Cuba’s volleyball staff was denied visas for a match in Puerto Rico, the most recent instance of a US journey crackdown that the communist authorities blasted as discriminatory and stated may damage its means to take part within the Olympics.
The denial is one other instance of “racist and xenophobic visa restrictions developed by Secretary of State” Marco Rubio, Cuban Overseas Minister Bruno Rodriguez stated Friday in a publish on X. “They’re attempting to dam the event of Cuban sports activities, that are already restricted” by US financial sanctions.
Since returning to workplace this yr, President Donald Trump’s administration has hardened its insurance policies towards Cuba, placing the island again on an inventory of state-sponsors of terrorism and slapping it with a partial journey ban. The federal government in Havana additionally says once-routine migration talks between the 2 international locations have been suspended.
Cuba’s volleyball federation stated 16 of its members of the ladies’s nationwide staff had been barred from touring for the competitors subsequent month in Puerto Rico — a US territory that adheres to federal immigration legal guidelines. The occasion, held by the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation, is a qualifier for the Central American and Caribbean Video games in addition to the confederation championship.
The Cuban Olympic Committee, in the meantime, stated visa denials have stored its officers from attending routine conferences within the US and blocked the boys’s basketball staff from collaborating in a match, additionally in Puerto Rico, earlier this yr. Lacking that occasion disqualified the staff from the FIBA Americup — a hemisphere-wide basketball championship — that will likely be performed in Nicaragua this yr.
Final month, the Cuban Olympic Committee stated it was “alarmed” by the US insurance policies, which may damage “Cuba’s means to take part in Olympic qualifiers” forward of the 2028 Olympic Video games in Los Angeles.
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