Playing Dirty:
Rubio’s War on Cuban Athletes
By Dariel Pradas and Reed Lindsay
September 11, 2025
HAVANA, Cuba – Cuba has long been an international powerhouse in sports like baseball and boxing. Basketball has been an afterthought.
But on February 25, 2024, Cuba’s national basketball team did the unthinkable, beating the United States 81-67 in front of a roaring crowd at Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum.
“It was magical: the entire crowd on its feet, cheering ‘Cuba, Cuba!’” said Michel Espinosa, a 6’5” point guard for the Cuban team. “We had never felt so much joy after a game. It was my best experience as a player.”
There has been no rematch. A year after that historic win (the only other time Cuba had beaten the U.S. at basketball was 53 years earlier at the Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia), Espinosa and his teammates found themselves sidelined. Not by injuries or poor play. But by politics.
In February, the team canceled its trip to Puerto Rico for the 2025 AmeriCup because 14 of the 17 players and coaches either had their U.S. visa requests denied or had not received a response in time.
Cuba was forced to forfeit, losing a chance to compete in the top international tournament in the Americas, held every four years by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
“We were on the verge of something big for ourselves and for the Cuban people,” said Espinosa. “To have it end over visa problems was just unfair.”
Cuba’s basketball team is not alone. From table tennis to volleyball to girls’ softball, every Cuban team that has applied for U.S. visas has been blocked from competing in the U.S. and Puerto Rico since Donald Trump began his second term, according to Gisleidy Sosa, international director of Cuba’s National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER).
This apparent targeting of Cuban athletes aligns with the Trump administration’s Cold War-style policy toward Cuba, orchestrated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Ostensibly the policy aims to punish the Cuban government, but its consequences are felt most acutely by the Cuban people.
“It affects everyone,” said Whitney James Marí, an outside hitter with the women’s national volleyball team who was recently denied a visa to Puerto Rico. “When we’re not allowed to participate, it hurts the team, our fans, our families.”
9-Year-Olds Targeted
So far this year, Sosa says, U.S. visas have been denied for 35 Cuban athletes, coaches and sports officials, while applications for 32 other visas have gone unanswered by the competition dates. Some examples:
In February, six Cuban table tennis players and coaches were unable to attend the ITTF Pan American Cup in California.
In March, 14 track-and-field athletes were blocked (in Spanish) from participating in the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, an event for competitors 35 years and older, in Gainesville, Florida.
In June, all 17 members of the Cuban women’s volleyball team were denied the chance to compete in the Women’s Final Four of the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA), which was held in Manatí, Puerto Rico. The denial prevented them from earning additional points to qualify for the Volleyball Nations League, one of the sport’s most important tournaments.
“It’s frustrating because you prepare mentally for the event, knowing you have to give your best and train hard,” said James Marí. “Nobody wants to miss an event when they know they have a real shot at competing well and winning a medal.”
The visa denials also hit the players economically.
“Scouts attend these tournaments,” said Wilfredo Robinson, head coach of the women’s national volleyball team. “Players who stand out can attract attention from professional teams and they can get contracts. And now they’ve lost that opportunity.”
Contracts with foreign teams can be an economic lifeline for Cuban athletes.
“We’re going through tough times in Cuba right now and our salary isn’t enough to support our families,” said Espinosa. “A contract would help me a lot both economically and for my growth as a basketball player.”
Even when the U.S. has approved some visa requests, it has denied or not granted others, making team travel and participation impossible.
In July, the U.S. embassy granted visas to 14 players on Cuba’s girls’ softball team (ages 9-10), but did not grant them to the seven adult members of the coaching staff. The team was supposed to compete in the Caribbean qualifying tournament for the Little League Softball World Series in Puerto Rico. Needless to say, the girls were unable to travel alone.
Cuba’s Baseball and Softball Federation (FCBS) called the decision unfair and discriminatory, adding that it is “cruel to play with the expectations of kids.”
“Unprecedented” Visa Denials
Visa denials of Cuban athletes are not new. As far back as 1966, the U.S. initially denied visas to Cuban athletes competing in the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The visas were eventually granted – but Cuban athletes were barred from traveling on Cuban planes or ships.
Determined to compete, the Cuban delegation boarded the cargo ship Cerro Pelado (in Spanish), training during the voyage. Five miles off land, they transferred to Puerto Rican boats and made it in time for the opening ceremony. Cuba finished second overall, with 35 gold medals, just behind Mexico’s 38.
But Sosa says the de facto travel ban imposed by Trump is unprecedented: “No U.S. president has ever gone to such lengths to target Cuban athletes. Meanwhile, Cuba hasn’t denied a single visa to any U.S. citizen coming here for sports events.”
The State Department acknowledged a request for comment, but did not provide a response by deadline.
A Broader Crackdown
The impact of U.S. policy on Cuban sports has gone beyond visa denials.
Last week, the Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation revealed (in Spanish) it had not been able to submit the national team’s 50-player roster to Major League Baseball for the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) because the Trump administration had not approved Cuba’s participation. The Federation condemned the U.S. government's "discriminatory policy against Cuban players.”
