Venezuelan Little League team denied US visas for World Series
A Venezuelan Little League baseball team will miss the Senior Baseball World Series held in South Carolina after it was was denied entry into the U.S. because the players were unable to obtain visas.
Cacique Mara Little League team, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, qualified for the World Series after winning the Latin American championship in Mexico, but will not be able to compete in Easley, S.C. because they were unable to “obtain the appropriate visas” to travel, according to Little League International.
Little League International said in a statement to The Hill that while this is “extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes,” the tournament committee has decided to advance the second-place team from the Latin American championship, Santa María de Aguayo from Tamaulipas, Mexico.
The league said the replacement will ensure the “Latin America Region is represented in the tournament and that the players, coaches and families from Mexico are able to have a memorable World Series experience.”
A senior State Department official told The Hill on Saturday that U.S. consular officers are currently “working to review the case to confirm proper procedures were followed and necessary appeals were submitted by the visa applicants.”
Venezuela is on President Trump’s list of countries where the entry of their nationals is partially restricted or limited. Six other countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan — are also included.
In early June, Trump also fully restricted the entry of nationals from 12 nations: Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The administration pointed to national security concerns when announcing the travel restrictions.
The Venezuelan baseball team went to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for travel visas, according to The Associated Press (AP).
“It is a mockery on the part of Little League to keep us here in Bogotá with the hope that our children can fulfill their dreams of participating in a world championship,” the baseball team said in a statement, according to the AP. "What do we do with so much injustice, what do we do with the pain that was caused to our children."