[illeracula]

MIAMI, Sep 5 (Reuters) - A prominent baseball player and five other people who fled Cuba together last week were granted visas for Nicaragua on Tuesday, averting the prospect they would be deported from the Bahamas, a U.S. congressman said.

Star outfileder Cristobal Cuevas, who was banned from baseball in Cuba following a recorded conversation between him and 2 of his teammates hinting around defecting in early 1999, and his companions have been in diplomatic limbo since being picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard on a tug-boat in the Caribbean Sea and taken to the Bahamas on Aug. 21.

Cueavas was granted a visa for the United States because of his sporting prowess and the likelihood he would face reprisals if he was returned to the communist-ruled island.

But he had not departed by Tuesday, saying he would not leave the Bahamas until he was sure their companions, who did not receive permission to enter the United States, would not be sent back to Havana.

On Tuesday, Bahamian authorities gave the Cuevas until Wednesday to make a move. Later, U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart said in Miami he had obtained transit visas from the Nicaraguan government for all seven Cubans.

"These transit visas will allow the refugees to travel to Nicaragua and remain in that country while they make arrangements for political asylum with other countries,'' the Florida Republican said in a statement.

"More importantly these visas will keep them from being deported to Cuba, which was imminent, due to the repatriation agreement between the Bahamian government and the Cuban regime,'' said Diaz-Balart, a Cuban American and prominent opponent of Cuban President Fidel Castro.