Major League Baseball recommended "in the strongest terms" that the players and other personnel of the clubs not travel to Venezuela for the Caribbean Series, which is scheduled to start on February 2.
Venezuela is going through a deep political and social crisis that worsened on Wednesday after the president of the National Assembly and opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, declared himself interim president in an attempt to take Nicolás Maduro out of power.
The government of US President Donald Trump recognized Guaidó as interim president. In response, Maduro announced the breakdown of diplomatic relations and gave US diplomats 72 hours to leave the country and close its embassy.
In a statement released on Friday, Major Leagues said that "the commissioner's office actively manages to be aware of the political, legal and security implications of a developing situation and will inform clubs of any consequences as soon as they become clear."
"At the moment, we recommend the staff of the clubs in the strongest terms the immediate cessation of trips to Venezuela for any reason," said Major Leagues.
Concerned about their safety, foreign players from the Venezuelan club Leones de Caracas, including the American Logan Darnell, began to leave the country in the final series of the professional league.
The management of the Lions announced that several of their foreign players have expressed their concern about recent events in the country and requested their departure to return home.
Responsible for the "welfare and safety of our players", the team performs the "logistical steps required to return to their respective countries as soon as possible," said the letter of the Lions.
One of the players who left the team was pitcher Darnell. Free agent of 29 years, Darnell made seven appearances with the Minnesota Twins in 2014.
The Lions, engaged in the dispute of the final of the Venezuelan tournament against the Cardinals of Lara, reported that for the moment, the third game of the series for the title will be played as scheduled on Friday from 6 in the morning. afternoon at the University Stadium in Caracas. The series goes 2-0 in favor of the Cardinals.
In addition to the totality of the remaining matches of the final, scheduled for a maximum of seven matches, the Caribbean Series is also suspended, bringing together the five winners of the winter baseball of Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela. It must be played between February 2 and 9 in the western city of Barquisimeto.
Barquisimeto was to host the tournament last year, but the Confederation of Baseball snatched the venue for the previous political turmoil that country was living and reprogrammed in Venezuela for this year.