(ATR) The election of a new president for the Americas Paralympics Committee will be the final theme of the several days of meetings in Lima, Peru.
A review of preparations for the 2019 Parapans, the Paralympic competition that will follow the Pan-American Games next year is another key item of this international visit.
Julio César Ávila, the president of the Paralympic Committee of Colombia is the only candidate nominated ahead of the general assembly vote on May 9.
The vote is needed following the sudden death in October of Argentinean José Luis Campo. He was supposed to serve until 2021.
Avila will need 50 percent of the votes plus one to win election.
If he does not, interim president Eduardo Montenegro of Cuba will remain in the post until the end of the term in 2021.
The APC has 33 members (including Uruguay, currently suspended), but only 17 Paralympic committees from the region are attending the meeting. National committees have had to underwrite their own costs to travel to Lima.
Xavier González, executive director of the International Paralympic Committee will be supervising the vote.
2019 ParaPan Inspection
Ahead of the vote the delegates will hear reports about the development of Paralympic sport in the Americas .
González spent the weekend in Lima meeting with the organizing committee for the 2019 Pan Ams and Parapans, both led by president Carlos Neuhaus.
Also taking part in the review were Luisa Villar, president of the National Paralympic Association of Peru, Carlos Manuel Lazarte, Operations Manager Lima-2019 and Montenegro.
"I have a positive impression. It has been two very intense days of work where we have focused on many issues and had parallel meetings to get to the detail at this time. In general, we leave satisfied with the progress of Lima, although we have sent a message that in some cases we have to accelerate some of the decisions and the resolution of some projects," said González.
"The margin of error and time are very important factors in the success of this project. That is why we have asked Neuhaus and his team, that some of the issues we have discussed should be urgently placed on the agenda, so that when we return in October we will see a more important and rapid progress on these issues," González added.
"It is important that COPAL understands the opportunity that the Paralympic Games offer you to change the vision that people in Peru have of people with disabilities. For that you have to have a special sensitivity, I think that with the team led by Carlos Nehuaus we are reaching that level," says the IPC executive.
He said that "the perception of the capacities of people with disabilities is a global problem. The Paralympic and Parapan American Games in the region have shown that the para-sport helps change the mentality of many. But the Games are not going to end anything, it's just going to be the beginning of a process that allows people with disabilities to have the same opportunities."
Reported by Miguel Hernandez.
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