A recent report from Swing Completo indicated that new regulations promulgated by the U.S. Treasury Department‘s Office of Foreign Assets Control could prevent players of Cuban origin who have taken up residence elsewhere from playing for Cuba in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
The report, the latest of several by the online Spanish-language baseball media outlet regarding Cuban players in Major League Baseball and the World Baseball Classic, includes a screenshot of an email indicating that MLB clubs wishing to sign 11 players of Cuban origin must take steps to prove to the Treasury Department that those players have established residency outside of Cuba and will not return to the island nation. The OFAC’s Cuban Assets Control Regulations, which were first issued on July 8, 1963, are the legal mechanism by which the U.S. government enforces its trade embargo against Cuba.
Forcing players of Cuban origin to sever their ties with the island nation via the Treasury Department’s regulations will severely hamper the Federacion Cubana de Beisbol’s efforts to bring MLB players back into the Cuba national team program for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
World Baseball Network has not independently verified the email’s authenticity, a screenshot of which was posted on X by Daniel Malas of Swing Completo. The screenshot posted by Malas shows an email that was sent to several email groups, including “Assistant General Managers,” “Scouting Directors,” “International Scouting Supervisors,” and “International Club Personnel,” and noted that 11 Cuban players whose names were redacted in the screenshot were international players who were available to be signed as free agents as of either May 13, 2025 or Jan. 15, 2026.
The email in the screenshot published by Swing Completo on X seems to confirm information that was posted by the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation, or FEPCUBE, on Instagram on May 3, that stated that there are new rules for players of Cuban origin signing MLB contracts.
The language of the email regarding the 11 Cuban players tracks the language posted on Instagram by FEPCUBE, in which a pair of images had text in Spanish and English stating, “Due to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (“CACR”) published by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), before negotiating or agreeing to terms with a Cuban national, Clubs must first receive from that Cuban national a sworn, notarized statement that the player has taken up permanent residence outside of Cuba and has no intention of returning to Cuba… if that sworn statement is not applicable — that is, if, for example, the player has not taken up permanent residence outside of Cuba — you should submit other evidence of unblocking, such as a specific license granted by the U.S. government or evidence that the player is lawfully in the U.S. with the intent of staying permanently in the United States as evidenced by, for example, a request for asylum.”
Essentially, requiring Cuban players seeking to sign MLB contracts to declare their intent not to return to Cuba prevents those players from bringing money earned and goods purchased in the United States back to Cuba, which is illegal under the OFAC’s Cuban Assets Control Regulations.
The Federacion Cubana de Beisbol had, for years, prohibited players who walked away from the Cuba national team while playing abroad or who had defected from the island nation from further representing Cuba in international events, and the national team had significant success, including winning Olympic gold three times, finishing second in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, and being ranked No. 1 in the World Baseball Rankings compiled by the World Baseball Softball Confederation as recently as December 2012.
In December 2018, MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association reached an agreement with the FCB that gave Cuban players a pathway to signing with MLB organizations without having to defect, hoping to put an end to the human trafficking of Cuban ballplayers that had been occurring since the start of the U.S. trade embargo. However, several months later, the U.S. government under President Donald J. Trump quashed the agreement, arguing that the payments MLB clubs would make to the FCB for signing Cuban players were illegal under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations.
But over the past 12 years, Cuba has dropped to an all-time low World Baseball Ranking, falling to 11th in August 2021. Hundreds of talented players left the island nation, and following Cuba’s 14-2 loss to the United States in the semifinals of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Cuba decided to allow Cubans living elsewhere to represent the island nation without formally repatriating.
This, seemingly, would have allowed Cuban MLB players who had previously been persona non grata to play for Cuba at the 2026 WBC. In March, Swing Completo reported remarks from relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman, who unsuccessfully attempted to defect from Cuba in 2008 and was ostracized. After returning from the 2009 World Baseball Classic, he left the island for good. When he succeeded in 2009, walking away from the Cuba national team in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, he left his family behind in Cuba, including his girlfriend and newborn child.
“I think that all those people who are calling up the players who are [in the United States] and those who are going to the Classic, I think they are the first ones who should respect themselves and not be calling up all of us who are here,” Chapman, who signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent this past offseason, told Swing Completo two months ago. “After they have done everything they did to all of us, they want us to go play? I have no resentment about anything. I am simply clear about things.”
Other MLB players, including Los Angeles Angels third baseman Yoan Moncada and Chicago White Sox centerfielder Luis Robert Jr., who were allowed to play for Cuba in 2023, as well as Andy Ibanez, who played for Cuba at the 2013 WBC before defecting, and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages, have said they would play for Cuba at the 2026 WBC, but the apparent change in how the Cuban Assets Control Regulation is enforced with regards to professional baseball players of Cuban origin within the U.S. puts their participation in doubt.
Should Cuban-born players in the United States be unavailable for Cuba’s 2026 WBC team, the FCB would likely attempt to build a roster with Cuban-born players playing in Japan, Mexico, Canada, and elsewhere willing to represent the country.
Photo: Yoan Moncada of Team Cuba receives medical attention after colliding while trying to make a catch in the sixth inning against Team USA during the World Baseball Classic Semifinals at loanDepot park on March 19, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Moncada may not be able to play for Cuba in the 2026 World Baseball Classic if the U.S. government’s regulations regarding Cuba don’t change. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
