Cuba accuses United States of blocking participation in World Baseball Classic

Record ID: 1701240

  • Title: Cuba accuses United States of blocking participation in World Baseball Classic
  • Date: 7th December 2022
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (FILE – MAY 21, 2022) (REUTERS) CUBAN NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYING AT LATIN AMERICAN STADIUM BATTER BATTING VARIOUS OF PITCHER THROWING BALL
  • Embargoed: 21st December 2022 21:12
  • Keywords: Cuba baseball sports
  • Location: HAVANA, CUBA
  • City: HAVANA, CUBA
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Baseball,South America / Central America,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA001517807122022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The United States is blocking some of Cuba´s top players from participating in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, Cuba´s vice Foreign minister said on Wednesday (December 7), the latest in a series of spats over a sport beloved by fans in both nations.
    Cuba last month asked several players, who in recent years had defected from the Caribbean island long-famed for its baseball talent, to represent their home country in the World Baseball Classic in March 2023. Others volunteered on their own.
    But he said the United States, despite authorizing Cuba´s participation in the Classic, had yet to approve U.S.-based Cuban players competing in the event with their home country team.
    The delayed permit is already a disadvantage for the Cuban team, vice Foreign minister, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, told Reuters in an interview in Havana.
    The U.S. State Department did not immediately provide answers to Reuters’ questions.
    A U.S. Cold War-era embargo and more recent sanctions prohibit or complicate business and financial transactions with Cuba. Those rules make it impossible for a Cuban ballplayer to sign with a U.S. team without defecting from their home country.
    As a result, Cuba´s baseball talent has fled the country in unprecedented numbers in the past decade, emptying dugouts and denting national pride.
    More than 650 Cuban ballplayers have defected to the United States and elsewhere over the past six years alone, according to state-run media reports.
    Cuba is expected to play its first match in the classic in Taiwan on March 8.
    (Production: Mario Fuentes, Anett Rios, Gloria Lopez)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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