The minister cyclist fell off his bike again

In the issue of February 20, EL UNIVERSO condemned another of the painful circumstances that our athletes go through in order to prepare and compete. Tokyo 2020 Olympic diploma winner Luisa Valverde has revealed she had to organize a raffle to cover the cost of moving from Romania to Egypt and Bulgaria to represent Ecuador in two tournaments.

“It is a carnival holiday, but surely some clarification and correction from the Ministry of Sports to Valverde’s version will be distributed, with the usual arguments: “she is in the High Performance Plan”, “she has the necessary resources”, “This is a minister always close to athletes”, “we work for them”, “sport is state policy”, “his association must respond”. There will probably be plenty of numbers,” predicts our newspaper.

Another note reveals that “a solidarity drawing coupon has a value of $3 and prizes range from an Airbnb stay up to $100, to orders for medical evaluations, a jersey signed by cyclist Richard Carapazo, tickets to the first Clásico del Astillero for the 2023 season .at the Barcelona stadium to consumption in fast food restaurants”.

These indignities are not new. They start since the Ministry of Sports was created because the choice of ministers fell on political fans, on-duty sycophants, unemployed relatives and former athletes with no experience in managing sports. A monumental fiasco with excellent results that ministers (and one secretary) used to climb into the van of success without contributing anything. The achievements are the result of the dedication of the athletes, their coaches and, perhaps, another leader.

Hence Richard Carapaz’s complaint a few minutes after winning the Olympic gold medal: “We had to find a masseur, we came alone.” Or world champion Glenda Morejón, who marches with broken shoes. Or Olympic monarch Neisi Dajomes, a few months before winning the gold medal: “Until now, no one was present. Neither the Secretary for Sports nor the Ecuadorian Weightlifting Federation”. Meanwhile, the then sports minister said she had already raised $4,000 million for Ecuador to host the 2030 World Cup.

As warned by EL UNIVERSO, the Excise minister issued a statement in which he stated the figures he assures were given to the fighter Luisa Valverde and confirmed that she traveled “at her own expense”. Palacios fell off his bike again. Valverde replied that his trip was planned and that he had to go to the raffle to pay for it and attend the Ranking Series in Egypt, and then the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tournament in Bulgaria. The amount delivered to me by the Ministry of Sports never reached my hands or my bank account, she said. And this is true because the money is delivered, late and poorly, to the Ecuadorian federation of each sport, and sometimes no one knows what is being invested in.

Sebastián Palacios, who was appointed Minister of Sports by Guillermo Lasso, was involved in cycling, and after his retirement – ​​and that very quickly – he devoted himself to politics. Namely, we are talking about a politician with a sports background, he was also a member of parliament, which is more than a merit, on the contrary, with the exception of strictness. This explains his fondness for bombastic speeches and his excessive talkativeness.

In the first days in the ministerial chair, in the heavy and cumbersome bureaucratic language learned in politics, he announced three directions of action: 1) Sport as a tool for development, 2) Ecuador, a sports power and 3) Ministry for efficient, restructured and depoliticized sport! I won’t reproduce the phrasing that describes each of the ‘axes’, but I’ll err on the side of the second: “We will continuously support our high performance and coachable athletes, including athletes with disabilities, by providing them with all the resources they need to meet their goals. We will promote the High Performance Plan and we will manage it technically; At the same time, we will develop a talent discovery and monitoring program at the training level.” Many elite athletes will not be able to avoid grimacing.

All the disruptions that cause near-unanimous objections (there are favored alliances) occur when sport is “state policy”. This is what President Guillermo Lasso said in March 2022: “Because we believe in its transformative power, in its ability to change the lives of children and adolescents and in its positive impact on entire communities.” As a good announcer, Palacios supported him on Twitter: “Thank you, President Guillermo Lasso, for your commitment to sport, for your belief in its transformative power and in all that can be achieved through it.” Everything is a lie and a dream because in 2022 the ministry cut the budget allocations of the Olympic Committee, Ecuadorian federations and provincial federations.

Palacios is so out of place that he recently talked about starting work on organizing the Copa América in 2024 when the Ecuadorian Football Association had already given up hosting due to insecurity. He continues to talk about the 2025 Bolivarian Games in Guayaquil, which we will see for many reasons. The place was awarded in exceptional circumstances as it can only be requested by National Olympic Committees. The request must contain the consent of the country’s government and the municipality of the city that wants to host them, which to date does not exist. There are almost no letters from the President of the Republic and the Mayor expressing their sympathy with the candidacy.

The COE announced that “he did not receive a response that the head of state issues a written guarantee guaranteeing the budget for the Games”, but the minister replied in another public letter that “in December 2021, through a letter of guarantee, the Government expressed interest in Guayaquil hosting the Games. For that, and as a sign of commitment, it was agreed to contribute $24 million. What Palacios says is not true. The guarantee is a guarantee that funds for the organization will be available to deliver to the COE. The figure Palacios cites, which was proposed by the Guayas Sports Federation, no financial or technical support Guayaquil lacks regulatory scenarios.

At least 80% of them will have to be built. Insurance will have to be provided for almost 4,000 people in the crime-ridden city, which ranks 24th among the most violent cities in the world. A panel of international experts assembled by the COE put the cost to the Bolivarians in Guayaquil at at least $51 million. Does the government have that money available in the midst of a growing shortage? Can government agencies guarantee the safety of 4,000 people?

Minister Palacios, you owe us an honest answer. Hopefully it won’t fall off the bike. (OR)