Petro launches into the late rescue of the lost Pan American Games

President Gustavo Petro wants to rescue the 2027 Pan American Games, now that it seems too late. Last Wednesday, the Pan American Sports Organization (Panam Sports) withdrew the venue of the Games from Barranquilla due to non-payment, opened the call to choose a new city and unleashed the first political storm of the year. During the next 48 hours in which the scandal grew, the president – ​​an amateur Twitter user – remained silent: a deafening silence. Finally, on Friday afternoon he acted. He sent a letter to Panam Sports with a strong message in which he asked for help and teamwork. “The 2027 Pan American Games have to be in Colombia!” He wrote. This Sunday, he redoubled his efforts and called an urgent meeting on the matter for this Tuesday with the mayor of Barranquilla, Alejandro Char, and the governor of Atlántico, Eduardo Verano.

The meeting with the Atlantic leaders will take place at eight in the morning in Bogotá, Verano reported in a statement. “We want to insist that in no way can Barranquilla lose being the venue for the Pan American Games, which is why we want to thank the president for calling us,” he said. Also attending will be the Foreign Ministry, the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC) and the Minister of Sports, Astrid Rodríguez, criticized for her handling of funds that were never paid, which resulted in the loss of the Games.

To try to save the sporting event, Char and the COC have turned to Luis Alberto Moreno, the experienced politician and former Minister of Economic Development of César Gaviria, as reported this Monday by Moreno himself by X. The former president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) says he will advocate for the recovery of the Games. The key, he assures, is for the National Government to present an action plan that will restore “the credibility and trust that the country has lost” towards Panam Sports. He also emphasizes the need for “more management” and “less politicking.”

The call to Moreno and Tuesday's meeting are efforts that come in advance of another meeting scheduled for February by the COC, the Ministry of Sports and the National Government with Panam Sports, which will be attended by delegates from the 40 affiliated federations. In that assembly, Ciro Solano, president of the COC, explained on W Radio last Friday, it will finally be decided whether the Games leave Colombia or not. Petro is moving to prevent that from happening; It would be a stain on his presidency. But it's not clear what he can do.

The minister in the eye of the hurricane

Colombia has been failing to pay to host for two years and lack of funds has always been the excuse. It was again when Panam Sports announced that it was withdrawing from Barranquilla, after the deadline expired on December 30 to make a payment of four million dollars – half of the total cost – which the Ministry of Sports had to take care of. . Given the controversy, Minister Rodríguez, who heads that portfolio, assured in a statement that she had previously reached “an agreement [con la organización] to make the total payment of eight million dollars during the month of January 2024, while there was a difficulty in doing so during the 2023 term. Basically, in December there was no money.

Two days later, however, Rodríguez found himself in the eye of the storm when W Radio revealed documents that refute those statements. The media published a document signed on November 7 by herself in which she assured that the Ministry did have the money. “Minister Astrid Bibiana Rodríguez reiterates that the Ministry has the eight million dollars, which must be transferred in December, and proposes the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC), as a temporary operator to be able to transfer the resources,” the document says. The text explains that the national government would provide 60% of the financing and local governments 40%. Just six weeks after she signed the document, Rodríguez changed her story.

Since that document was revealed, criticism has rained down on the minister, who has not declared on the matter. Some Petro opponents ask for an explanation. Others, that Rodríguez resigns. The president, for his part, has not said anything about it. He has not come out to defend her nor removed her from the leadership of the Ministry, which is still involved in the discussions about the Games.

Two years of extensions

The pending meetings are another chapter – perhaps the last – of an odyssey that began in August 2021. Then, it was announced with great fanfare that the main city in the Colombian Caribbean would host the 2027 Pan American Games. Shortly after, the setbacks began. Historically, the host country must take care of the multimillion-dollar costs of the Games' infrastructure, cover an insurance policy and pay royalties to Panam Sports. Colombia did not comply with these duties. It was delayed with the main payment of eight million dollars to host the sporting event. He had to pay the first half on June 30, 2022 but, a year later, that money had not arrived.

In August 2023, Panam Sports sent a letter to the COC, the Government of the Atlántico department and President Gustavo Petro in which it threatened to take the headquarters away from Barranquilla. The national authorities managed to save the Games, for a time. On August 30, Panam Sports gave them two months to make the payment. A document signed by Neven Ilic, president of the organization, reveals the deadline he set. “Breaches of the Contract with the Host City must be fulfilled in their entirety no later than October 29, 2023.” However, Colombia failed to comply again.

A week before that deadline, Barranquilla requested another extension that Panam Sports accepted. Shortly after, on November 7, Minister Rodríguez signed the official document in which she states that she had the full amount to pay for the Games. But she did not make the necessary payment on December 30 and Panam Sports took away her headquarters. Now, it remains to be seen if Petro and the Colombian authorities can reverse that decision, as they so desire. It seems like they are doing everything they can, but they may have run out of options.

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