At Meeting in Santo Domingo, CBPC Keeps 2026 Caribbean Series In Caracas – For Now

At least for now, the 2026 Caribbean Series is staying put in Caracas and La Guaira, Venezuela.

At a meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic today, the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional confirmed to the Confederacion de Beisbol Profesional del Caribe that it is prepared to host the 2026 Caribbean Series at Estadio Monumental Simon Bolivar and Estadio Jorge Luis García Carneiro in La Guaira, and the CBPC gave the LVBP a vote of confidence behind hosting the event, according to a report from ESPN Deportes’ Enrique Rojas.

En reunión este lunes, la Liga de Venezuela (LVBP) ratificó que se encuentra en condiciones para celebrar la Serie del Caribe del 2026 y la Confederación del Caribe (CBPC) decidio darle un voto de confianza, pero convocó a una reunión de seguimiento el 15 de diciembre, donde…

— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) December 1, 2025

Rojas reports that the CBPC will hold another meeting to follow up on the situation on Dec. 15.

The CBPC has planned for the event to be played at Estadio Monumental Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, and Estadio Jorge Luis García Carneiro in La Guaira, a nearby port city, since 2024, when it was moved from San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Estadio Hiram Bithorn. The 2026 Caribbean Series will be played with teams from the four CBPC member leagues as well as invitees from Panama and Cuba. Both ballparks previously hosted games during the 2023 Caribbean Series, when four invitees — teams from Cuba, Panama, Curacao, and Colombia — joined the champions of the four CBPC leagues, marking the first time that eight teams played in the Caribbean Series.

The Santo Domingo meeting on Monday afternoon comes as tensions continue to rise between the governments of the United States and the Venezuela, as well as between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

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In September, the United States began initiating missile strikes on boats off Venezuela that were allegedly trafficking drugs, though no evidence of what the boats were carrying or who was on them was presented. In recent months, the United States has conducted more than 20 strikes against boats off the Venezuelan coast. On Nov. 29, U.S. President Donald J. Trump posted on Truth Social, a boutique social media network aimed at his supporters, “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Despite this pronouncement, a check of FlightAware, a website showing live air traffic around the world, showed multiple commercial flights operating in and out of Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, a suburb of Caracas, on Monday afternoon, including commercial flights operated by Panamanian carrier Copa Airlines as well as Venezuelan flag carrier Conviasa.

The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, nor are their currently diplomatic relations between the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

According to a report in the New York Post, the U.S. has 11 warships, including the USS Gerald R. Ford, the U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, as well as 15,000 troops positioned in the southern Caribbean. Multiple media outlets reported that Trump spoke to Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by phone last week, with Trump giving an ultimatum for Maduro to leave the country, telling him his security would be guaranteed were he and his family to leave. Maduro appeared in public for the first time in several days on Sunday, appearing at a coffee industry awards event in Caracas according to CNN.

Were the 2026 Caribbean Series to be moved out of Venezuela, it would be the third time in less than a decade that the CBPC moved the event elsewhere after planning for it to be held in the South American country. The 2018 Caribbean Series was moved from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and Barquisimeto was named the host for the 2019 Caribbean Series. The 2019 Caribbean Series was moved from Barquisimeto to Estadio Rod Carew in Panama City, Panama on Jan. 27, 2019, less than a week before the event was to begin. It was the second consecutive year the event was moved from Venezuela.

When the CBPC moved the 2019 Caribbean Series to Panama City, Caribbean Baseball’s governing body cited the lack of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Venezuela as well as a recommendation by Major League Baseball for personnel not to travel to nor stay in Venezuela.

The rising tensions between the U.S., the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela make Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic unlikely to host the 2026 Caribbean Series if the CBPC moves it out of Venezuela. Mexico has maintained diplomacy with Venezuela and could potentially host the event. The city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico is schedule to host the 2027 Caribbean Series.

Panama was specifically cited by Rojas last week as host for the 2026 Caribbean Series, though Panama City’s biggest ballpark, Estadio Rod Carew, is closed for emergency repairs for at least six months. The repairs to Estadio Rod Carew has forced the Serie de Las Americas, which will feature teams from Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Curacao, Nicaragua, and Panama, to be played at Estadio Mariano Rivera in La Chorrera, Panama, as well as at Estadio Juan Demostenes Arosemena in Panama City.

Photo: Estadio Monumental Simon Bolivar in Caracas is one of two venues scheduled to host the 2026 Caribbean Series.