The Liga Nacional Bolivariana de Béisbol (LNBB, English: ''Bolivarian National Baseball League''), commonly referred to as the Liga Bolivariana ( ''Bolivarian League''), was a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

league that operated in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

from 2005 to 2019. Unlike the top-level

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (, or LVBP) is the top-level professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Background and predecessors Baseball had been play ...

, the LNBB season was played during the summer, for players not affiliated with American organized baseball (i.e. those playing in the

Venezuelan Summer League The Venezuelan Summer League (VSL) was a professional baseball league that operated in Venezuela from 1997 to 2015, primarily in the state of Carabobo. Teams in the league served as academies for Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations, and wer ...

). The league was founded in February 2005 by President

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

, and was sponsored by the Venezuelan government as well as the state-owned oil giant

PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...

. Critics referred to it as the "Chávez League," due to its close association with the Chavista regime. At its height, the league saw the participation of up to 20 teams in 19 states of country's 23 states. In 2019, it ceased its activities due to financial problems, during the prolonged economic

crisis in Venezuela An ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened during the presidency of successor Nicolás Maduro. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, c ...

Winners

References

{{Baseball in Venezuela Baseball leagues in Venezuela Sports leagues established in 2005 Sports leagues disestablished in 2019 2005 establishments in Venezuela 2019 disestablishments in Venezuela Defunct baseball leagues