Treasury Department Denies Permits To Allow Castro’s Cuba To Play in World Baseball Classic
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department has denied permits required to allow a team from Fidel Castro’s Cuba to play in Major League Baseball’s first World Baseball Classic, officials in Congress said earlier today, making it very unlikely that Cuba would be able to play in the tournament.
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, also a Republican of Florida, confirmed today that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees enforcement of the American embargo against Cuba, had denied licenses that would allow the Cuban team to participate in the tournament. As The New York Sun reported Monday a spokesman for the league, Richard Levin, said that some money from the tournament would go to the Cuban national baseball federation.
That transfer, Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart wrote in a letter last week to Treasury Secretary Snow asking that the permits be denied, would be a direct violation of the embargo and America’s Cuba policy.
Staff in Mr. Diaz-Balart’s office said earlier today that they had confirmed OFAC’s denial of the license, but said the Treasury Department had declined to make public the letter to Major League Baseball informing them of the decision, as OFAC typically does not release denial letters.
Calls and e-mails sent by the Sun to officials at OFAC and Major League Baseball had not yet been returned.
Mr. Diaz-Balart and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, meanwhile, celebrated the decision, saying it opened the door for a team of free Cuban players to represent the island nation. In a letter sent to League commissioner Allan “Bud” Selig last week asking that the league allow free Cuban Americans to represent the island instead of a team handpicked by the Cuban dictator Castro, Mr. Diaz-Balart identified 22 players in the major leagues and 62 players in the minor leagues who would be able to represent Cuba under the tournament’s rules.
In a statement that will be released later today, Mr. Diaz-Balart said: “The Administration has appropriately and correctly denied the Cuban dictatorship’s participation in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. I sincerely hope that MLB now allows free Cuban players, who are currently in the major and minor leagues, to represent Cuba in the tournament.”
