Venezuelan Little League team denied travel visas to US, won’t compete in World Series
A Little League baseball team from Venezuela has been denied visas into the US, leaving them unable to play in the Senior League World Series in South Carolina, officials said Friday.
Little League International announced in a statement that the Cacique Mara team couldn’t “obtain the appropriate visas” to head the tournament after first traveling to Colombia two weeks ago.
The team, which hails from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was expecting to participate in the Senior League World Series in Easley after winning the Latin American Little League championship in Mexico on June 16.
Senior League Baseball celebrated the Venezuelan victory, writing in a social media post, “See you all in 40 days for the first pitch!”
Now, Cacique Mara has lambasted Little League officials following the disappointing announcement and their failure to secure passage to the States.
“It is a mockery on the part of Little League to keep us here in Bogota with the hope that our children can fulfill their dreams of participating in a world championship,” a statement from the team read.
“What do we do with such injustice, what do we do with the pain that was caused to our children?”
It is not immediately clear the reason the team was denied travel visas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently met with opposition leaders in Venezuela who oppose current President Nicolas Maduro, who the former Florida senator has called “illegitimate.”
Little League International announced that the team from Venezuela will be replaced by the second place Latin American team, Santa Maria de Aguayo Little League from Victoria, Mexico.
The Trump administration issued partial travel bans on seven countries including Venezuela earlier this month — tacking on full bans for 12 other countries — citing national security concerns.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm, and nothing will stop us from keeping America safe,” President Trump said in a video posted to X on June 4.
Cuba, which appears on the new travel restrictions list, has previously fielded teams in the Little League World Series and used to have its own dedicated region in the international baseball organization.
No team from Cuba qualified for the Senior or Little World Series tournament this year.
The Senior League World Series will be played from July 26 through August 2.
The US State Department did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.