A Venezuelan baseball crew was denied visas into the US and can miss this 12 months’s Senior Baseball World Collection, Little League Worldwide stated Friday.
The Cacique Mara crew, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was scheduled to take part within the event after profitable the Latin American championship in Mexico.
“The Cacique Mara Little League crew from Venezuela was sadly unable to acquire the suitable visas to journey to the Senior League Baseball World Collection,” Little League Worldwide stated in a press release, including that it’s “extraordinarily disappointing, particularly to those younger athletes.”
The Venezuelan crew traveled to Colombia two weeks in the past to use for visas on the U.S. embassy in Bogotá.
“It’s a mockery on the a part of Little League to maintain us right here in Bogotá with the hope that our youngsters can fulfill their goals of taking part in a world championship,” the crew stated in a press release. “What will we do with a lot injustice, what will we do with the ache that was induced to our youngsters?”
The embassy didn’t instantly reply to an Related Press request for remark.
Venezuela is on a listing of nations with restrictions for getting into the U.S. or its territories. President Donald Trump has banned journey to the U.S. from 12 different nations, citing nationwide safety issues.
Earlier within the month, the Cuban girls’s volleyball crew was denied visas to take part in a event in Puerto Rico.
“They advised us that Venezuela is on a listing as a result of Trump says Venezuelans are a menace to the safety of his state, of his nation,” stated Kendrick Gutiérrez, the league’s president in Venezuela. “It hasn’t been straightforward, the state of affairs. We earned the suitable to signify Latin America on the planet championship.”
The Senior League Baseball World Collection, a event for gamers 13-16, is performed annually in Easley, South Carolina. It begins Saturday.
Match organizers changed the Venezuelan crew with the Santa María de Aguayo crew from Tamaulipas, Mexico, which was a runner-up within the Latin American championship.
“I believe that is the primary time this has occurred, but it surely should not finish this manner. They’ll exchange us with one other crew as a result of relations have been severed. It is not truthful,” Gutiérrez stated. “I do not perceive why they put Mexico in on the final minute and left Venezuela out.”