U.S. denies visas to Cuban sports officials

Sunday, November 23, 2003

HAVANA, Cuba: Two Cuban regional sports officials will be unable to take part in the 45th General Assembly of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization (ODECABE) in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as they have been refused entry visas by the U.S. government.

According to Granma International, Ciro Pérez Hebra, ODECABE 's second vice president and Misael Lima Monduy, executive director of the Cuban Olympic Committee (COC) and its delegate to the forum, were due to participate in the conference that started yesterday with an executive committee meeting and concludes Sunday 23 in the town of St. Croix with an electoral congress. 

In a note from the COC, it warns that its representative José Ramón Fernández "had informed and warned top level ODECABE authorities and the U.S. and U.S. Virgin Islands Olympic Committees on numerous occasions that the U.S. government was trying to deprive the Cuban representatives of their right to attend."

Pérez Hebra recalled how this action - in true violation of the Olympic spirit - contrasts with the way in which U.S. sports delegations are received when they visit Cuba, without the period of notice required to present and receive visas or the need to undergo interviews or interrogations prior to events. 

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