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Cuba has long been known as a baseball powerhouse. But soccer is on the rise, especially among young people: back in October, the island's Under-20 national men's team earned its first-ever point in a World Cup. In a new video, Belly of the Beast sits down with players to talk about what this achievement means to them and the future of Cuban soccer.

Also:

• Cuba condemns U.S. attempt to close Venezuelan airspace
• Trump halts immigration processing for people from 19 countries — including Cuba
• Florida hardliners pressure Supreme Court ahead of Havana Docks case review

A Turning Point for Cuban Soccer

While baseball has long been Cuba’s national sport, soccer is making big strides on the global stage. Cuba didn’t just qualify for the men's Under-20 World Cup — it secured the country's first-ever point in a 2-2 draw against Italy. Defender Leandro Mena told Belly of the Beast that Cuba’s last minute goal was “pure joy.”

​Watch our video, featuring interviews with the players, about this historic moment for Cuban soccer.

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In Other News

Cuba condemns U.S. attempt to close Venezuelan airspace. Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez denounced what he called “a grave threat to international law” and “the prelude to an illegitimate attack.” The U.S. has killed at least 83 people in boat strikes since September and deployed its largest military force to the Caribbean since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, under the pretext of fighting “narcoterrorism.” The Trump administration has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading the Cartel de los Soles — an organization many analysts say “doesn’t exist” — and has designated it a foreign terrorist organization. The bounty on Maduro’s head has been doubled to $50 million, while the administration has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside the country. Cuba and Venezuela have been close economic and political allies since the late 1990s. The two countries, along with Nicaragua, were branded the “troika of tyranny” during the first Trump administration. Earlier this year Secretary of State Marco Rubio called them “enemies of humanity.”

Trump halts immigration processing for people from 19 countries — including Cuba. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Tuesday suspended pending citizenship, green card and asylum applications for immigrants from countries “of concern,” including Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela. Trump had already announced a “full-scale, rigorous re-examination” of all green cards issued to nationals from those countries, following the shooting of two national guard members (allegedly by an Afghan national). Travel restrictions had already been imposed on these countries in June. More than a million people will be affected by the measure. Cubans had long enjoyed migratory privileges to the U.S.: hundreds of thousands have entered over the past five years. The current administration has also ended two Biden-era programs under which many Cubans had legal status: the CBP One appointment system and the so-called "CHNV" humanitarian parole program. More than a thousand Cubans have been deported to the island since Trump took office.

Florida hardliners pressure Supreme Court ahead of Havana Docks case review. Florida congressional members, led by Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), submitted an amicus brief — a third party legal argument meant to influence the justices— urging the Supreme Court to rule against four major U.S. cruise lines that took hundreds of thousands of travelers to Cuba between 2016 and 2019. Title III of the Helms-Burton Act allows U.S. claimants to sue companies that “benefit” from doing business on properties nationalized after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Díaz-Balart said he seeks to “defend the rule of law, protect U.S. property rights, and support the victims of the Cuban dictatorship’s criminal conduct.” Title III has created an investment chill, with foreign companies strongly deterred from doing business that could leave them legally exposed. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the cruise lines lawsuit within the next twelve months. The suit was filed in 2020 by the descendants of Sosthenes Behn, a telecoms tycoon who, according to The New York Times, was the first “representative of American finance” to meet with Adolf Hitler. Behn helped “build up the Nazi war machine” through investments in German communications and armaments, according to Anthony Sampson’s book The Sovereign State of ITT. Before the 1959 revolution, Behn held a lease on three docks in Havana — now serving as a cruise terminal. A Miami judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2023, but last year, the ruling was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. For more, read our article on Havana Docks.

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