Trump and Rubio’s Petty War on Cuban Athletes
Last year, Cuba’s basketball team did the unthinkable and beat the US at the FIBA AmeriCup. Now Trump and Rubio have taken their revenge, blocking every Cuban team — from table tennis to girls’ softball — from competing in the US and Puerto Rico.
The FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025 qualifiers game Cuba and the United States at Ciudad Deportiva Coliseo in Havana on February 25, 2024. (Yamil Lage / AFP via Getty Images)
In sports such as baseball and boxing, Cuba has long been nothing short of an international powerhouse. Basketball, though, for the island nation has mostly been an afterthought.
But last year at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) AmeriCup, Cuba’s national basketball team did the unthinkable: it beat the United States 81 to 67 in front of a roaring crowd at Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum. “It was magical: the entire crowd on its feet, cheering ‘Cuba, Cuba!’” said Michel Espinosa, a six-feet-five-inches point guard for the Cuban team. “We had never felt so much joy after a game. It was my best experience as a player.”
There has been no rematch. A year after that historic win, Espinosa and his teammates found themselves sidelined. Not by injuries or poor play, but by politics.
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