A champion teenage Venezuelan baseball team has been forced to withdraw from the Senior League World Series in the United States after the Trump administration refused to issue visas. The team, Cacique Mara from Maracaibo, had travelled to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for visas for the tournament, which begins on Saturday in Easley, South Carolina.
The players, aged 13 to 16, were rejected under the Trump administration’s June travel ban targeting 12 countries, including Venezuela. In a statement on social media, the team said: “The players are demoralised. The only thing that they know is baseball. They want to go to compete and put the name Venezuela and Latin American on high. They don’t represent any threat, they are 15-year-olds that want to win the world series.”
Little League International, which organises the week-long tournament, described the denial as “extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes”. A State Department official said consular officers were reviewing the case to confirm proper procedures were followed. The travel ban includes exceptions for athletes travelling to major tournaments, but these were not applied.
Cacique Mara earned their place by winning all five games at the Latin American Little League Championship in Mexico last month. They will now be replaced by the second-placed team, Santa Maria de Aguayo from Victoria, Mexico. Venezuelan teams have won the Senior League World Series three times, most recently in 2006.
