World Classic: Cuba has been granted permission to call-up players based in the United States

Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) mentioned This Saturday, the United States government granted permission to Caribbean players residing in the northern country to represent the island team in the fifth edition of the World Classic Championship, scheduled to be held from March 8 to 21 in various cities in Asia and America.

“We have received a communication from the El Clásico organizers announcing that the license they requested has been granted so that the Cuban team can register Cuban athletes, whether MLB or not, who reside in the United States.” Juan Reynaldo Pérez Pardo, President of FCB, confirmed in statements reported by the official portal JIT.

The memo states that there are no details on the license granted, although once details are known they will be in a position to announce the preliminary result for Team Cuba. So far, Al Jazeera is the only country not to submit its entries for the shortlist, a procedure that the rest of the Classic entrants have been committed to for over a month.

#Cuba Will be able to get MLB athletes in the V World Classic of #baseball
Government #United State You issued a permit that should not be there. #baseball https://t.co/QY2Ol6sKlb pic.twitter.com/Muus1Tp7mR

– JIT Cuban Sport (jit_digital) December 24, 2022

FCB acknowledged that this was a positive step, though they called the fact that Cuba needed a US government permit for event organizers to guarantee their attendance, even though it called it “arbitrary and discriminatory”. They added that Al-Jazirah is not only the founder of the Classic, but also obtained the right to compete after qualifying, like the rest of the nineteen competitors.

“It is equally unfair that the Cuban athletes, because those we are going to call up are Cubans, trained in our country and who, despite all the pressures, want to represent their people, also depend on a mandate from the US government to fulfill their dream of playing for the country in which they were born” FCB added in their call, thanking MLB and the World Baseball and Softball Federation for their work in the negotiations as organizers of the Classic.

For the first time since the tournament was held in 2006, Cuban baseball authorities have expressed their intention to recall players based outside the country for the tournament in mid-November. Three weeks later, at the beginning of December, mentioned That the US government should grant some clearance to materialize this call for professionals stationed in the Northern Territory.

Since then, nothing has been known about this, until last Wednesday, December 21, journalist Francis Romero revealed that members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cuban baseball authorities met with representatives of the US government to discuss the issue of licensing. FCB Refusal The meeting said, but only 48 hours later they communicated the final authorization to the United States.

Now Cuba will have to finalize its shortlist, in which several league players such as Luis Robert Moiran, Yoan Moncada, Andy Ibanez, Yoann Lopez and Ruinis Elias have already agreed. Those also agreed to join the squad for El Clásico include Younes Céspedes, Ilian Leiva, Onilke García and Lorenzo Quintana.