL ANGEL CORBACHO

DAUDINOT in his complaint which was filed in the United States District Court in the
Southern District of Florida against Yasiel Puig and his mother, Maritza Valdes Gonzalez,
alleging that Puig and his mother conspired to imprison and torture Corbacho in the case of
Corbacho Daudinot v. Puig Valdes et al, Case No. 13-cv-22589, which is currently
underway in Miami, Florida, USA in the U.S. District Court for Southern District of Florida.
I have informed Plaintiff that I would be willing to testify in court to the veracity of the facts
I disclose in this affidavit.
4.

I have been asked by Plaintiff to provide this affidavit in response to

Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint, which may result in
Plaintiff’s having to further Amend the Complaint to include further factual details
concerning Puig’s involvement in a conspiracy with the Cuban government.
5.

I had previously not provided Plaintiff’s counsel with the information

contained herein due to legitimate fears for my life. I am providing these facts now because
Puig, in an attempt to silence me and intimidate me to stop me from participating as a
witness in this case, has deliberately targeted my family that is still in Cuba, working with
his family in Cuba and the Cuban government to imprison my younger brother, who is only
20 years old and was arrested just minutes after his first-born son, my nephew, was born.
My brother is still languishing in prison for the alleged crime of Human Trafficking, for
which the government is seeking 15 – 20 years deprivation of liberty.

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 1 of 10

6.

In Cuba I was a professional boxer, who represented Cuba on the national

boxing team, and, although not a baseball player, I was famous in my own right.
7.

I shared a personal relationship with Puig for many years prior to his

defection from Cuba because we were both athletes from the province of Cienfuegos, who
represented the nation in our respective sports on the national team. We went to the same
preparatory athletic school in Cienfuegos and were distinguished by Cienfuegos on a yearly
basis for our excellent athletic performance.
8.

In addition to being friendly with each other, we frequented the same social

circles and shared many of the same friends and acquaintances, among them two men
named Carlos Ivan Hernandez Concepcion (hereinafter “Hernandez” and Paulito, whose last
name I cannot remember (hereinafter “Paulito”).
9.

At the end of 2009, I am uncertain as to the exact date, Puig was sanctioned

by the Cuban government for attempting to leave Cuba. He was removed from the national
baseball team as well as from the National Series baseball team of Cienfuegos.
10.

After the Cuban government grounded him, Puig accused Hernandez and

Paulito of having offered and orchestrated his defection.
11.

I did not become involved in the situation until Hernandez and Paulito’s

families visited me, asking for my help. They told me that Hernandez and Paulito were
being treated like traitors in prison, that they were being targeted by the guards for severe
punishments, that Hernandez had been beaten by the guards, and that both Hernandez and
Paulito had been held in solitary confinement without food or water for days, and that the
guards were threatening Hernandez and Paulito’s lives.
12.

Since I had an uncle who was in prison, I was aware that such severe

treatment was directed against those who had committed political crimes. I told them that I
would talk to Puig to attempt to persuade him not to testify.
13.

I visited Puig in his home in Cienfuegos around October or November 2009

when and asked him about the situation that occurred with Hernandez and Paulito, and he
told me that they were in prison at that time because they were caught attempting to take
him out of the country, and that he was due to testify against them in the coming months.

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 2 of 10

14.

Since I was also an athlete, who was a national figure in Cuba and who knew

the way the system worked, I countered his response by saying “you know very well that
they would not be in prison if you had not accused them of offering to take you out.” Puig
acknowledged that that was true, but that he needed to look out for himself, his interests, and
his future, and if that meant working with state security to accuse people of human
trafficking, then he would accuse as many people as necessary to get back on the baseball
team.
15.

Since we were both athletes, we spoke frankly about the situation, and I pled

with Puig not to testify against Hernandez and Paulito or to recant his accusation at trial. I
asked him if he knew how serious a crime was Human Trafficking in Cuba, that is was
considered as a national security crime, to which he responded that he did know, and that is
why he accused them of the crime; he said that Human Trafficking was the only crime State
Security cared about, and the more people he reported, the better it would be for him.
16.

