Treasury to World Baseball -- No Cubans For You!!

[sandgk]

I for one was looking forward to seeing the Cubans take part in this event for at least four good reasons

1 -- How would the vaunted Cuban National team fare against well stocked Latino and Hispanic teams from Venzuela or the Dominican Republic (let alone our own homegrown team of stars)?

2 -- How long after (or before) they arrived on shore would it be before some well heeled owner (cough George cough) started chirping about the value one or other Cuban player could bring their franchise, which would lead to ...

3 -- How short would the head count be on the boat / plane ride back to Cuba?

4 -- The lack of any political PR for Castro when the Cubans got ousted.

As it is now the Treasury Dept has dropped a golden egg of spinnable PR into Castro's hands. Frankly, I have never been a fan of mixing politics and sports. It is a great shame that this grand experiment will now have a huge asterisk against it -- World Baseball Championships *

* As long as you don't invite the reigning Olympic Champion and veteran Cuban squad..

The only alternative means to save this would be to have any game involving the Cubans played outside the US. An option that would upset many apple carts, rather than simply righting one.
Reuters

MIAMI (Reuters) - The United States has denied Major League Baseball a license that would allow Cuba to play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic next March, The Miami Herald reported on Wednesday.
The decision came after Cuban-American members of Congress urged the U.S. Treasury Department to veto the license application and asked Major League Baseball to drop the Cuban team, the Herald said in a story posted on its Web site.
"There's always the option of an appeal. Major League Baseball's official position is: we want Cuba to play," Ronaldo Peralta of the MLB office in the Dominican Republic told the newspaper.
The World Baseball Classic is an 18-day, 16-team World Cup-style tournament scheduled to begin on March 3 that will bring together some of the world's best baseball players on teams representing their home countries.
Cuban President Fidel Castro, an ideological foe of the United States for more than 40 years, had given the go-ahead for his communist-ruled nation to participate.
But Cuba would have needed a special license from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.
The Treasury Department declined comment on the report.
"It is our policy that we do not confirm, deny or discuss licenses; therefore I cannot comment (on) a specific license request," Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said in a written statement. "Generally speaking, the Cuba embargo prohibits entering into contracts in which Cuba or Cuban nationals have an interest."
The tournament starts in Tokyo and ends in San Diego and many of the games will be played in the United States, which has been a magnet for the defection of a host of Cuba's best players seeking multimillion-dollar big-league contracts.
The defectors include pitchers Jose Contreras and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez who played on last year's World Series champion Chicago White Sox and Hernandez's brother, Livan Hernandez, who pitches for the Washington Nationals.
Despite the drain of talent, Cuba won the gold medal for baseball at the 1992, 1996 and 2004 Olympics, falling to the United States in the finals at the 2000 Games.
Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American from Miami, urged Major League Baseball to allow Cuban defectors already playing for professional teams to form a Cuban team in the tournament, the Herald said.
Letting Cuba play would "allow a state sponsor of terrorism to use U.S. currency to finance its machinery of oppression," the Herald quoted Diaz-Balart as saying in a letter to Treasury Secretary John Snow.
Some of Major League Baseball's best players are expected to play, including Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Derek Jeter for the United States, Albert Pujols, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez for the Dominican Republic and Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado for Puerto Rico.

[Guy Incognito]

Pretty pathetic on the part of the US government. Then again, our policy towards Cuba and the whole Enbargo has never been based on common sense or sound diplomacy...but on the minority wishes of Cubans in Florida who dont give a damn about anything other than their own interests.

[Bucktastic]

My personal opinion on the "Bud Selig Classic", is it shouldnt be happening in the first place. Or at least at that time in the year. Hopefully this thing is a bust.

[NJ-Buckeye]

can't believe I am agreeing totally with Guy/Tibor... but on this one -- I do

[tibor75]

US Government comes to its senses

Cuba allowed to play in World Baseball Classic

By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer
January 20, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) -- Cuba will be allowed to play in the World Baseball Classic, after all.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued a license Friday allowing the Cubans to participate in the 16-team tournament.

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Baseball's first application was denied in mid-December by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, but the commissioner's office and the players' association reapplied after Cuba said it would donate any profits it receives to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

U.S. laws aimed at punishing Fidel Castro's communist government prohibit certain commercial transactions with Cuba, generally attempting to deny money.

"Working closely with World Baseball Inc. and the State Department, we were able to reach a licensable agreement that upholds both the legal scope and the spirit of the sanctions," Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said.

