What was an open secret has finally confirmed This Friday afternoon: the Cuban basketball selection that the ticket to the 2025 was played will not be able to hold its last qualifying game in Puerto Rico by not obtaining the necessary visas to travel to the Puerto Rican nation.
“The Cuban Basketball Federation reports that negative and not granting visas prevent the team that represents us in the FIBA Americanup FIBA of Nicaragua 2025 trip to Puerto Rico, where it had to face the house, the next day 23,” he explained A statement from the governing body of the sport of baskets on the island.
The crossroads of the Cuban Basketball Team, without visa for Puerto Rico
The Federation’s note ensures that they met the established deadlines and details that nine of Visa’s requests were presented in Havana. They corresponded to the players Aldo Castel, Ibrahim Echevarría, Michel Espinosa, Arlen Zaporta and Ariel Ferrán, the coaches Omon Planas and Reinier Muñiz, the physiotherapist Manuel Tabío and Dalia Henry, president of the organization.
However, the passports of these nine people had to be withdrawn from the US embassy in the Cuban capital without being visas on Tuesday, February 18, because they had to travel to Bahamas and play in that country on Thursday 20.
According to a Report The United States of The Associated Press, in the last days of the United States rejected “dozens of passports” and did not grant visas that had been managed by dependencies of the Cuban state, including those of the basketball team.
SUSPENSION MECHANISM VARIOUS VISAS OF CUBANS FOR EXCHANGES WITH #USA It could be the 6th measure vs. #Cuba In 1 month of Marco Rubio Frente Depth State. Athletes and National School of Art between returned passports.https://t.co/douy37iyri
– Johana Tablada de la Torre (@johanatablada) Februry 21, 2025
“We can confirm that in the last hours the United States government returned dozens of passports without visa and reported that the application mechanism of a group of visa categories used for state officials and their dependencies is suspended,” he explained to The Associated Press The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío.
“This decision directly affects bilateral exchanges that were taking place in areas of interest and mutual benefit for the peoples of Cuba and the United States, such as culture, health, education, science and sports,” added the diplomat.
Negative out of Cuba
Cuban basketball authorities also requested visas in other nations for athletes hired abroad. In Argentina they carried out the process Marcos Chacón and Pedro Bombino, but both were denied for the second time, since they had already received a negative in February 2024, when the Cuban team faced the United States in Florida.
On the other hand, Marlon Díaz’s visa request appointment in Uruguay arrived out of time, while Yoanki Mencía and Howard Sant-Doss were denied in Spain, explains the statement of the Federation.
Only three players from the Caribbean squad received visas for the challenge planned for next Sunday in Puerto Rico: Jasiel Rivero, hired in the MacCabi Tel Aviv de Israel, Karel Guzmán (U-BT Cluj-Napoca de Romania) and Sigfredo “Tito” Homemade (CB Morón of Spain).
The Cuban Federation thanked FIBA and FIBA Americas to expedite the processes, but regretted that these decisions “completely alien to the precepts of sport” have prevented Cuban participation according to the legitimate precepts of each competition.
“This is another attentive violation against the Olympic ideal, which, in this case, also remains lucidity to the competition in question and deprives our team to play in Puerto Rico, with whose federation we have sustained broad and solid links, marked by the mutual respect and love of his fans, ”they concluded.
Consequences
The delay and negative in the process of delivery of visas to Cuban players to participate in a sporting event has dire consequences from the competitive point of view. The Antillanos would be played to the 2025 classification in that duel next Sunday against Puerto Rico, as both teams are matched with balance of two wins and three losses.
To win that encounter, the Cubans would have won the direct ticket to the continental contest of the discipline, which has not been classified for a decade. Unfortunately, it will be impossible to break that chain and end the drought, and the worst thing is that you can not even compete in good fight.
The other chance of the Antillians to obtain the quota to the Americanup 2025 was to defeat Bahamas or fall by a margin of less than 14 points, but neither of the two variants took place. In Nassau, also with notable absences on the payroll, they fell by board of 97-74.
Basketball: defeat against Bahamas leaves Cuba almost out of the Americanup
After this result and the defeat already sure in Puerto Rico for not presentation, Cuba will culminate the qualifier towards the Americanup with a balance of four stumbling blocks in six outputs. Identical record must have Bahamas, but the fact of not playing on Puerto Rican soil will harm the record of points for and against the Antillenos, which benefits the Bahameses.
Precedents
It is not the first time that the men’s male selection has visa problems from the United States. During this same qualifying process towards the Americanup 2025, Pedro Bombino and Marcos Chacón were denied by the authorities of the northern country to play the first game of the event at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida.
The Cubans went to that meeting a year ago with only eight players and lost by bulky score of 100-79. Only three days later, in the visit of the United States to Havana, coach Oys Planas could have all its troops and achieved a historic 81-67 victory against the main world basketball power.
There are many background of negatives or delay in the visa process of Cuban athletes of any discipline to participate in events held in the United States or Puerto Rico.
Cuban volleyball players prevented from going to Copa Panamericana for not receiving visas
To cite some examples, in September 2023 the triplista Leyanis Pérez and Liadagmis Povea and the Salvador Luis Enrique Zayas They could not compete in the diamond league final held in Eugene. The same year, in August, the Women’s Volleyball Team also did not intervene the Pan American Cup of Puerto Rico, in which the classification to the continental multisport event of Santiago de Chile was at stake.
The most recent case occurred at the end of January this year, when the Cuban Baseball Federation reported that the island would not be present in the Antillana Cup that will be organized in the Puerto Rican town of Aguadilla between February 21 and 23. The sports authorities of the balls and the Strikes They explained that it was impossible to carry out the visa process with the margin in advance required, since the official ratification of call to the event delayed.
