After working people in Cuba overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and took power, they transformed the country into a sports powerhouse. It leads every nation in the Americas, with the exception of the U.S., in gold medals won at the Pan American Games and summer Olympics.
The U.S. government’s response — under Republican and Democratic party administrations alike — has been to throw obstacles in the way of Cuba’s teams, increasingly denying their players visas necessary for competing in tournaments in the U.S. and Washington’s colony of Puerto Rico.
This year almost every Cuban team has been targeted, from track and field athletes blocked from participating in the Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Florida to table tennis players excluded from the Pan American Cup in California.
Cuba, not known for excelling in basketball, defeated the heavily favored U.S. team in 2024 before a cheering crowd in Havana. The Cuban players were looking forward to a rematch in Puerto Rico. It won’t happen as U.S. authorities have denied them visas.
The Cuban women’s volleyball team was once number one in the world, with three Olympic golds. This year, with a new roster of promising players, they are looking to be a major contender. But in a particularly cruel move, Washington issued a blanket visa denial for the athletes, coaches and officials for a tournament in Puerto Rico. This drastically limits their ability to attain the ranking needed to compete in the next Olympics. “The disappointment was huge,” player Laura Suárez told The Associated Press.
Cubans are known for their love of baseball and their teams have won many titles. In 2006, when the team was barred from playing in the World Baseball Classic, protests forced the U.S. to back down.
In 2023, the Cuban team — composed of players living in Cuba and Cubans who were members of Major League teams in the U.S. — took part in the World Baseball Classic semifinals in Miami. Opponents of the Cuban Revolution there tried to disrupt the game, but the crowd mostly backed the Cuban team. The U.S. government has so far blocked the Cuban team from returning to Miami for the 2026 World Baseball Classic in March. Supporters of Cuba’s right to participate are protesting, but time is running out.
U.S. authorities claim the reason they block Cubans from playing in the U.S. is because Cuba is a “state sponsor of terrorism.” The absurdity of all this was underlined this summer when the coaches of a softball team of 9- and 10-year-old Cuban girls were denied visas, blocking the team from playing in the Little League World Series in Puerto Rico.
Washington’s cold-hearted attacks on Cuban athletes and fans is a piece of their decadeslong economic, political and military war to strangle the Cuban Revolution, including Cuba’s accomplishments in sports.
Before the revolution in 1959, it was the wealthy in Cuba who controlled sports. After the revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro replaced capitalist rule, playing sports was opened to working people of all ages, in the countryside as well as the cities.
Physical education became a part of the school curriculum and sports facilities were built everywhere. Competitions were organized in the communities.
Unlike in the U.S., Cuban sports are not a profit-driven business, with sky-high admission fees and rules of play that lead to players’ injuries. Since athletes are not paid big salaries, or enriched by corporate endorsements, they play primarily for the recognition and love of the sport and to show pride in their country. A casualty of the U.S. rulers’ economic war on Cuba has been the deterioration of sports facilities.
In 2001 Castro dedicated a sports school in Cuba where athletes from other countries could come and receive free training. “Cuba is practically struggling alone against the repugnant commercialization that has invaded sports,” he told them.
Castro was known for his love of sports and enthusiastic support for Cuba’s athletic heroes. But in this talk he emphasized that sports and physical exercise are not mainly about medals, but for the enjoyment, health and daily well-being of all.