A little more than a week before the start of the Baseball Pre-Olympic of the Americas in Florida, the Cuban team does not have visas to travel to the United States, players and officials said, a note from the AP recognized on Wednesday.
“We do not have the pre-Olympic visas at the moment. Huge efforts have been made, ”Luis Daniel Del Risco, current treasurer of the Cuban Baseball Federation, told The Associated Press. "It was searched in Mexico, it was searched in Panama, we tried to do it (the procedure) in Guyana."
Last week, the athletes and their managers finally presented the documentation to the United States Embassy in Cuba, which has its consular area closed by order of former President Donald Trump since 2017, but they still have not received a response.
On Tuesday, in an AP communication with the State Department, the official agency did not give details and indicated that "the visa records are confidential," so it could not be informed about the cases of the athletes.
The Cuban team has been training for the Pre-Olympic for months with the intention of qualifying for the Games to be held this year in Tokyo, explained captain Frederich Cepeda.
"What is happening is very sad, we have been training for a long time now," Cepeda, a star ambidextrous outfielder, told AP during a break in his training on Tuesday. "It is a dream for us and for the Cuban people to achieve the Olympic classification ... What we want is to discuss the law ... and earn our classification."
The Pre-Olympic of the Americas will take place from May 31 to June 5. Cuba is scheduled to debut against Venezuela in a Group B game, completed by Colombia and Canada.
The first two of each group will be measured in a second phase. The team that obtains the first place will qualify for the Olympic Games, where the participation of Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Israel is already guaranteed.
Meanwhile, the teams that occupy the second and third place would have to play one more qualifying tournament, scheduled for June in Taiwan, as the last way to attend the appointment in Tokyo, where baseball will return to the Olympic program after an absence of 13 years .
With three gold and two silver medals, Cuba is the most prominent country in Olympic baseball in history.
Cuba unveiled the members of the 32-player team in recent weeks, including athletes who play on contracts in Japan's professional leagues
In addition to Cepeda, the slugger Lisbán Correa, the outfielder Alfredo Despaigne and the pitcher Lázaro Blanco stand out as team figures.
The directors indicated to the AP that all the players were vaccinated against COVID-19 during a campaign last month and with a schedule of two doses of the island drug Soberana 02 and a booster dose of Soberana Plus.
(With information from AP)
Statements of the National Commission to JIT
"The Cuban baseball team reiterates its commitment to our people to compete to reach the Olympic qualification, as is their right," the island's federation reiterated today on its Twitter social network account.
"The delegation does not yet have the visas. It is the responsibility of the government of the United States, as the host country, to guarantee this process," said the message regarding the contest that begins on the 31st in Florida.
Jit spoke about it with the director of the Cuban Baseball Federation Luis Daniel del Risco, who reported on the steps to achieve this step, essential to face a fight that will grant a direct ticket to his monarch and will reward those located in positions two and three with tickets to the world qualifying round called next in Chinese Taipei.
"Aware of the importance of this event, associated with the dream of athletes, coaches and the followers of a sport that is passion for Cubans, we have made all the efforts within our reach, but at dawn this Wednesday we completely lacked that documentation ".
Why is Havana being talked about now if Mexico was originally the announced scenario for that administration?
Certainly, based on the restriction of consular services at the United States embassy in Havana, our attempts at procedures, which began on April 19, took into account the transfer to a third country.
As we announced at the time, that very day we proceeded to make the first application in Mexico, and a week later we sent a message to the United States embassy in that country, insisting on making a group appointment, as the system referred that these would not be available until 2022.
What followed
On Monday, April 26, we were notified by the US Embassy in Mexico about the impossibility of this management in the Mexican capital, so on April 30 we proposed the variant of any other US consulate in that nation, also rejected by them. Simultaneously, we investigated the consulates of the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Guyana, but without a positive response.
From the 4th of May, based on an investigation carried out, we were able to present the procedure at the US embassy in Havana, where on the 11th all the documentation of the delegation was delivered and we notified the intention to make the trip to Florida on the 21st of May. It should be remembered that we had arranged and announced the realization of preparation stops with other teams participating in the event.
What is the prevailing sentiment among athletes and coaches?
The uncertainty that is generated does not contribute anything good in the psychological order, but the results of the preparation confirm that the group is focused on the purpose of going out on the field in search of the proposed objective, which now has the special incentive that means honoring the memory of the recently deceased president of our federation, Higinio Vélez Carrión, and the national commissioner Ernesto Reynoso Piñeiro, who fought hard from their respective responsibilities.
In the logistical order, how does this lack of definition affect?
Let us remember that the visa conditions the management of transportation, accommodation, training at the headquarters and possible previous games, already programmed by the World Baseball and Softball Confederation, in addition to other types of coordination that right now are subject to the decision of the government of a country that, as host, must respond to the commitment to pay tribute in all areas to the organization of the event.
It is important to make clear that by not attending the pre-Olympic in Florida not only is the opportunity to fight for a direct ticket to Tokyo lost, but also the option of being able to go to the last qualifier scheduled to be played in Chinese Taipei is eliminated. In other words, not giving visas to the Cuban delegation is equivalent to depriving the team of the last chance to qualify.
With this action, the United States government would turn its back on the precepts of the Olympic Charter, undermining the prestige of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation and the values of a sector as noble as sport.
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