The mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo. blamed the Colombian government for the delay in assuming the management of the 2027 Pan American Games after Panam Sports gave that city a period of 60 days to fulfill the organization contract, or withdraw from the venue and, in addition, blamed it for not carrying out the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
“We are working and calling on the National Government to accompany us in fulfilling the obligations that were acquired with Panam Sports when the venue was granted to Colombia and Barranquilla,” Pumarejo told reporters.
(In suspense Pan American 2027: ultimatum for Barranquilla and Colombia)
The letter
In a letter sent to Pumarejo and the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC), Ciro Solano, Panam Sports assured that the action to terminate the contract and withdraw the Games will be carried out (…) without prejudice to the right of Panam Sports to claim any and all damages and any other rights and remedies available.”
In this sense, he pointed out that the Caribbean city and the organization of this event have until October 29 to meet various requirements.
The first of these is the creation of an “Organizing Committee” and the second is the payment of 4 million dollars for the “organization right” of the Pan American Games, a figure that should have been disbursed on July 30 of last year.
They must also pay 4 million dollars that correspond to “the concession of media rights”, as well as they have to present a “Work Schedule” and a budget to Panama Sports.
The regional body has not received the insurance policy for 50 million dollars, which was also agreed.
Pumarejo affirmed today that they are waiting for the manifestation of the Government of President Gustavo Petro to “form the Executive Committee” and make a document of the National Council for Economic and Social Policy (Conpes) to guarantee the resources of the Games.
The objective, he added, is “to begin to give clarity and confidence to the hemisphere, because it is the hemisphere that trusted Colombia” to carry out these competitions, as it had already done in 2018 when Barranquilla organized the Central American and Caribbean Games.
“The games are going to take place and they will be just as good as the Central Americans (in 2018) and just as important as the Pan American Games that will take place this year in Santiago. We have all the willingness, all the preparation and all the confidence of the technical and execution capabilities,” he said.
For this reason, he called on the Government to “trust and finish making the announcements that give Panam Sports clarity and confidence.”
“We are running out of drinks in the bar where we wait and time is running out. We need definitions so that we give confidence to Panama, those Games can be held and we are consistent with the more than 7,000 athletes that would arrive in Barranquilla and the Colombian Caribbean,” he said.
formula 1
Pumarejo, on Caracol Radio, referred to the issue of the option that Barranquilla had to make an award for Formula 1, which in the end did not happen either.
“It was close. Even the president of F1 was in the city. With the change of government, the new one had no interest in holding the event,” he said.
And he added: “it also affected the rise in the dollar and interest rates.”
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