HAVANA (AP) — Cuba will not attend the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico this summer because it is unhappy with visa restrictions and other regulations.
The Cuban Olympic Committee said on Friday it was forced into the decision by the "failure to meet demands" presented by organizers of the games, which begin on July 17 in Mayaguez.
Those demands included extending visas to all officials Cuba wanted to bring, providing adequate security, and not subjecting the Cuban delegation to extra screening after the U.S.-imposed stricter airline security measures on Cubans and citizens from 13 other nations.
Puerto Rican authorities claim the communist Cuban government is simply making a political statement. Puerto Rico is a self-governing territory of the United States and subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and Washington does not have formal diplomatic relations with Cuba.
"Cuba's problem is not a sports one, it's a political one," said Puerto Rican Senator Carmelo Rios. "They are more worried about how many people are going to defect than they are about what they can achieve in competition."
The announcement by Cuba on Friday had been expected after official newspapers hinted the country would not attend the games. Final word came in a statement read by Olympic committee head Jose Ramon Fernandez during a ceremony with athletes from many national teams at Havana's Sports Palace, a vast expanse of gymnasiums, tracks, fields and courts.
Among the demands, Cuba asked that "lodging and transportation conditions be the same as those extended to other delegations," and sought a guarantee that authorities would not seize the plane that brought its delegation to Puerto Rico as payment for U.S. property nationalized after Fidel Castro took power in 1959.
Similar demands that were not met prompted Cuba to pull out of the 2002 Central American Games in El Salvador. The island also skipped the games in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in 1959, shortly after Castro took power.
Cuba traveled to Puerto Rico to participate in the Central American Games in the cities of San Juan in 1966 and Ponce in 1993. It returned to the island for the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.
Its statement on Friday criticized Puerto Rico, though, noting that "accumulated experience from other events in Puerto Rican territory have not been good."
Some Cuban athletes have left their teams and defected during international competitions, with members of the national teams in baseball, boxing, football, judo, wrestling and volleyball among those who left in recent years — including some Olympic and world champions.
Cuba won the medal count during the last Central American Games, in 2006 in Cartegena, Colombia. The island amassed 138 golds, 86 silvers and 61 bronzes, the 11th time Cuba won the most medals during the regional games.
