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The children escort members of the Cuban national team to the field before playing a demonstration match against the Tampa Bay Rays at the Estado Latinoamericano in Havana, Cuba on March 22, 2016. The US President Barack Obama attends the first presidential match to travel to Cuba in 88 years. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
Karen DeYoung
Associate Editor and Senior Correspondent for National Security
The Trump administration on Monday canceled a four-month contract between the Major League Baseball League and the Cuban Baseball Federation, claiming that the federation was part of the Cuban government and that trade with it was illegal under the terms of the agreement. of the law in force.
The announcement was made less than two weeks after the start of the 2019 baseball season and just days after the federation published the names of 34 Cuban players likely to sign with Major League Baseball. Some of these players had to sign and play this year.
First negotiated by the Obama administration, the agreement aimed to prevent Cuban players from escaping Cuba in a risky way and having to give up their citizenship to play in the United States.
Under the agreement, players were allowed to receive 100% of the signing bonus, while MLB clubs paid 25% of this additional amount to the federation as exit fees. Players will also have to pay Cuban income tax in Cuba.
A senior Trump administration official said the payments constituted a "human trafficking" by the Cuban government.
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