Aquiles Alvarez Henriques, the recently inaugurated mayor of Guayaquil, is a man of sports. Everyone in the city knows this, and he was given this honor and took on this responsibility in large part because of his popularity as the leader of Barcelona. He has a genetic commitment to the sport, being the grandson of the remembered Toreador president Aquiles Alvarez Lértora, one of the main managers of Barcelona’s epic victory over Estudiantes de La Plata in 1971. The Argentine press described that Libertadores semi-final triumph as “the feat of La Plata”; it was not called that by the journalism of Guayaquil.

On April 16, EL UNIVERSO published an interview with the new mayor, who advocated a revision of the budget of the Municipal Sports Department in order to “encourage sports among young people, not only in football, but also in different sports disciplines.” We take your word for the definition of former Uruguayan president José Mujica, who said in the Spanish El País that “people are utopian animals.”

We do not doubt his intention, but we know the colossal dimensions of his engagement at the head of a city beset by insecurity and disorder. To that should be added the gloomy sports panorama. The Guayas Sports Federation gave up its rectorship many years ago and what exists today is absolute abandonment and well-paid propaganda. Federations and committees of every sport have disappeared; the rest is minimal thanks to the contributions of parents and honorable leaders (in Olympic gymnastics, for example, a discipline that recently received international recognition without any contribution from the federation). The senior provincial tournaments, which once attracted a large audience, no longer exist. Guayaquil has no athletes.

I am sure that the “leaders” of the Fedeguayas must be hanging around the municipal corridors, for this reason it is necessary to warn the new mayor that his only purpose is to convince him that the Municipality provides a contribution, which is calculated at 10 million dollars, to Guayaquil as the host of the Bolivarian Games in 2025. It is a strange ‘coupling’ that has been going on for more than a year between the Minister of Sports, Sebastián Palacios, and the President of Fedeguayas, Roberto Ibáñez, who are determined to convince the country that the Games are a recipe for sports progress.

This undertaking will cost as much as 52 million dollars, to which should be added at least 15 million dollars for mobilizing public forces to provide security for about 4,000 people who will come to the Games, during 20 days. This budget could increase if we take into account the increasing levels of crime that could not be mitigated by exceptional regimes or anti-terrorist decrees.

What is it that leads the minister and some federal leaders to try to hold the Bolivarian Games in a city whose sport died many years ago, which lacks organized and modern spaces, which has not regularly held provincial championships for 20 years and which has no athletes? They only talk about the amount of the budget for creating scenarios and repairing some that are part of civic archaeology. The government – which will expire soon after the political episodes we have experienced – has not given the approval that the Bolivarian Sports Organization (Odebo) is demanding. Neither did the outgoing mayor. The confirmation means nothing more than telling the countries that make up Odebo: “The Government and the Mayor’s Office guarantee that they will take over the costs of the Games, that they will build the stadiums, swimming pools and tracks that are needed and will guarantee the safety of all delegations”. None of this was presented as disclosed by the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee (COE).

The mayor and provincial prefect have been warned, and they are also stalking. If they get to their offices, it will be easy to ask the minister for a presidential confirmation and a decree ordering the location of the $52 million. And to the President of Fedeguayas to require him to present the results and other documents proving that in the last five years the provincial tournaments in football, baseball, basketball, swimming, tennis, table tennis, gymnastics, cycling, athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, boxing and other sports intended to be included in the Games. They will certainly turn around and the minister will cycle back to Quito.

If the purpose of reviving sports in Guayaquil becomes a reality, the Mayor’s Office must use the money to promote educational and competitive sports in clubs and popular areas. As it was in the golden years when honorable leaders invested money and people and made Guayaquil the ‘sports capital of the country’. Today, Guayaquil, sportingly, has moved from the capital to a rural parish.

Those tournaments organized by the Sports Federation of Guayas must be reborn, but with municipal control. We must promote the resurrection of the junior leagues and their major championships. The pioneer of these leagues was Julio C. Cueva Valarezo, who founded the first of them in 1929: Liga Deportiva Independiente. Don Julio gathered the whole football-loving city and launched the La Atarazana grounds where the famous Atlético Colón, River Amazonas, Luq San and Brazil ruled.

In 1949, the Juan Díaz Salem League began to dispute the leadership of Independiente. That year, he organized the first Indorfútbol tournament, which was played on the field of the Sons of Labor Society. The Tigres de Mendiburo teams, led by brothers Santiago and Plutarco Osorio, produced a brilliant finish, with Los Cucos from Avenide del Ejército and Clemente Ballén featuring Chacarita Juniors stars. The Riobamba and Coronel teams from Mocho Barrera stood out; Los Maestros, Padre Solano and Ximena; Los Diablos, Santa Rosa and Aguirre; Jugglers, from Quisquís and Morro; and Los Marcianos, from Piedrahíta and Boyacá.

Another league that made an era was Unión Deportiva Guayaquil who played at the old Jockey Club. From there appeared Alfredo Bonnard, Carlos Child Sánchez, Juan Benítez, Víctor Venado Arteaga, Enrique and Jorge Cantos, Marcos and Jorge Izaguirre, Galo Solís, Raúl Pío de la Torre, Isidro Matute and other great players. In 1953, UD Guayaquil had their blue and white teams face off to select their team for the then famous Interleagues. Sixto Suárez, Flavio Nall and Rómulo Gómez made up the white team, led by our well-remembered colleague Manolo Mestanzo Pacheco.

If the intention of the mayor of Guayaquil is fulfilled, the basketball tournaments of the club from Sevilla could be played again in Puerto Lisa, where the stars left the basket. Swimming tournaments for beginners will be reborn; dispute for the Golden Gloves in boxing, inter-neighbor bike rides around Centenario Park; and many other popular competitions.

Tell that, dear Achilles, to the Fedeguayas leaders when they try to talk you into the 2025 Bolivarian Games. (OR)