US Reviewing Case of Venezuela Youth Baseballers Denied Visa

After a team of talented teenage baseball players from Venezuela swept through a qualifying tournament in Mexico in June, it seemed they were bound for the Senior League World Series in the United States, ready to take on some of the world's best youth sides.

- Jenna West

NEW YORK —

But when the championship round began in Easley, South Carolina on July 26, the undefeated squad from Venezuela were not there. The team, Cacique Mara, has been denied the visas necessary to compete, Little League Baseball International said on July 25.

A team from Mexico took their place.

The Senior League World Series invites 12 teams of players ages 13 to 16 — older than those in the higher-profile Little League World Series, which is for ages 10 to 12.

Cacique Mara said it learned a week ago that the visas had been denied. Their players, raised in one of the world's most unstable countries, are demoralized, the team's president said.