Venezuelan under-23 baseball team players inquire about requesting asylum in Spain

BARCELONA, Spain — Members of an under-23 men’s baseball team from Venezuela have inquired about requesting asylum in Spain, police said Tuesday.

More than 20 players presented themselves at a National Police station in Barcelona on Monday to inquire about asylum procedures, police said, confirming a media reports first published in Spain’s El País newspaper.

Some team members returned on Tuesday to the police station and were seen speaking with officers. Upon leaving, a member of the team declined to comment to The Associated Press.

The players appear to belong to Team Guevara, which left Venezuela to play exhibition games against teams in Italy and Spain according to posts made by team president Julio Guevara on his Instagram account. In a post on March 18, Guevara said the team was beginning its “2025 European tour” with mentions of games in Italy against Club Modena and San Lázaro in Bologna. It is unclear if the team actually played any games.

El País reported that Guevara had fallen ill during the trip and returned home with a few players, while the rest stayed with hopes of finding European teams to sign with.

Spain’s National Police said that the team had arrived in Madrid by plane at a recent but unspecified date before then making their way to Barcelona.

Baseball is Venezuela’s favorite pastime, with many children viewing it as a possible way to get out of poverty, which makes them vulnerable to fraud and abuse. Scouts still come to Venezuela looking for talent but not to the extent they did before the country fell into a crisis in 2013. Baseball is a minority sport in Europe.

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