Cubans defect

Las Vegas

Forty-three members of a Cuban dance review performing at a Las Vegas casino requested political asylum this week. It was the largest mass defection of Cuban performers since Fidel Castro seized power 45 years ago. The musicians, singers, and dancers in the Havana Night Club show got American visas and left Cuba without their government’s blessing, and said they feared they would be punished if they returned home. The troupe’s director, Nicole Durr, said the performers felt they had no choice but to stay in the U.S. “Art should have no boundaries,” Durr said. “We want to dance.”