NEW: Trump admin. is moving to undercut a landmark agreement enabling Cuban baseball players to play on MLB teams by overturning an Obama-era decision, a senior admin. official tells NBCNews.
Raidel Martinez, closing pitcher for Cuba's Alazanes de Granma, launches a pitch in a Caribbean Series baseball game against Venezuela's Caribes de Anzoategui, in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Feb. 2, 2018.Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
“Major League Baseball has been informed of the dangers of dealing with Cuba,” the senior administration official said. The U.S. economic embargo on Cuba prohibits Americans from doing business with the Cuban government, so the MLB deal relied on a ruling issued during the Obama administration that held that the Cuban Baseball Federation is not run by the government on the communist-run island.
Hard-line critics of the Cuban government, such as Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, have been ramping up pressure over the issue since Cuba earlier this month released the list of the first group of Cuban players who are eligible to sign direct contracts with MLB teams. There were 34 players on that list.
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