Reply #16: Bush's administration even fixed it so BOOKS written by Cubans can't be allowed in here. [View All]

Cuba offers to donate tournament money
According to Reuters, Cuba said it would donate any money received from World Baseball Classic to Hurricane Katrina victims if the U.S. Government reverses a controversial decision to deny Cuba’s participation.

Fidel Castro had given the go-ahead permission for Cuba to participate the inaugural World Baseball Classic. But Cuba would have needed a special license from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.

The United States Government denied Major League Baseball a license that would allow Cuba to play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. The decision got protests from the U.S. Olympic Committee, Major League Baseball, numerous politicians and others.

Based on the regulation of tournament, Cuba would get the 1 percent of tournament revenues and 5 percent if it won, that is not allowed by U.S. Treasury Department.

“The Cuban baseball federation, in an effort to find options, would be ready for the money corresponding to its participation in the classic to go to the victims of Hurricane Katrina left homeless in New Orleans,” the federation said in a letter to Major League Baseball.

Cuba labeled the Bush administration as “shameful” and “absurd” and “having nothing to do with sports.”
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