Venezuelan Little League team denied U.S. visas, won't take part in senior World Series
Cacique Mara, a team representing Maracaibo, earned its place by winning the Latin American region qualifying tournament in June. That event's runner-up, Santa María de Aguayo from Tamaulipas, Mexico, will replace the Venezuelan team at the Little League Senior Baseball World Series, which began on Saturday, July 26.
'The Cacique Mara Little League team from Venezuela was unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas to travel to the Senior League Baseball World Series,' Little League International said in a statement, calling the development 'extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes.'
'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 team said in a statement to the Associated Press. 'What do we do with so much injustice, what do we do with the pain that was caused to our children?'
The Little League Senior Baseball World Series is a different event than the Little League World Series that takes place in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with the Senior version involving players aged 13-16 and play taking place on a larger field. The Senior Baseball World Series is being held in Easley, South Carolina, from July 26 to Aug. 2. The more well-known Little League World Series, which is for players aged 10-12, is set for Aug. 13-24.
President Donald Trump's administration on June 4 listed Venezuela and six other nations as being subject to partial travel restrictions, while 12 more nations were given full-scale travel bans.
While Cacique Mara was denied the necessary visas by the U.S. Department of State, teams from Australia, Canada and the Czech Republic will still participate, along with Santa María de Aguayo. The final participants in the International bracket hail from Puerto Rico, which is a territory of the United States.
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The Venezuelan team is the latest example of the sports world colliding with the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration and foreign visitors. In June, the Senegalese women's basketball team abandoned plans to hold a training camp in the U.S. after a significant portion of their roster and staff were denied visas. The Cuban women's volleyball team suffered a similar fate weeks ago after being denied visas to participate in the NORCECA Women's Final Four tournament in Puerto Rico. Earlier this month, Brazilian table tennis player Hugo Calderano was unable to participate in a tournament in Las Vegas, reportedly due to a 2023 visit to Cuba for an Olympic qualifying tournament.
Athletes, team staff members and relatives were supposedly exempted from the travel ban, with the Haitian national soccer team able to participate in the recently concluded Concacaf Gold Cup. The soccer world has been particularly concerned about travel difficulties, with the Gold Cup and Club World Cup taking place simultaneously this summer. Trump was a visible figure at the Club World Cup final, and one version of that tournament's trophy remains at the White House.
The United States is set to host the 2026 men's World Cup next year, and there are unanswered questions about whether every qualified team will be able to participate. Iran, one of the nations subject to an outright travel ban from the Trump administration, sealed its qualification in March. Of the other nations subject to full bans or significant restrictions, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo and Venezuela are all currently still alive in World Cup qualifying.
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