After the letter that Panama Sports sent to the National Government for non-compliance with the organization of the Pan American Games 2027the president of Colombia Gustavo Petro He had an ironic reaction.
“After all the non-compliance with the host city contract and the extensions granted, the Executive Committee of Panam Sports in a session on Tuesday, January 2, 2024 decided to withdraw the headquarters to Barranquilla, Colombia,” says the letter that the organization of the Games he sent to the Government after withdrawing the venue and which was published by EL TIEMPO.
The loss of the headquarters generated, at the beginning of the year, a political scandal that has the Minister of Sports, Astrid Viviana Rodríguez, with a motion of censure hanging over his head. The same crisis forced President Petro to take charge of the efforts, until now unsuccessful, to try to recover the seat for Barranquilla.
Details of the meeting called by President Petro to recover the Pan American Games
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Last week, Asunción (Paraguay) and Lima (Peru) made official their intention to organize the Pan American Games in 2027, further complicating the possibilities of the Atlantic capital. The country is awaiting the president's announced trip to Chile, where he hopes to have the support of his counterpart, Gabriel Boricto intercede with Panam Sports, whose president, Neven Ilic, is also Chilean.
Petro's reaction
Ten days before the deadline expired, on October 19 of last year, in the middle of the Chile Games, Minister Rodríguez, the former mayor of Barranquilla Jaime Pumarejo and the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee, Ciro Solano, met with Panam Sports and requested, and managed, to set new deadlines. On December 30, the first $4 million should have been paid. The second amount owed would be amortized January 30, 2024. At that meeting in Santiago, the government of President Petro, through Minister Rodríguez, ratified its full commitment to the Games.
Although – Panam Sports reiterates in the letter – “it was clearly established in writing that failure to comply with this new and final deadline would mean the immediate removal of the headquarters to the city of Barranquilla”, inexplicably the Colombian Ministry of Sports did not have the funds to make the first payment. “As you are aware, what was established in the extension signed and agreed upon between the parties was not fulfilled either,” says the letter addressed to Petro.
After the letter was revealed, President Petro reacted ironically with a message on his X account.
“As far as I know, January 30 has not arrived. We are at 21,” the president wrote, referring to the second agreed deadline.
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