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Cuba has never competed for money
ON December 14 the news agencies
announced the negative response from the Office for
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury
Department to the organizers of the Baseball World
Classic, scheduled for March 2006, to invite a
national selection from Cuba to take part in this
important sports event.
In his communication to the
Classic organizers, the OFAC director noted that
after a careful review of the application and having
consulted with the Department of State, it had been
decided that approval of the application on the part
of the World Baseball Classic Inc. (WBCI) would not
be in line with current U.S. foreign policy. The
tournament generates profits for the participants,
Cuba included. The May 2004 report to the
presidential from the Commission for Assistance to a
Free Cuba poses six political tasks, one of which is
consists of denying resources to the Cuban regime.
In line with this, the WBCI license application is
hereby denied.
The shameful position of the U.S.
government in relation to the participation of Cuba,
Olympic and World Baseball champions in the Classic
which, under the sponsorship of the Major Leagues
Organization, the Players Union and the
International Baseball Federation attempts to bring
together 16 countries, has been heavily criticized
by more than 80 U.S. congress members, by the
sports authorities of that country, members of the
International Olympic Committee and political and
sporting personalities from Puerto Rico, the country
hosting the group involving the Cuban team.
Yesterday, the Puerto Rican press
quoted the letter sent by Israel Roldán, president
of the International Baseball Federation, announcing
his agency’s intention to rescind the organization
of one of the classifying groups for the World
Classic due to the refusal of the U.S. government to
accept Cuba’s participation in the event. “In our
understanding the reasons given have nothing to do
with sports and are at a far remove from the Olympic
spirit,” stated the Puerto Rican baseball leader.
As soon as the absurd decision of
the U.S. government became known, the Cuban Baseball
Federation sent a communication to the organizers of
the World Classic, whose text is as follows:
City of Havana, December 14, 2005
Mr. Paul Archey, First Vice
President,
Baseball Major League,
New York, USA
Dear Archey:
Today, Wednesday afternoon we
received a FAX from your office, informing us of a
letter from Robert Warner, director of the Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) denying the Cuban
national team participation in the World Baseball
Classic.
The reasons alleged by the
above-mentioned Office for that refusal are
established in the shameful Regulation of the
Control of Cuban Assets 31 CFR, section 515 of the
Treasury Department.
For any half-rational person such
a decision is absurd. Anger and political obstinacy
are once again preventing the world from enjoying a
genuinely representative universal baseball
spectacular.
How can one talk of a World
Baseball Classic when the Cuban team, the Olympic
and World champion, is not represented?
We are defenders of baseball and
of its significance for our peoples.
We cannot allow ourselves to be
dragged along by the ultraconservative tendencies
that characterize the current U.S. government.
Once again we are prepared to
seek solutions and ways of evaluating the possible
participation of our team.
Money is not the motive adduced
by the OFAC for our interest in competing. We are a
federation of a modest but dignified country; our
only proposal is to cooperate so that baseball can
continue to develop and attain its reinsertion in
the Olympic Program in the near future. We have
never competed for money.
With the objective of offering
options, the Cuban Baseball Federation would be
disposed to the money corresponding to its
participation in the Classic to be destined to the
victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Dear Mr. Archey, we should like
to note that we appreciate as an ethic the position
of the Major League and the Association of Major
League Players, in respect to Cuba’s possible
participation in the Classic.
Awaiting your response,
Yours sincerely,
Carlos Rodríguez Acosta
President |
