The Ecuadorian Olympic Committee (COE) on several fronts is responsible for Guayaquil not hosting the Bolivarian Games in 2025, not taking into account that this entity never had at its disposal the $24 million budget offered by the national government through Sports Minister Sebastián Palacios . This violation, among other things, made it impossible for the Organizing Committee to start work.

Aquiles Alvarez: Guayaquil has no funds for the Bolivarian Games

In addition to the irregular request of the headquarters -which was submitted by the Sports Federation of Guayas, and not by the COE, as determined by the regulations of the Bolivarian Sports Organization-; on the anomalous endorsement Odebo made of it; the intention of the Ministry of Sports to interfere in the integration of the Organizing Committee (the exclusive authority of the COE, according to the Odeb statute); differences regarding the budget for the tournament to be met ($24 million, according to Palacios; $51 million, according to an estimate by a specialist firm hired by the COE), factors inherent in national and local politics sealed the destination of the games.

The COE, which is awaiting the approval of Guillermo Lasso’s government for the 2025 Bolivarian Games in Guayaquil, will meet Odeb

‘Guayaquil has no money’

The uncertain realization of the Games reached a level of impossibility the previous May 17, when the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, dissolved the National Assembly and called early elections; This left the new regime’s support for the city to win the regional tournament up in the air – besides, on that date the current government’s budget guarantee had still not materialized -. On May 30, two weeks after taking office as mayor, Aquiles Alvarez told the Bolivarians: “Guayaquil has no funds for the Games,” he said. And “do not plan based on words”.

The Ecuadorian Olympic Committee is not destabilizing, Sebastián Palacios, yes

Faced with this scenario, Colombian Baltazar Medina, president of Odeb, stated: “We don’t have a plan B. We never thought the COE would give up so easily.” And ended with a warning: “There may be economic sanctions for the Olympic Committee.”

Give up bolivars in Guayaquil

Neither confirmation nor confirmation

Jorge Delgado Panchana, president of the COE, clarified to Medina in a letter dated Thursday, June 1. “The Ecuadorian Olympic Committee has taken all possible steps to coordinate, manage and organize the X Bolivarian Games Guayaquil 2025, but as it has been shown, the Government has never given an economic guarantee or budget verification for the planning of this sporting event,” said the former swimmer from Buenos Aires

He also noted that “only on May 30, 2023, at a meeting of the members of the Organizing Committee of the Bolivarian Games, the Minister of Sports, who for a year refused the possibility of allocating the amount of 24 million dollars to the Organizing Committee for operational costs, expressed in front of those present, without documentary support, that $24 million is currently available.”

“COE never gave up”

Delgado emphasized other aspects that prevent Guayaquil from hosting the Bolivarians in 2025: “Currently in Ecuador there are no guarantees and commitments from various public and private actors, for various aspects such as financial, technical, infrastructural, security, politicians, among others; what will even have for the outcome in the coming months, the change of the President of the Republic and the Minister of Sports, so that any commitment or planning for these Bolivarians may not be relevant for the new Government or future authorities”.

Delgado claims, in response to Medina’s statements, that “the COE never gave in to the Bolivarians. He invested his own resources, employees and volunteers in this event. What is true and true is that the Ministry of Sports has always had its own program, which was not in accordance with the Olympic principles and spirit. So, talking about a struggle, a lack of intention or any name, lacks the reality and truthfulness of the facts, which translate into the most critical and crucial: the Government never had nor did it have the appropriate means in accordance with the COE criteria. , organizing and regulating the entity of these events”.

At the end of the letter, the head of the COE tells his colleague from Odeb: “As you will understand, the Olympic Committee cannot manage the realization of the Bolivarian Guayaquil 2025 without the commitment of the highest authorities of the city, according to the above expressions. For the above reasons and reasons, the COE withdraws from the continuation of the management of the Games, promoting the initiative to claim the venue in Guayaquil for 2029. (D)