“Everything related to Cuba is banned in the United States: doing business, traveling, having a drink in Cuba, even playing baseball if you live in the United States,” said Cuba’s Deputy Secretary of State.
The United States is barring some top Cuban players from participating in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister said Wednesday, the latest in a series of disputes over a sport loved by fans in both countries.
Cuba had several players in the past monthwho in recent years fled the Caribbean island long known for its baseball talent, askedto represent their home country at the World Baseball Classic in March 2023. Others volunteered themselves.
Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio called the development a “positive move” that marks a change of tone in a country that has long branded “defected” athletes as traitors who have deserted their home country.
However, he said that although the United States has approved Cuba’s participation in the Classic, it has not yet approved for US-based Cuban players to compete with their home country’s team in the event.
“In the US, anything related to Cuba is banned,” de Cossio said in an interview with REUTERS in Havana. “Doing business, traveling, having a drink in Cuba, even playing baseball if you live in the United States.”
“That’s the situation that Cuban-trained baseball players who play in the major leagues in the United States today find themselves in and say they’re ready to play on their home country’s team.”
The US State Department did not immediately respond to REUTERS’s questions.
A US embargo dating back to the Cold War and recent sanctions prohibit or impede business and financial transactions with Cuba. These rules make it impossible for a Cuban player to sign with a US team without defecting from his home country.
As a result, Cuban baseball talent has fled the country in unprecedented numbers over the past decade, draining players’ locker rooms and hurting national pride.
More than 650 Cuban baseball players have “defected” to the United States and other countries in the past six years alone, state media reports.
Cuba’s talented ballplayers led the country to gold medals at the Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004 Olympics, but the country failed to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Games for the first time.
Cuba is expected to play its first game at the Taiwan Classic on March 8th.