I asked him, “man, do you know how they are being treated in prison?” I

told him that Hernandez and Paulito were treated like traitors in prison for trying to take out
a baseball player, that they were being targeted by the guards for severe punishment, that
they had spent days in solitary confinement without food or water, that Hernandez had been
beaten severely by the guards, that Hernandez and Paulito’s lives were being threatened by
the guards and might even be killed. Puig shrugged his shoulders and said that he knew how
they were being treated, but that that was not his problem, that his only interest was in
getting back on national team, and he would do anything that he needed to do to make that
happen, and that he would be testifying in Hernandez’s and Paulito’s trial.
17.

I asked him, “what if they are killed in prison because of your accusation?”

and he only shrugged his shoulders, and said “They probably won’t be killed. Guards hardly
ever beat prisoners to death anymore.”
18.

Puig told me that if he cooperated with state security, he would be permitted

back on the baseball team. Puig told me that he had had several meetings with Higinio
Vélez, the commissioner of baseball in Cuba at that time, and was scheduled to meet again
with him in the coming days. Vélez guaranteed to him that Puig would get back on the
national team and the National Series team if Puig bided his time and kept working with

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 3 of 10

State Security. Puig said that Velez told him that he could prove his loyalty and clean his
name if he worked with the state to expose persons who were stealing Cuban athletes
through trafficking.
19.

I knew that speaking to him further about the matter would not help and

could be dangerous to me since he was working with state security to accuse people of
Human Trafficking, so I left.
20.

Months later I learned through Puig that he did testify against Hernandez and

Paulito and that they received six (6) years imprisonment as a result of his testimony.
21.

Throughout 2010, I knew that Puig had accused several persons of Human

Trafficking, and that he had managed to get back on the National and National Series
baseball teams. I remained on the same friendly terms I had shared with him prior to his
accusations of Hernandez and Paulito.
22.

In the first part of 2011—I cannot remember the exact date—the Cuban

government removed me from the national boxing team. When I asked them why I had been
pulled from the national team, my trainer, along with an official from state security informed
me that I was considered a flight risk because one of my uncles had defected from Cuba to
live in the United States. When I informed them truthfully that the thought of leaving Cuba
had never entered my mind, they told me that I could earn the government’s trust and be
allowed back on the national team if I agreed to become an informant for them and disclose
traffickers or other athletes who were potential flight risks. I had no information to give
them and I refused to inform on members of my family or friends, some of who I knew did
want to leave the country.
23.

In retaliation for my refusal to become an informant for the state security,

they stripped me from the team, removed me from Havana, where I had been living and
training for several years, relegated me to Cienfuegos, where I had originally hailed, and
imposed severe restrictions on my ability to travel; I was not permitted to leave Cienfuegos
under any circumstances.
24.

In was approximately in April or May 2011 that I received a phone call from

a man named Raul Pacheco, who was living in Miami, Florida. Pacheco had been referred
to me through a mutual acquaintance, who was aware that I knew Puig. Pacheco informed

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 4 of 10

me that he and several other men in the United States wanted to get Puig out of Cuba, but
that they needed somebody who knew Puig in order to extend their offer to him, and that
they would smuggle me out of Cuba as well.
25.

Pacheco told me that the plan that I should propose to Puig was that Pacheco

and the other financial backers would plan and pay for his defection from Cuba using a
speed boat from Mexico that would pick Puig and a few others up from the coast of Cuba
and take us to Mexico, where Puig would establish residency and become a free agent. If
Puig accepted the offer, he would have to repay the financial backers the cost of getting him
out of Cuba, and provide them with twenty percent (20%) of any future contracts that he
entered into with the major leagues, which they would divide among themselves.
26.

I approached Puig with Pacheco’s offer. I was scared about approaching

Puig because I know that, aside from Hernandez and Paulito, Puig had sent several people to
jail, among them Corbacho Daudinot and several others whose names I cannot recall.
27.

When I visited Puig, we engaged in small talk and then I told him “I know

that you are with state security, and that you have sent many people to jail,” and I mentioned
some of the names of the people he had sent to prison, including that of Corbacho Daudinot.
Puig nodded his head and said “Yeah, so what?” to which I responded “You know I’m a
national athlete too so let me tell you something, if you snitch on me, if you tell the state
security anything I say here, I will snitch on you too. I will say that everything was your idea
and that it was you who wanted to take me out of the country.” Puig nodded his
acknowledgement of my warning and indicated that I should continue. After I told Puig
about Pacheco’s proposal, and gave him a few hundred dollars that Pacheco had sent from
the United States, Puig told me that he would think about it, and I left.
28.

