HAVANA, Cuba — The Cuban girls’s nationwide volleyball staff was denied an opportunity to play in a match in Puerto Rico following the brand new visa restrictions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Cuban Volleyball Federation mentioned final week that the staff, comprising 12 athletes, a referee and a number of other coaches, had their visa request denied and can be unable to attend the match later this month.
“The frustration is big as a result of I prepare day by day, each hour of coaching is main as much as this and dedicate myself to it,” nationwide staff participant Laura Suarez instructed The Related Press. “It is actually disappointing not to have the ability to take part within the competitors, which is what I have been getting ready myself for.
Cuba was scheduled to play within the NORCECA Girls’s Closing 4 match in Manatí, Puerto Rico. The match contains Puerto Rico, Mexico and Costa Rica and it awards rating factors towards qualification for the Volleyball Nations League.
“We had been centered on the competitors as a result of it is proper there,” mentioned Dayana Martínez, one other participant. “Arriving on the embassy and being denied the visa impacts us loads as a result of that competitors offers us factors to enhance our rating,”
The Cuban staff’s coach, Wilfredo Robinson, mentioned the choice means his staff is prone to miss out on the Nations League.
“The competitors grants factors for every match and on the finish all of it provides up,” Robinson mentioned. “In September, now we have one other match and if we get there needing to realize 80 or 100 factors we’re not going to have the ability to do it.”
The USA added Cuba to an inventory of 12 international locations with restrictions for coming into the U.S. or its territories, efficient from early June. It contains nationals from Afghanistan, the Republic of Congo, Iran, Venezuela and different nations.
“Denial of visas is a part of a racist and xenophobic record of visa restrictions,” Cuban international minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote on his X account.
In a message despatched to The Related Press, the U.S. Embassy in Cuba acknowledged that, in accordance with its privateness insurance policies, it couldn’t touch upon particular instances however that directives had been being applied to safe the borders and shield U.S. communities and residents.
The Cuban girls’s nationwide staff received back-to-back world championships in 1994 and 1998. It additionally received three Olympic golds in a row in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.
The U.S. measures are prone to influence many extra Cuban athletes who rely upon worldwide competitions, together with some on American soil to qualify for main championships and the subsequent Olympics scheduled to be performed in Los Angeles in 2028.
