Cuba seeks permit, offers to give winnings to Katrina victims

HAVANA -- Hours after U.S. baseball officials reapplied for a permit that would allow Cuba to join next year's inaugural World Baseball Classic, the island's communist government said Thursday night it would donate any money received at the tournament to hurricane victims.

Officials from Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association reapplied Thursday to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, seeking permission for Cuba to play in the 16-team tournament, scheduled for March 3-20.

The permit is required because of U.S. laws and regulations governing certain transactions with Cuba, and the Bush administration last week denied the first request, seemingly because Cubans would have received money.

"Although we have never competed for money, in order to offer options the Cuban Baseball Federation would be willing for the money associated with participation in the classic to go to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans," a statement read on Cuban government television said.

Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said a new application was submitted Thursday. The commissioner's office and the union had said they planned to address government concerns and ensure that no money would go from U.S. entities to the Cubans.

"OFAC turns around all license requests as quickly as they are able to," Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said in an e-mail to the Associated Press. "We don't comment on individual license requests."

Earlier in the day, Puerto Rican athletic officials said San Juan should withdraw as a host city if the Cubans aren't allowed to participate.

And in Miami, a congressman who opposes Fidel Castro's communist government met with several major-league players, hoping to form a team of Cuban defectors that could play in the 16-team tournament.

Israel Roldan, president of the Baseball Federation of Puerto Rico, and Hector Cardona, president of the U.S. island territory's Olympic Committee, opposed the decision by the Treasury Department.

"What we are saying is that we should renounce our position as host if Cuba is not permitted to compete," Roldan said.

Roldan sent a letter on Wednesday to International Baseball Federation president Aldo Notari saying the island would decline to be a venue because of the U.S. government's decision.

"We have not heard that directly from the federation," Courtney said.

Antonio Munoz, a businessman who agreed to pay millions of dollars to bring the games to Puerto Rico, would not comment on Roldan's announcement, but said he was not part of the decision.