Cuba will have MLB baseball players available for the World Baseball Classic

Havana, December 24 (JIT)-- Cuba will be able to count on baseball players born on the island and inserted in Major League Baseball (MLB) circuits and with residence in the United States in the V World Baseball Classic, after the government of Washington granted a license so that they can integrate their team.

This was announced on Saturday by the president of the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), Juan Reinaldo Pérez, in a note published by the digital newspaper JIT.

The FCB has been informed that the U.S. Government has granted permission for athletes of Cuban origin, with residence in that country, to integrate its team to the V World Baseball Classic, scheduled from March 8 to 21, 2023.

"We have received a communication from the organizers of the Classic in which they announce that the license requested by them was granted so that Team Cuba can register in its roster Cuban athletes, whether MLB or not, who have residence in the U.S.," said Juan Reinaldo Perez Pardo, president of the FCB.

"The communication specifies that they will soon inform the details of the license granted.  Once this happens, we will be in a position to announce the roster of the Cuba team," Perez Pardo added.

"While we recognize these gestures as positive steps, it is necessary to point out that they were the only fair solution to the issue," the federator added. 

"It is arbitrary and discriminatory that permission from the U.S. Government is needed for the organizers of a sporting event to guarantee the participation of a country like Cuba, which is not only the founder of these competitions, but also earned its inclusion by qualifying like the rest of the 19 teams that will participate in the V Classic, scheduled for March 8-21 in five venues in the United States, Taipei and Japan.

"It is equally unfair that Cuban athletes, because the ones we are going to call are Cubans, trained in our country and who despite all the pressures want to represent their people, also depend on an authorization from the U.S. Government to fulfill their dream of playing for the country where they were born," the FCB president added.

"We wish to acknowledge and thank the work of the MLB and the World Baseball and Softball Confederation in their role as organizers of the Classic. Cuba continues its preparation," concluded Perez Pardo.