On parched fields, Venezuela's little-leaguers are dreaming big

Kids battling poverty and even malnutrition to reach promised land of pro ranks

While playing for Venezuela in baseball's Little League World Series in the United States last month, 12-year-old Adrian Salcedo wolfed down tacos and chicken, donned a virtual-reality headset to envision hitting homers in big-league ballparks, and marveled at the lush grass of the fields.

Now back at his humble home in Maracaibo, a western city hit hard by Venezuela's protracted political and economic crisis, the boy's hopes center on his own version of the 'American Dream'.