U.S. sanctions require MLB to request a license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) – which, in turn, routinely defers to the State Department – before allowing Cuba to compete.
The matter could still be resolved. A similar delay occurred in 2023, but OFAC eventually approved the license in time for Cuba to participate. The Cuban team made it to the WBC semifinals in Miami, where players and family members were harassed and had objects thrown at them while stadium security largely stood by.
This time, though, Cuban athletes face an even more hostile political climate – both in Miami and Washington.
Meanwhile, third countries are also facing U.S. pressure.
In June 2024, the Cayman Islands forfeited a soccer match in Cuba, fearing the U.S. would revoke its players’ visa waiver privileges.
And in July, Hugo Calderano, the reigning World Cup champion in table tennis, announced he could not compete in the WTT Grand Smash in Las Vegas because he was stripped of his U.S. visa waiver after traveling to Cuba in 2023 for the Pan American Championship and Olympic qualifiers.
The removal of visa waiver privileges for citizens of third countries who visit Cuba became official policy during the Biden administration and was justified as an inevitable byproduct of Trump’s January 2021 designation of Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism.”
There is consensus in the U.S. intelligence community that Cuba does not sponsor terrorism. The Biden administration finally moved to take Cuba off the list in its final days in office, citing a lack of “credible evidence.” But Trump reaffirmed Cuba’s place on the terror blacklist on his first day back as president.
Athletic Terrorists?
“Terrorism” is now also being cited as a reason for the visa denials.
The letter (in Spanish) denying visas to the Cuban women’s volleyball team explained the denial was to “protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security threats.” It referenced Trump’s “travel ban,” announced in June, which used the same reasoning to bar nationals of 12 countries from entering the United States, and restricted entry for nationals of seven others – including Cuba.
The ban includes an exception for athletes, team members, coaches, and their immediate relatives traveling for the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting events. But visa requests are still subject to the whims of a consular officer, and ultimately, at the mercy of Marco Rubio.
In May 2025, three of Cuba’s top Olympic officials – including Cuban Olympic Committee president Roberto León Richards – were not granted visas (in Spanish) to attend regional Olympic committee meetings in Miami and Puerto Rico.
“This threatens our teams’ ability to participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Games,” said Sosa. “It’s a clear violation of Article 6 of the Olympic Charter, which guarantees all athletes the right to participate on equal terms, without discrimination based on sex, race, political belief or nationality.”
Cuba has complained to the International Olympic Committee, Panam Sports (an organization that represents the national Olympic committees in the Western Hemisphere), and Centro Caribe Sports (a regional sports federation that oversees the Central American and Caribbean Games), according to Sosa.
Cuba’s last recourse would be to appeal to the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, which settles international sports disputes.
“Supposedly, the Olympics are a movement of fraternity, solidarity, and brotherhood among all the world’s athletes,” said Sosa. “But our athletes aren’t experiencing that right now.”
Sanctions Strangle Cuban Sports
The visa denials are yet another blow to Cuban athletes, who already face increasingly precarious conditions.
The U.S. embargo prevents Cuba from buying equipment, clothing or shoes directly from U.S. manufacturers, forcing equipment purchases in third countries that can drive up costs more than 50%, according to INDER. Donations of sports equipment from the United States have also been blocked (in Spanish).
And since 2014, Cuba has been unable to collect payments for the broadcast rights of international competitions, according to Oliet Rodríguez, president of the Cuban Soccer Association.
The island has also been prevented from receiving prize money.
Cuba was forced to forfeit its winnings for its second-place finish in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic due to U.S. sanctions.
And Cuba has yet to receive prize money it earned at the World Athletics Relays in Poland in May 2021 or the World Athletics Championships in Hungary in August 2023, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in Spanish).
Cuban players, Sosa said, were able to receive compensation for competing in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, but the coaches were not.
The financial impact of U.S. sanctions on Cuban sports – including blocked prize money and the increased cost of purchasing equipment in third countries – amounted to more than $4 million in 2024, according to Sosa.
“It’s not a huge sum, but for a blockaded country like ours, that money could mean sports equipment, better conditions for athletes and the chance to take part in international events,” she said.
The indirect impact of U.S. policy on Cuban sports may be even greater. Washington’s “maximum pressure” sanctions have devastated Cuba’s economy, decimating government budgets for healthcare, education, culture and sports, and fueling an unprecedented exodus from the island that has included many of Cuba’s most talented athletes.
Cuban sports officials expect harder times ahead.
“The U.S. government’s policies are only going to keep hardening, and that will keep limiting Cuba, Cuban sports, and our athletes, who continue training despite our country’s economic constraints,” said Dalia Henry, an official with Cuba’s basketball federation.
Despite it all, Cuba continues to punch above its weight in international competitions – when the players are able to get there. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cuba won more medals than any other Latin American country except Brazil.
“We’re going to keep fighting,” said Deziret Madan, a player on Cuba’s national women’s volleyball team. “We’ll go to the competitions, when we’re allowed to, and we’ll give our best.”