http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

Betancourt and another Cuban baseball player, Zaydel Beltran, were among a group of Cubans smuggled to the United States by boat on Dec. 4, 2003, and then driven to Los Angeles, according to documents filed this week in the case against agent Gustavo "Gus" Dominguez and five other defendants.
The Cuban players eventually became free agents and Betancourt reached an agreement in April 2004 to play with the Mariners, the documents say. Dominguez had told Major League Baseball officials that both players had previously fled Cuba for Mexico, where they had purportedly established residence and obtained Mexican passports.
In this case, shouldn't Betancourt have had to enter the draft rather than be a free-agent? Isn't that what happens to players who come directly to the US?