Cuban Cycling Federation Protests US Visa Denia (Baseball:yes, Cycling:no)

[Mika]

Cuban Cycling Federation Protests US Visa Denia
http://www.periodico26.cu/english/sports/denial012006.htm
January 20 2006

The Cuban Cycling Federation is protesting another attempt by the US government to bar Cuban athletes from international competitions.

Yoanka Gonzalez Perez, Yumari Gonzalez Valdivieso and their trainer Leonel Alvarez Diaz should be in Los Angeles for the third phase of the Track Cycling World Cup on January 20-22, but Washington has denied them entry visas.

“We applied within the stipulated time at the US Interests Section in Havana, but we were not issued the visas,” said Jose Pelaez, president of the Cuban Cycling Federation.

“This act once again violates the obligation of all organizing committees of international sporting events to guarantee the entry to the host country of all invited athletes, trainers and sports officials,” said Pelaez, who recalled that this is a norm of the International Olympic Committee as well as the International Cycling Union.

Let's see if the International Olympic Committee makes the same stink about this as they did about the World Baseball Classic.

[HuffleClaw]

1. the IOC is STILL pissed off hugely about salt lake city

they really are. and this petty political crap will not impress them one little bit. especially after the OTHER cuban thing.

[Mika]

7. Bush is dragging the USA's name through the mud. n/t

[MrPrax]

2. Too bad for the athletes..

It's one thing to bar a team, but it is quite another thing to bar a team in the third leg of a world cup competition. (Moscow-Manchester-LA-Sydney)

The results are now tainted...

[Mika]

3. How many times do the DU Cubaphobes mewl about Castro not letting..

.. Cubans travel out of Cuba?

Hers's a recent example of such commentary,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2054148&mesg_id=2055409


Cubans can and do travel to other countries and then return to Cuba, their home.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Isn't it interesting Bush doesn't keep Americans out of the bicycling

contests in Cuba? He just doesn't think he can lower himself to let them come here. Ain't that peculiar? From a quick google grab, from 2001:

Article added Monday, April 16, 2001
UPMC Cycling Visits Cuba
Story and Photos contributed by Joe Papp

Cuba-Castro Country. The land of Cohiba's, sugar cane and fantastic rum. Maybe your parents honeymooned there before 1959. Certainly not the place you would go to race a bike, however. That is, unless you were a young gun from the United States looking to accumulate early-season miles in the tropics, while racing against some of Latin America's toughest riders.

On Sunday, April 1, a contingent of American Junior and under-23 riders led by world-renowned coach Mike Fraysse arrived in Habana, Cuba to prepare for the Vuelta Ciclistica a Habana del Este. The Vuelta is a five-day stage race held in the province surrounding Cuba's capital, and is second only to the Tour of Cuba in its importance to the home riders. The U.S. cyclists who made the trip were chosen in February from a group of 40 athletes who attended the New England Cycling Support Association's (NECSA) selection camp held at Fraysse's training center in upstate New York. There, he and Eddie "B" Borysewicz (Mercury-Viatel domestic director) evaluated the candidates and chose a squad equally mixed between riders with international experience and those for whom Cuba was their first trip beyond the borders of the U.S.



The pack races away from the blue carribean
Josh Gerwitz, Robbie Ketchel, Bobby Lea, Ryan Mele and Darby Thomas made up the U.S. Junior team. Mike Friedman, Boyd Johnson, Mike McCarthy, Shawn Milne, Mike Norton and Matt Wilson comprised the under-23 squad. Joe Papp and Bill Speckman were the elite entries. Mike Fraysse directed the squad, Carlos Laborde was assistant director, Steve Dudley served as mechanic and Marka Wise provided administrative assistance.

The U.S. contingent lodged at the Villa Panamericana, a hotel 10km east of Habana located near the Reinaldo Paseiro Velodrome. The facility was built in 1991 for the Pan American Games, and regularly hosts athletes from a variety of nations.
(snip/...)

http://www.iplayoutside.com/Articles/2001/04/16-cuba.html



Photos from their trip:
http://www.iplayoutside.com/Articles/2001/04/_16-cuba-c2.html

[Mika]

5. Thanks for the link to those pics, Judi.

:thumbsup:

Brings back many fond memories of when I cycled across Cuba with a group.

[Judi Lynn]

6. So you've cycled ACROSS Cuba? What an adventure.

I found some better photographs of cycling in Cuba. These are thumbnails:
http://www.danheller.com/cuba-macqueens.html

If you saw THIS area, you'll have some of us absolutely green with envy:



I've heard people from other countries, as well as some Americans, say that they LIKE it in Cuba without crowds of Americans around, and don't look forward to the day the travel ban is lifted. It looks absolutely beautiful there.

[henslee]

8. But isn't cycling *'s favorite sport.