HAVANA, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led economic embargo against Cuba is thwarting the island nation's attempt to return to baseball's Caribbean Series, Latin America's top baseball competition, state-run daily Granma said Wednesday.
Cuba's reentry to the series "is increasingly uncertain because it would violate the blockade imposed on the island by the United States for more than half a century," Granma said.
Last June, the Caribbean Confederation of Professional Baseball (CBPC) and the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) announced in Havana Cuba's intention to return to the Caribbean Series after an absence of more than 50 years.
The agencies said Cuba would participate in the 2014 edition of the regional series, to be held in Venezuela, with the Cuban team that won the National Series, the selection from central Villa Clara province.
But on Aug. 6, at a meeting in New York between the CBPC's president, the Dominican-born Juan Francisco Puello and Major League Baseball (MLB) officials, the latter vetoed Cuba's participation.
The MLB said it was abiding by regulations established by the U. S. Office of Cuban Assets Control, which holds "no U.S. baseball organization is allowed to engage in transactions with Cuba, unless it does so under a specific license."
The U.S. Congress, under the Helms-Burton Act, prohibits any U. S. company from doing business with Cuba, Granma noted.
Blocking Cuba from returning to the Caribbean pro tournament " is proof that the restrictions imposed by the blockade extend to all spheres, the same restrictions prevent our athletes from playing in the major leagues as long as they maintain their ties and commitments to their country of origin," said Granma.
"Cuba has the willingness and desire for its players to be tested at the highest level, but reluctance and folly close the doors to us for now, we have only the satisfaction of not giving up our efforts to find ways to move ahead," Granma concluded.
In 2006, Cuba received special permission to attend the first World Baseball Classic, so the CBPC's president had expected the U. S. government to issue a similar waiver for the Caribbean Series.
Cuba's return to the classic has also been negotiated, since 1999, but the local federation so far cannot afford to pay the 30, 000 U.S.-dollar fee required to belong to the confederation.
The Caribbean series was founded in Havana, in 1949, and Cuba won seven of its first 12 editions, but Cuba pulled out of all forms of professional competitive sports following the revolution.
Only last July, the government authorized Cuba's baseball players to join foreign pro leagues, mostly as a practical economic measure.
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