This Saturday a new board of directors of the national organization will be elected and the brother of the current holder appears as a candidate; while clubs ask for a change.
This Saturday will be the elections of the new authorities of the Ecuadorian Chess Federation (FEDA) and several leaders of clubs and members of the current directory They question their president, Emilio Bastidas, of not presenting clear accounts for self-management, of nominating his brother, of not fulfilling his duties, of not paying an outstanding debt to the FIDE (International Federation), of having a parallel account under its control, among other complaints.
Pedro Orellana, president of Club Decisive Advantage (Babahoyo), pointed out that his main question to Bastidas is that he has not supported tricolor chess players. An Ecuadorian (federation) has to contribute to High Performance and this is not fulfilled. There is an old debt with FIDE that is not canceled, despite the fact that it was resolved that the items for self-management cover that payment. He has not supported the foundations of chess, athletes who have talent, or refereeing, he has focused only on his brother Jaime. Ecuador needs a change in this Ecuadorian ”.
The lack of payment to FIDE, said Orellana, deprives Ecuadorian athletes of advancing in the ranking and “that is the malaise among athletes because the payment to this body is not met.”
Orellana said he did not know the amount paid to the FEDA for self-management. “Last July we were presented with an economic report where it is not detailed what was done with the resources it received from the tournaments organized by the FEDA.”
“As a training club we are going to support candidacy of the vice president of FIDE, Martha Fierro, because he has many ideas to lift Ecuadorian chess ”.
He added that the president of the club Carlos Guerrero, that bears the same name, filed a complaint with the Ministry of Sports about the handling of the FEDA and has not received any response.
More complaints
For his part Marcos Menendez, alternate member of the FEDA, publicly asked Bastidas to leave office. “I ask the Lord (Emilio Bastidas) let it be done aside and let the sport flow because in his administration he has not done a job as it should be ”.
“I have sent emails with complaints to the Ministry of Sports and I have not received a positive response, they are not interested in knowing what happens in chess and that is why I have moved away from the current FEDA board of directors ”, he said.
The board member rated as a mistake that Jaime Bastidas go as a candidate for president of the FEDA. “It would be a serious mistake, because must let in people who love and are passionate about sport”.
“Several tournaments have been organized and funds could have been raised to pay off the debt with FIDE and we don’t know what happened. I have asked for the tournament expenses to be presented in detail, it does so in a general way, but it has never been answered in detail. Someday new people will arrive who demand the supporting documentation and the Banco del Pacífico account is handled as if the current president of the FEDA were his own, ”Menéndez explained.
Treasurer
Eliu Alvarado, treasurer of the FEDA, questioned that Emilio Bastidas has opened another account at Banco del Pacífico. “As treasurer of the Ecuadorian (chess), the self-management account I have no knowledge of anything. I know it exists but I have no reference on its handling ”.
Alvarado said that in the calls for national tournaments, the number of the accounts of BanEcuador and Banco del Pacífico has always been published. “Us, as board members (Marco Menéndez, Tersa Limones, among others) we have asked him to account, but he makes an economic report where the total income does not appear to the account”.
Alvarado indicated that the debt to FIDE has not been canceled due to the issue of the pandemic and the members of the board have presented complaints to the Ministry of Sports, but have not received a response.
Emilio Bastidas responds
The president of the FEDA, Emilio Bastidas, He pointed out that during elections it is normal for there to be this type of criticism. “Most of the complaints are For lack of information of those who file the complaint. They are verbal comments, without legal or documented support and, perhaps, they did not say that their concerns were already responded to as FEDA, this is strange ”.
Bastidas said that in the presidency of Eduardo Mieles (+), who was president for 14 years, left the debt at 3,900 euros (4,365.86 dollars), and “in the three disastrous years with Felipe Delgado (2011-2014) the debt rose to 27,000 euros (30,225.15 dollars) and under those conditions I entered the board of directors with Rocio Vasquez (June 2014) as vice president, then she left and I fulfilled the term (2018) ”.
Regarding the parallel account that the FEDA has in Banco del Pacífico, the manager defended himself. “All Ecuadorian with international work have an account in a private bank because that’s the way the requirement is. An organization that has provincial championships is active in BanEcuador because moves only nationally, but when it is at the international level it is required to make transfers, purchases, payments, and it cannot be done through BanEcuador, but with private banks ”.
The current president of the FEDA denied that he had not provided information on economic management to the leaders. “Let them tell me if the financial reports have not been delivered. How do I pass the annual reports, if they approve them themselves? What happens is that they ask for information through social networks and they do not do it officially. That is acting in bad faith what they say is not normal”.
“What my detractors do not know is that the debt before FIDE at the moment is 11,700 euros (13,093.47 dollars). And I must point out that even so we have tripled chess activity and we are one of the Ecuadorians that has carried out the most activity and in times of pandemic. So far we have held 13 international events “, said the manager.
Mieles did not deny that he will propose the candidacy of his brother Jaime to succeed him in office. “It is not that it is my little brother that I am nominating. He has an important sporting career, he is the main chess referee in the country, he is the person who knows the rules the most ”.
The current president of the FEDA indicated that they have a work team that has worked and that currently supports his brother. “Although I can run, we must give way to young people.”
The leader stated that there are between seven and eight clubs authorized to participate in the next elections and as a ‘technical issue’ they requested the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee (COE) an observer for the upcoming elections. (D)
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