US blocks Cuba from international baseball tournament

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WASHINGTON - The US government has blocked a Cuban baseball team from taking part in a major international tournament scheduled for early next year, citing a more than four-decade-old economic embargo against the island, officials said late Wednesday.

The action came despite the fact the Cubans were not even supposed to play on US soil.

But since they were to benefit financially from their participation in the World Baseball Classic, the US Treasury Department told the Major League Baseball association, the event organizer, it would be against the law to include a team from the communist-ruled nation.

The department, which is charged with enforcing the embargo, would not confirm of deny its decision, citing a longstanding policy of not commenting on individual licenses issued or denied to people or organizations.