AP: U.S. Nixes Cuba for Baseball Classic

[cire4]

NEW YORK - Cuba won't be allowed to send a team to next year's inaugural World Baseball Classic, the U.S. government told event organizers Wednesday.

The decision by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control was conveyed to Major League Baseball on Wednesday, according to Pat Courtney, a spokesman for the commissioner's office.

A permit from OFAC is necessary because of U.S. laws governing certain commercial transactions with Fidel Castro's communist island nation.

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"It is our policy that we do not confirm, deny or discuss licenses," Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "Generally speaking, the Cuba embargo prohibits entering into contracts in which Cuba or Cuban nationals have an interest."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051215/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbi_classic_cuba_denied


It's a good thing the US isn't hosting an Olympics during Bush's reign of terror....