Red Sox Manager Alex Cora won't visit the White House when the Boston Red Sox are honored for their 2018 World Series victory.
Cora, who is Puerto Rican, revealed that he doesn't feel that he can celebrate in the White House given the Trump administration's response to Hurricane Maria.
"Although the government of the United States has helped, there is still a long way to go, that is OUR reality," he shared in a statement with the newspaper El Nuevo Dia. "I have continually used my voice so that we Puerto Ricans are not forgotten and my absence is not different. Therefore, at this moment, I do not feel comfortable celebrating in the White House."
Several other Red Sox players also won't attend the meeting. David Price, Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers have all revealed that they will skip the White House visit.
The Red Sox are part of a larger trend of tension between Trump and Major League Baseball. The president has notably not thrown a first pitch since taking office and recently threw a wrench in the league's program that would have allowed Cuban players to come to the United States without defecting, a difficult and dangerous process. While Trump's administration claims that it's just following through on a trade ban with the Cuban government, the Cuban Baseball Federation called the decision harmful.
"The agreement with #MLB seeks to stop the trafficking of human beings, encourage cooperation and raise the level of baseball," it said. "Any contrary idea is false news. Attacks with political motivation against the agreement achieved harm the athletes, their families and the fans."
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