During the months that followed, Puig agreed to leave Cuba with me, but

requested money from the financial backers in the United States for various different
reasons, and those individuals sent Puig between $25,000 - $30,000, all of which was sent to
me to give to him.
29.

During the year that followed, we attempted to leave Cuba at least five times,

and were forced to abort many plans due to Puig’s reluctance and to his continual work with

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 5 of 10

State Security in an attempt to reintegrate with the national team, from which he had been
suspended a second time in 2011.
30.

Puig told me that he was meeting with Vélez, the commissioner of baseball,

who told Puig that if Puig continued to prove his loyalty and he would ensure that Puig was
returned to the national team.
31.

I knew not to trust Puig. He openly admitted to be a government informant,

and in front of me, he and another baseball player got into a discussion about which one of
them was the bigger snitch, by comparing the number of people they had each accused to
the state security, and how many he had sent to prison. So I watched him and followed his
lead in all things. If we attended a secret meeting where we plotted our defection, I would
leave as soon as Puig made his exit. Without fail, the state security would disrupt every
meeting that occurred almost immediately after Puig decided to leave it.
32.

On several occasions in the course of attempting to leave Cuba, Puig,

carrying his mobile phone, would separate himself from the presence of the group by
locking himself in a room of the safe house or by going upstairs, and within the hour after
his disappearance the state security would invariably arrive to arrest everybody.
33.

Several months into our ongoing plan to leave Cuba via speedboat, Puig

asked me to come to see him at his home on the following day. When I went to his house as
per his invitation, I was told by his family that he had left earlier that day for an extended
stay in a separate province. I went to that province in search of him, I was directed to a
government-owned mansion with lavish rooms and a pool, that was fully stocked with food,
alcohol and drinks. Puig, having forgotten that he invited me to his home, was surprised to
see me there, but invited me inside nonetheless. When I asked him about the house, he said
that “these are the kinds of perks you can get when you worked with the state security” and
that they had given Puig the house for a week’s vacation.
34.

During the course of our third defection attempt, we had rented a van that

had broken in the municipality of Cueto, Cuba. While we were repairing the van, a man who
identified himself as an official from state security called my cellular phone, to which only
the fellow members of the group attempting to leave Cuba were given the number. The
official asked for Yasiel or Yoan, Puig’s brother, and when I responded that I did not know

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 6 of 10

anybody with those names, he stated “You know who I’m talking about. Give them a
message. You tell them that they are in no way to meet the boat. We put them there to give
us information, not to actually leave the country.”
35.

It was at that point that my worse fears were confirmed, that Puig was not

simply an informant, giving state security information on unknown individuals, but that he
was working both sides of the fence in order to receive the largest advantage and that he was
divulging all of our plans to state security. During the course of our attempts to leave Cuba,
Puig accused Odalys Diaz Gonzalez and Armando Muniz to the state security.
36.

We made a total of five (5) escape attempts from Cuba, the last of which was

successful. Two of the attempts were stopped by the state security in safe houses that were
in the middle of nowhere after Puig had disappeared from the presence of the group.
37.

It was not until the financial backers in the United States refused to provide

Puig with any further funds that we finally made it out of the safe house and onto the speed
boat. The reason that attempt failed was because we were intercepted by the United States
Coast Guard.
38.

Our fifth and final attempt to leave Cuba was successful. We—Puig, Jenny

Reyes, Lester Quesada, and myself—were picked up by speedboat and taken to Isla
Mujeres, Mexico by the crew of the speedboat, who we knew as Tomasito, Leo , “El
Menor”, “El Chino”, and “El Hungaro”.
39.

While the financial backers in Miami had paid the smugglers the agreed-

upon amount of $250,000 in order to take Puig out of Cuba, the smugglers concluded that
Puig would be worth more money and demanded that the Miami investors pay them
$400,000, which the backers insisted that they did not have.
40.

Since the smugglers refused to release us until the financial backers paid the

increased amount that they were demanding, we were kept there for an entire month before
the financial backers in Miami hired several men to clandestinely take us away from the
smugglers in Isla Mujeres and take us to Cancun and then to Mexico City DF.
41.

While in Cancun, I met Jaime Torres, Puig’s current agent, who visited Puig

there. Jaime Torres also came to visit Puig in Mexico City DF in the company of Gilberto
Suarez and Marcos Gonzalez, who I learned were two of the financial backers from Miami.

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 7 of 10

42.

