Missing Cuban actors to seek asylum in US

Two actors from a prize-winning film about Cuban defectors have emerged from hiding to confirm that they themselves are seeking political asylum in the US.

The young Cuban actors went missing last week while en route to the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. They had been due to appear at the US premiere of Una Noche, which follows three Cuban teenagers who try to escape their homeland by sea on a raft to start a new life in Miami. Anailin de la Rua and Javier Nunez Florian, who fell in love during filming, play a brother and sister.

The pair said their decision to leave Cuba stemmed from the invitations to travel to festival premieres – Berlin and then New York. "It's hard to leave your family and friends behind," said Ms de la Rua, who has two sisters and divorced parents in Havana. "But you do it so you can help them. There's no future in Cuba."

Reuters