Venezuelan Little League team unable to participate in World Series after visa denial
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A Little League team in Venezuela will be unable to participate in the Senior Little League World Series after their travel visas to the United States were denied.
The Cacique Mara team, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was scheduled to participate in the tournament after winning the Latin American championship in Mexico.
However, Venezuela is among a list of countries with restrictions on entering the U.S., and President Donald Trump has banned travel to the U.S. from 12 other countries, citing national security concerns.
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A general view of the stadium prior to the game between the Caribbean Region and the Asia-Pacific Region at Lamade Stadium. (Evan Habeeb-USA Today Sports)
The Senior League Baseball World Series, a tournament for players aged 13-16, is played each year in Easley, South Carolina, and begins on Saturday.
“The Cacique Mara Little League team from Venezuela was unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas to travel to the Senior League Baseball World Series,” Little League International said in a statement, adding that it is “extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes.”
A general view of the large baseball decoration at Lamade Stadium. (Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports)
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“It is a mockery on the part of Little League to keep us here in Bogotá with the hope that our children can fulfill their dreams of participating in a world championship,” the team said in a statement of their own. “What do we do with so much injustice, what do we do with the pain that was caused to our children?”
The tournament organizers replaced the Venezuelans with the Santa Maria de Aguayo team from Tamaulipas, Mexico, the team that was a runner-up in the Latin American championship.
The national flag of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, fluttering in the wind on a flagpole in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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The Venezuelan team traveled to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for their visas at the U.S. embassy in Bogotá.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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