Tag: Mario Díaz-Balart

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio says Major League Baseball can end the dangerous practice of Cuban athletes being trafficked through third countries by changing its own rules, without dealing with the Cuban government. Rubio said on Twitter Saturday the major reason baseball players undergo such travel risks stems from a requirement athletes establish “fake” residency in a country beside Cuba before signing a contract with an American ball club. “Instead of getting rid of this rule, they chose to pay ransom to the regime with a portion of the players salary,” Rubio said. Rubio immediately came out against a deal announced Dec. 19 between MLB and the Cuban Baseball Federation that would allow Cuban players over age 25 and with six years of professional ball experience to be released to play in the U.S. league. The Republican senator joined with U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and incoming U.S. Sen. Rick Scott in calling for President Donald Trump’s administration to block the deal. At that time, Rubio said players should be allowed to negotiate their own contracts and that the arrangement with the CBF forced players to cede their rights to the Cuban regime. MLB officials have pushed back on political criticism, saying the arrangement would eliminate the risks athletes take to flee Cuba for a chance to play American baseball. In 2016, as President Barack Obama sought to normalize relations with Cuba, the federal government recognized the federation as an organization with which American businesses could negotiate independently. Rubio has maintained the sports organization remains part of a hostile regime hurting its own people, and that would include taking pay from MLB athletes playing in the U.S. under the new deal. MLB officials say they negotiated the arrangement with CBF over the course of three years.