Commercial aviation has resumed in Venezuela, and with it, the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional announced Sunday that play in the five-team, 16-game round robin playoff would resume on Wednesday.
The league’s playoffs were suspended on Saturday after the United States military launched an overnight raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro early Saturday morning. The raid that captured Maduro shut down aviation across Venezuela, and flights to destinations began to move again on Sunday.
When the LVBP’s Aguilas del Zulia resume their playoff run on Wednesday, they’ll be without one of the best young players in baseball. Jackson Chourio, who is an outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers in Major League Baseball, will fly out of Venezuela on Tuesday, Diamante23 reported Monday afternoon in an Instagram post. Fellow Aguila Andres Chapparo, who plays for MLB’s Washington Nationals, will remain with the team, according to Diamante23.
A report in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Saturday said the Milwaukee Brewers, who have five Venezuelan players on their 40-man roster, didn’t know much about the status of their players who are in the country at that point.
“We don’t have much info at the moment but are trying to follow up,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold told the Journal Sentinel. “We know the airports have been shut down but not much beyond that.”
Getting out of Venezuela, however, will not be easy. As of Monday afternoon, Conviasa, Venezuela’s international airline, had one flight in the air, No. 771, traveling from Moscow to Maquetia Airport near Caracas, and LASER Airlines, a region airline based in Caracas, had resumed service to Willemstad, Curacao from both Caracas and Maracaibo. No foreign airlines are currently operating flights into Venezuela, which complicates things for, well, anyone trying to leave.
The Aguilas del Zulia, Chourio’s team, play in Maracaibo, located in Western Venezuela, so conceivably, he could fly to Curacao and then on to the United States. This winter, Chourio played eight games with Zulia, batting .400 with a homer and five RBIs in 30 at-bats. He’s widely viewed as one of the best young outfielders in baseball and has helped the Brewers to the postseason each of the last two seasons.
Other notable Venezuelan MLB players who played in the LVBP over the winter are Chourio’s Milwaukee teammate, Andruw Monasterio with the Bravos de Margarita, infielder Luisangel Acuna of the New York Mets and Venezuela’s Cardenales de Lara, Arizona Diamondbacks and Aguilas del Zulia catcher Jose Herrera, and Pittsburgh Pirates and Navegantes del Magallanes outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia.
Photo: Jackson Chourio of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates with teammates after scoring a run in the first inning during a spring training game against the Cincinnati Reds at Goodyear Ballpark on March 06, 2024 in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Aaron Doster/Getty Images)
