Danilo Carrera Drouet is still in force as a national director six decades after beginning a task that led him, after being a tennis player and captain of the Davis Cup team, to preside over the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee (COE), the Bolivarian Sports Organization (Odebo), be member of the Pan American Sports Organization (Odepa), among other senior positions in the sports leadership.
Precisely Carrera headed the COE when from the government of Rafael Correa, the Minister of Sports José Francisco Cevallos led an attack against that body a decade ago. More than forty Ecuadorian federations intervened from the government and after an electoral process he was replaced as president by Augusto Morán, an employee of Mindeportes at the time. After that onslaught, several officials who until then were unknown arrived at the COE, such as Andrea Sotomayor, for example (Minister of Sports in the LenÃn Moreno regime, her political relative).
In this interview with EL UNIVERSO, Carrera, now head of the Ecuadorian Tennis Federation, after a gala for this entity, analyzed what happened after the state intervention in the COE, the role of the Ministry of Sport since its creation, the ‘birth ‘ of the generation of salaried leaders, the Sports Law that would be about to be approved and what he thinks of the work of Jorge Delgado Panchana, who defeated him in the last COE elections.
A decade ago, José Francisco Cevallos attacked the COE from the Ministry of Sports. Federations were intervened and the elections were won by a subordinate of Cevallos in the Sports Ministry. Are the effects of that government onslaught still being felt on the national sports system?
One of the main problems was that the tax that was collected by the percentage on telephone calls was eliminated, this item was destined for sports. The Sports Law, which was imposed, allowed the intervention of the State in 45 federations, something that has not been seen in the world. Instead of giving more attributions and support to the entities that represent the various disciplines, their resources were taken away. So far that income has not been recovered. Today the demands to ask for a higher income are limited by the financial problem left by the previous government.
With presidents of sports entities that now receive salaries and the disappearance of leadership volunteers in Ecuador, what has changed?
At this time, the president of the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee and some high-level officials receive a salary through negotiations with the International Olympic Committee. The Olympic Charter prohibits that the leaders, in the management positions of sports entities, receive income that is paid by the Government of the day. It is also highlighted that in order to perform functions one must do so voluntarily if everything is not damaged, because one would seek to reach a leadership position for a salary. This is very negative and I do not agree that managers receive salaries. Now there is a problem with the members of the Organizing Committee of the Bolivarian Games because there is no way to pay them. For this reason, the organization of the event in Guayaquil (2025) could be removed, because it goes against the requirements to host the Games. I regret these obstacles.
The current Sports Law, which was promulgated during the correato, is criticized, except by the political supporters of the person who promoted it. Why isn’t something done to repeal or change it?
Now a project was presented, because in the past government there were no conditions. Dr. Marcos Molina has presented a very good law. It has already been approved by the Sports Commission of the Assembly and it only remains for this entity and the current president to approve it. There are other proposals that have been presented, but the best is that of Dr. Molina. With this we hope to make a significant leap at all levels, from training to finance, if approved. We want to preserve the autonomy (of the sports organizations), the systems for appeals and the regulations for interventions will be established, an attempt will be made to ensure that a minister or a bureaucrat cannot act arbitrarily. These are positive things that this project has and we hope that many of the previous problems will be rectified to improve at a training and high performance level.
Characters who were involved in corruption messes have passed through the Ministry of Sports, others so gray that hardly anyone remembers them, one who wanted to parade the President of the Republic in the 2012 Olympic Games. State portfolio, that the venue for the 2030 World Cup was achieved for Ecuador by making a call to FIFA, when Conmebol already had its official candidates a year earlier. What use has the Ministry of Sport served?
The Ministry of Sport has complied according to its possibilities. The high performance program broadened the base of athletes who are competing at an international level today. So that was positive. The unfortunate thing is that resources are limited; It was also regulated that once the State delivers money to the federations, they answer what they did with those resources. Before this was left open and sports entities were affected because they were accused of not making the settlements of the agreements. This is over and it’s good. The underlying theme is the management of the national federations so that the athletes prepare and get their medals. If these entities had more resources there would be more successes. I was in Tokyo and in a dialogue with a president of the Japan Tennis Federation he told me that only they received $40 million from the budget. I, out of shame, did not tell him the value that touches us (in the Ecuadorian Tennis). We are at a disadvantage, but nevertheless we seek the best preparation for our athletes.
Don’t you think that the existence of the zonal coordinations of the Ministry of Sport is just bureaucracy?
Creating that was not the best decision, because everything is resolved in Quito. It implies that the procedures for the high performance program or other matters are made in the capital of the Republic. I insist that I do not see any benefit.
Do you have a good relationship with Jorge Delgado, president of the COE?
Personal (relationships) are excellent. But at the leadership level, I think that much more activity is needed in the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee. No Olympic festival has been held, a tournament where talents are discovered. Before, in this festival, 45 disciplines were competed and more than 4,000 athletes participated. Not all the programs offered by the IOC have been used, that is, today there is no development program at the COE.
Do you regret having included Andrea Sotomayor on your list? Several of its members, with the request that their names not be disclosed, assured EL UNIVERSO of two things: that her inclusion displeased several members of the list and that due to her presence several federations voted for Delgado.
That theme is finished. I am thinking of other things. One of them is how to make Ecuadorian tennis grow more. Mistakes, if they have been made, are made in good faith. If they have harmed me, I do not hold any kind of resentment with anyone, nor with the federations. There were several problems in that election, but I never thought I would return as president of the COE because my brother-in-law is the president of the Republic (Guillermo Lasso). I quickly moved away from that topic after learning that the Ecuadorian Andinismo y Surf filed a lawsuit before the TAS for those elections. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
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