OVERTURNED

Trump Administration Kills Agreement Between Major League Baseball and Cuba

Treasury Dept. says the league’s payments to the Cuban Baseball Federation were payments “to the Cuban government.”

The Trump administration reportedly killed an agreement between Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation, ESPN reports. In a letter obtained by the network, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control told the league its payments to the Cuban Baseball Federation were “not authorized... because a payment to the Cuban Baseball Federation is a payment to the Cuban government.” Late last year, the MLB and the MLB Players Association announced that they had reached a deal with the Cuban federation to contract players to avoid the “defection of players” and end human trafficking practices that were necessary for Cuban players to join the MLB. National Security Adviser John Bolton has tweeted that Cuba wanted to use its players as “economic pawns” in the U.S. and that baseball shouldn’t be used to “enable the Cuban regime’s support for Maduro in Venezuela.” The league said it has requested a meeting from government officials but has yet to secure one. “We stand by the goal of the agreement, which is to end the human trafficking of baseball players from Cuba,” the MLB said in a statement.