UPDATE 1-U.S. blocks deal for Major League Baseball to sign Cuban players

The Trump administration on Monday blocked a historic agreement between Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation that would have allowed Cuban players to sign with U.S. teams without needing to defect. The existing deal will not be allowed to go forward because it was based on an erroneous interpretation by the former Obama administration that the Cuban Baseball Federation was not part of Cuba's communist government, a senior U.S. official said.

The move essentially overturns an agreement reached between MLB and the Cuban federation in December following three years of negotiation under which Cuban players would have been able to sign with major league teams. In the past, some Cuban stars have been smuggled off the island in speedboats. The U.S. decision was the latest step by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to reverse rapprochement with Havana, America's old Cold War foe, that was spearheaded by his Democratic predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

"The agreement with #MLB seeks to stop the trafficking of human beings, encourage cooperation and raise the level of baseball," the Cuban Baseball Federation said in a message on Twitter. "Any contrary idea is false news. Attacks with political motivation against the agreement achieved harm the athletes, their families and the fans." (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, additional reporting by Dan Trotta in New York and Sarah Marsh in Havana; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Bill Berkrot)