I became separated from Puig after about 20 days of remaining in Mexico

City DF, and I witnessed when they provided Puig with his Mexican residency in about a
week’s time.
43.

After approximately 20 days I was escorted to the U.S./Mexico border at

Texas, where I entered the United States, and was flown to Miami, where I met with the
final member of the financial backers, Alberto Fariñas.
44.

I stayed with Pacheco for a few months until he was arrested for an unrelated

crime, and then moved to Fariñas’ home for a few months. Staying with them, I was privy to
many of the conversations between them because they would discuss the issues concerning
Puig in front of me.
45.

Through conversations with them, I learned that Marcos Gonzalez paid

approximately $500,000 to bring Puig to the United States and that Puig paid him $600,000
in a single bank transaction. Puig still owes Gonzalez money as part of his contractual
obligation.
46.

Through conversations with them, I learned that Puig paid Raul Pacheco

$300,000 in a transaction which occurred in the name of Pacheco’s sister. Puig still owes
Pacheco money as part of his contractual obligation.
47.

Through conversations with them, I learned that Puig paid between

$400,000.00 to $500,000.00 to Alberto Fariñas in a transaction which occurred in the name
of either a company or Fariñas’ son. Puig still owes Fariñas money as part of his contractual
obligation
48.

Through conversations with them, I learned that Gilberto Suarez received a

percentage of Puig’s major league contract, which is equal to or exceeds the percentage
given to Jaime Torres.
49.

After we were all successfully in the United States and Puig had secured his

contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the smugglers from Mexico who had taken us out of
Cuba were attempting to collect on their payment, which they claimed was still owed to
them. One of the smugglers, Leo, sent a man to come and find me to deliver a message to
Puig. The man pushed me up against my car and pressed a pistol to my liver and told me to
tell Puig that if he didn’t pay them, that they would kill him.

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 8 of 10

50.

Puig took the situation to Gilberto Suarez, whom I heard tell Puig over the

telephone not to worry; that he, Gilberto, would have Leo “neutralized”.
51.

About a month later Gilberto Suarez asked me if I wanted proof that he,

Gilberto, took care of problems and that he meant business. When I said OK, he told me to
look up on the internet the name Yandrys Leon, which was Leo’s full name, and to see what
happened to him. When I searched the internet for his name, a saw several articles that
reported on Leo’s murder in Cancun, the news articles stated that Leo had been shot and
killed. I do not know if Gilberto Sanchez ordered Leo to be killed, or if he simply took
advantage of the fact that Leo had been killed by a third party to imply that he, Suarez, was
responsible for it.
52.

As I write this Affidavit, I am concerned that something may happen to me

as a result of my part in cooperating with Plaintiff’s counsel in this case. Puig has already
personally threatened me by saying “You do what you are going to do, but then don’t cry
over the consequences.”
53.

Approximately on December 2013, Pacheco, Puig, his father, Omar framed

my younger brother in Cuba. Puig, who had already severed his personal ties to me,
deliberately sought out my brother in Cuba, claiming that he needed to send his good friend,
Noelvis Entenza González, some money and that he could find no direct way of getting it to
Entenza. Puig sent my brother the money, and my innocent young brother, not suspecting a
trap, dutifully delivered the money to Entenza, who after accepting the money, accused my
brother of offering the money in order smuggle a differing baseball player Barbaro Erisbel
Arruebarruena out of Cuba.
54.

I have no financial interest in the outcome of the case of Corbacho Daudinot

v. Puig Valdez. It is because of Puig’s deliberate targeting of my family, that I am coming
forward with the entire history of Puig’s work with the Cuban government as I learned it
through him and through my own observations of Puig. Puig knowingly worked with the
Cuban government to accuse people in Cuba of Human Tafficking, which unfailingly
resulted in their imprisonment. Puig knew what kind of treatment those he accused were
suffering, because he not only told me that he knew they were tortured, but he appeared to
take a strange sort of pride in the number of people that he had sent to prison.

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 9 of 10

FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NAUGHT.

SWORN TO and subscribed before me on tlfs 6th day of December, 2013 at the state and
county above mentioned.

Notary Public, State of Florida

My Commission Expires:
ARACELI BETANCOURT
* EEr82lt3

@ersonally known to me)

MY OOUMTSSKTN
EXPIRES

Affidavit of Yunior Despaigne.
Page 10

of 10

Matth22.2016