U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth is calling on the U.S. government to reverse a decision to deny Cuba's national baseball team permission to play in the United States.
Last week, the Treasury Department denied a permit for Cuba to play in the inaugural 16-team World Baseball Classic in March. Ueberroth says the decision will damage American efforts to host the Olympics in the future. Olympic host countries must guarantee all nations can participate.
Cuba had been set to play against Puerto Rico, Panama and the Netherlands in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in the first round. A permit from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is necessary because of U.S. laws governing certain commercial transactions with the communist island nation.