Pan American Games: Olympic Committee responds to Petro after letter from Panam Sports

The controversy continues in the country due to the lost headquarters to organize the Panamerican Games of 2027, which were based in Barranquilla before Panama Sports, organizer, will remove the country's headquarters for non-compliance. Now the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee reacted, Ciro Solanowho spoke in 'La W' about the letter that the Government received.

(You may be interested in: Pan American Games: Gustavo Petro reacts to a letter sent to him by Panam Sports)

On January 3, Neven Ilic, president of Pana Sports, announced that he was removing the headquarters from Colombia due to non-compliance with the contract.

The country should have paid 8 million dollars, the first four before December 31, 2023, which was not done, and the remaining before January 31 of this year.

“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.

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 Boric, to intercede with Panam Sports, whose president, Neven Ilic, is also Chilean.

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 they 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 on 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.

The reaction of the Olympic Committee

Ciro Solanopresident of Colombian Olympic Committee, referred in the last hours to the letter from Panam Sports and President Petro's reaction. “I was surprised by the president's response, inappropriate and I honestly did not understand why. The channels that Panam Sports has today are through the Colombian Olympic Committee and that “little light” was there,” Ciro told 'La W'.

Solano, in any case, insists that the country can still fight in search of recovering the headquarters.

“Despite all these difficulties and mistakes, Colombia is the country best prepared for the Pan American Games today, because we started a race to obtain the venue (…) we need that little hope. We are going to continue fighting, we are “Time is running out. We practically have this week left,” said Solano.

Regarding who should assume the political cost of this error, Solano indicated: “The payment agreement clearly said December 31, 34 million dollars had to be paid and the truth is that we failed to comply (…) I do not believe that the interpretation that “The non-compliance was partial, whether correct, it was total non-compliance.”

“The minister was very attentive and was the one who revived the Games, because they were in the freezer for almost nine months waiting for confirmation from the National Government, because there was a change of government and we did not know what we were going to do (…) María Isabel Urrutia did not lend her attention to the issue and when Rodríguez arrived we began to talk… In any case, I would say that internally there was fear or negligence, because the money was there,” Solano added.

Although there is a glimmer of hope, Solano is also a realist. He insisted, as he told EL TIEMPO, that it is impossible for Barranquilla to run again, after the seat was taken away, due to regulatory issues.

This being the case, Colombia's hope is that the Panam Sports Executive Committee, in an assembly, decides to reverse its decision.

“If the Executive does not approve the Extraordinary Assembly, we are lost,” he said.

Finally, regarding the Government's interest in the games, he commented: “The Government took a while to say 'yes' to the Pan American Games (…) it got its act together from the ultimatum letter from Panama Sports, when you start talking seriously with Minister Rodríguez. I even told the minister on two or three occasions that, if the Government did not agree, we would withdraw her candidacy. Without the support of the Government, it is impossible to do them because 60% of the resources come from the Nation.”

Lima's interest

Last Thursday it was officially announced that Lima had already delivered the letter in which it applied to host the 2027 Pan American Games, which Colombia lost for breaching the contract.

This was announced by the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, who warned that the country is preparing to hold the jousts.

“Last night, I sent a communication to the president of Panam Sports expressing the support and endorsement of the Peruvian government to officially nominate Lima as the venue for the 2027 Pan American Games,” said Boluarte.

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