Chile refused to grant visas to the Venezuela Men’s Volleyball National Team members for the 2023 South American Championship Qualifiers.
The reason for the absence of the Venezuela National Team from the qualifying tournament for the 2023 South American Championship lies in the diplomatic quarrel between their country and the tournament host, Chile. Namely, the Chilean government didn’t grant visas to the Venezuela National Team delegation, who because of that couldn’t participate in the event, which came to an end on September 26 with the triumph of Chile.
Through a statement issued by the Ministry of Sport, the Venezuelan government expressed its disagreement over the impossibility of the men’s national team to participate, for visa reasons, in the event that’s assigning two places for next year’s Pan American Games, also in Chile, which will further award South American quotas for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Venezuelan government claimed that the country’s volleyball federation carried out the timely and mandatory procedures to apply for visas and met each of the requirements set by the consulate of the Republic of Chile accredited in Venezuela. The government of Venezuela considers this an act of disrespect and will denounce it before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for that reason.
