Eight members of the Cuban delegation have been denied visas to travel to the United States for the World Baseball Classic, the Cuban Federation of Baseball and Softball (FCBS) said Thursday.
Cuba will face Puerto Rico, Colombia, Panama and Canada in the WBC pool tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from March 5-17.
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Cubans denied visas include FCBS president Juan Reynaldo Pérez Pardo and secretary-general Carlos del Pino Muñoz. Pitching coach Pedro Luis Lazo also was turned down.
A person familiar with the matter said that all Cuban players and coaches except Lazo were granted visas. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because there had been no announcement about player visas. The U.S. State Department declined to comment on Cuba’s complaints, citing visa privacy laws, but a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity also said those denied visas were not actual athletes but executives and officials.
“The U.S. response, more than a month after these requests were submitted, ignores the reasons on which these requests are based, the most fundamental principles of sport and the commitments made by the countries hosting such events,” the International Federation said in a statement.
The Cuban team finished third in the last WBC competition in 2023. The team is scheduled to play exhibition games next week in Arizona against the Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds.
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Cuba is one of seven countries that have imposed travel restrictions on the United States, along with Burundi, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Last year, Cacique Mara, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was denied a visa to the United States and missed the Senior Baseball World Series.
The Cuban Federation said it “will analyze how to proceed and will report in due course.”
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AP Baseball Writers Ronald Blum and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
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Associated Press MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB