00:00These young Venezuelan baseball players dream of playing in the World Series.
00:06But after their U.S. visas were denied, those ambitions are on hold.
00:11The Cacique Mara team was due to compete in a South Carolina World Series tournament.
00:16The team's president said it had a formal invitation from the United States Little League.
00:21But the players weren't allowed entry into the country.
00:24That's despite the State Department saying last week that it would review the matter.
00:29Eduardo Gutiérrez was due to play.
00:34Now I'm fine, but back then I felt terrible.
00:37It was a dream, and it's every boy's dream, to go to a World Series in the United States.
00:42And it was snatched away.
00:44It's terrible, and I felt terrible back then.
00:46But life goes on.
00:48U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation in June
00:52prohibiting entry to people from 12 countries
00:54and restricting entry for nationals of seven others,
00:57including Venezuelans.
00:59Gutiérrez, along with some of the parents,
01:02linked the denial to an ongoing pejorative narrative around Venezuelan immigrants.
01:08I don't know how we could threaten the United States.
01:11Boys are 15 and 16 years old.
01:14I don't know.
01:15I don't see any threat in this.
01:17Cacique Mara officials say they were not given a specific reason for the refusal.
01:21The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
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