"This agreement ensures that no funding will make its way into the hands of the Castro regime. The Treasury is pleased to now be able to issue this license and looks forward to seeing all of the teams showcase their talents on the international stage."

After the initial rejection, the International Baseball Federation threatened to withdraw its sanction of the tournament if Cuba was not allowed to participate. In addition, Puerto Rico threatened to withdraw as a host.

"We were always positive," said Antonio Munoz, the promoter who paid millions of dollars to stage the first two rounds in Puerto Rico. "There were some negative people, but they were wrong in the end."

Initial reaction among Cuban fans was positive.

"Oh, magnificent! Tremendous!" exclaimed Osvaldo Herrera, who was standing on a street corner in Havana with three other sports lovers discussing Cuban baseball.

The tournament, the first in which the world's top players will participate on national teams, runs from March 3-20. The other 15 teams submitted their 60-man preliminary rosters earlier this week.

Cuba won the Olympic gold medal in 1992, 1996 and 2004, and the United States won in 2000. Olympic baseball was initially limited to amateur players, but even after professionals were allowed in for the 2000 Sydney Games, major leaguers didn't participate because baseball doesn't stop its regular season for the Olympics.

Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens are among the big-name players on the U.S. roster, and Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols and Vladimir Guerrero are on the Dominican team. Puerto Rico and Japan also are expected to be among the top teams at the tournament.

Associated Press writers Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana and Pedro Zayas in San Juan contributed to this report

[Thump]

About time.

[tibor75]

I would hope that the agency handling the US team donates any of it's proceeds to Katrina victims as well.

The hysterical thing is that China, South Africa, and Venezeula are all in the tournament which have had recent pasts more detrimental to US interests than anything Cuba has done. But that's a discussion for another day.

I guess if this tournament allows the Chinese government to make more money with which to kill more political prisoners that is ok.

[BB73]

I'm surprised the embargo thing lasted through the entire Clinton administration. I mean, that man appreciated a fine cigar.

No need to move this to the political board....just a joke.

[tibor75]

Just [censored]ing pathetic. Looks like in addition to the Cuban citizens, the other victim of our assanine Cuban policy are Katrina victims.
U.S. thrown a curve; Cuba cries foul
Cuba wants to donate baseball winnings to Katrina victims

Friday, March 24, 2006; Posted: 4:32 p.m. EST (21:32 GMT)

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuba's prize money from the first World Baseball Classic has become collateral damage in the four-decade battle between President Fidel Castro and the United States.

Castro said he wanted to donate the money to victims of Hurricane Katrina, but U.S. officials say Cuba isn't getting any prize money.

Cuba finished second in the 16-nation competition, and the runner-up was entitled to 7 percent of the tournament's profits. But under the 1962 U.S. trade embargo, Havana had to forfeit its cut to get U.S. approval to play.

Castro, welcoming Cuba's players home as champions despite their 10-6 loss to Japan in Monday's championship game in San Diego, California, said on Tuesday that the Cuban prize money would be donated to Katrina victims.

The Bush administration, however, is not prepared to allow such altruism by the Cuban leader.

A Major League Baseball official said the deal that allowed Cuba to play in the tournament, which was reached in February with the U.S. State Department and agreed to by Cuba, made it "crystal clear" that Havana would not receive any share of the profits, even for charity.

"Cuba doesn't have a cut of the proceeds of the tournament, and there is nothing for Cuba to donate," MLB spokesman Patrick Courtney said by telephone from New York.

If there are any unassigned net revenues, MLB would consider a donation to an as-yet-undetermined charitable or humanitarian cause, he said.

Cuba denounced "foul play" in a front-page editorial on Friday in the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma.

There may not be any cash left over to distribute to the WBC winners, anyway, because the 17-day, 39-game tournament played at seven venues in Asia and the United States cost so much, an estimated $50 million.

[Bucklion]

Hmmm, so did Castro decide this before, or did he decide after he knew they would get no money? Probably never know for sure.

[tibor75]

Originally Posted by Bucklion

Hmmm, so did Castro decide this before, or did he decide after he knew they would get no money? Probably never know for sure.

I'm pretty sure I remember hearing about the Katrina thing when Cuba was first allowed in.
actually look at the article I linked on 1/20/06. It says they would donate to Katrina.
Maybe they knew they would never get the money b/c the US are bastards and made the Katrina vow to embarrass us. Well, it worked.

[ScriptOhio]

Latest Cuban baseball player to defect: