A former Cuban baseball star, Orlando Hernandez, has arrived in the Bahamas after fleeing from Cuba in a small boat accompanied by his wife and a group of friends.

Orlando Hernandez, who is 28, is a talented pitcher known throughout Cuba as El Duque (The Duke).

He is the older brother of Livan Hernandez, a top player with the United States-based Florida Marlins, who himself defected from Cuba two years ago.

Since then, Livan has climbed rapidly to fame and fortune to be named the most valuable player in the United States. But even he says that El Duque is better than him.

For the last year however, Orlando has been unable to play. The Cuban authorities banned him for life, accusing him of attempting to leave Cuba.

Instead, he has been earning the equivalent of $10 a month as a trainer at Havana's psychiatric hospital.

His punishment appeared to reflect the anger of Fidel Castro's government at a spate of defections by baseball stars.

In the past Orlando said he was deeply depressed at the ban, mainly because he said he had repeatedly turned down offers from abroad and wanted to continue playing for Cuba.

A spokeswoman for the main Cuban exile organisation in the United States said it was trying to obtain an American visa for him.

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