The Trump administration will undermine the MLB's deal with Cuba

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has rescinded a landmark agreement allowing Cuban baseball players to play in major league baseball teams and said it was illegal, the ultimate initiative to curb the warming of relations begun under the administration. Obama.

Senior officials of the Trump administration have announced that they were overturning a decision taken during the Obama era that considered the Cuban baseball league separate from the Cuban government. The US economic embargo on Cuba prohibits Americans from dealing with the Cuban government. The Obama administration's decision paved the way for an agreement between MLB and the Cuban Baseball Federation at the end of last year.

This agreement was designed to allow Cuban baseball players to join American teams without having to defect, as was the case in the past. Now that the decision underpinning the agreement is canceled, "this agreement will not be able to continue in its current form," said one official.

"Major League Baseball has been informed of the dangers of dealing with Cuba," said a second senior official.

Sharp criticism from the Cuban government, like Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, has intensified pressure on the issue since Cuba released this month the list of the first Cuban players eligible to sign direct contracts with MLB. teams. This list had 34 players, and some should be able to sign with US teams and start playing this year.

The Cuban embassy in Washington and the MLB did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Under the economic embargo imposed on Cuba by the US Congress several decades ago, the administration has the discretion to decide whether an entity like the Cuban Baseball Federation is too aligned with the government – in this case the ministry Cuban Sports – to be considered independent. Senior Trump administration officials said that they did not understand why the Obama administration had ruled the independent federation, the "appellant" an entity of the Cuban government ".

Former Obama administration officials said the goal of this policy was to allow Cuban players to join US teams without having to travel to the United States, which often involved dangerous journeys between smugglers. Players often pay to be smuggled into a third country from which they can join the MLB.

Ben Rhodes, a former National Security Council official who spearheaded the Obama administration's efforts to restore relations between the United States and Cuba, said the Trump government's new approach was "cruel and useless."

"It's a humanitarian problem for these Cuban players and their families," Rhodes said.

A senior Trump administration official said the Obama administration's policy effectively institutionalized Cuban players' individual traffic, saying that under the MLB deal, players were still being trafficked. , only by the Cuban government instead of smugglers. As part of the MLB deal, US teams recruiting Cuban players were required to pay a fee for each player to the Cuban Baseball Federation.

"In one way or another, it's human trafficking," said the manager.

The Trump administration has tried to deny the communist-managed island incomes that help keep the government, which National Security Councilor John Bolton considered part of the "troika of tyranny" alongside Venezuela. of Nicaragua. Rubio said on Twitter on Twitter that the agreement reached last year was tantamount to "legalized trafficking in people" in which Cuba only lets baseball players leave "if the MLB pays them a ransom".

"The #MLB agreement aims to stop human trafficking, encourage cooperation and raise the level of baseball. Any contrary idea is false news, "said the Cuban Baseball Federation on Twitter on Monday. "Politically motivated attacks against the agreement have hurt athletes, their families and supporters."

With the agreement canceled for the moment, any agreement allowing Cubans to play in US teams would require specific Treasury Department licenses exempting them from the ban. It is unlikely that the Trump administration will act quickly to grant these licenses.

"MLB's deal with Cuba has solved a horrific problem of human trafficking," said James Williams, head of the Engage Cuba group, which promotes closer ties between the United States and the United States. 'island. "By breaking this deal, the White House is now owning it and exposing Cuban players to human rights violations."