Panam Sports on Alert for Political Interference in Sports in El Salvador

(ATR) El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, is acquiring an unexpected prominence in sports throughout the continent. Although it is true that it solved the problems of Centro Caribe Sports, the interventionism of the political power in sports federations is arousing the concern of Panam Sports.

"I know that the Olympic Committee of El Salvador is very uncomfortable with some situations where there is intervention, management or little clarity in the relations between the State and the federated organizations. I hope that this will be corrected in view of the Central American Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games," Chilean Neven Ilic, president of Panam Sports, toldAround the Rings.

Dominican Luis Mejia, president of Centro Caribe Sports, breathed a sigh of relief when days ago it was confirmed to him that the city of San Salvador will be able to host the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2023. The Salvadoran city of Santa Tecla will host the Central American Games.

"Before making the decision, Luis Mejia called me, and our response was very clear: these are difficult times and we have to support each other. We will see what is the best way for the Pan American Games in November 2023 and the Central American and Caribbean Games not to be harmed, it doesn't have to be the case. It was not easy to solve the problem, and I am very glad it has been solved. And if the 2022 Odesur Games were to have any problem, we would also be available," Ilic assured.

"In times of COVID we don't do what we should or want, but what we can," Mejia told Around the Rings. "The Central American and Caribbean are going to be qualifiers for the Pan American," he added, before ruling out the possibility of the Central American and Central American and Caribbean being merged into one event.

The Americas will have a very intense sports calendar once the COVID pandemic begins to subside. El Salvador will host the 2022 Central American Games on a date delayed due to COVID, March 2023, in Santa Tecla, a city 10 kilometers (six miles) from San Salvador, the country's capital. Two months later, in May 2023, also delayed from the original 2022 timeline, San Salvador will host the Central American and Caribbean Games. In November 2023, from 17 to 26, Santiago, Chile will host the Pan American Games, which involve all the national Olympic committees of the continent. One year earlier, from October 15 to 22, 2022, Asunción, Paraguay will host the South American Games.

Thus, in 13 months, the continent will have to organize four regional Games. It seems too much, although the question today is whether it will finally be so, because Santa Tecla 2022 is for the moment just a project without progress. Henry Flores, the new mayor of the city, says he knows little or nothing about the Games, and demands explanations from Yamil Bukele, brother of President Nayib Bukele and head of the National Institute of Sport (INDES).

"Let him explain to me how the Games work and what is the level of investment. I don't have any supporting document that tells me anything about the Central American Games," Flores told the Salvadoran press.

This is in addition to the recent resignation of Guillermo Miranda, president of the Santa Tecla 2022 organizing committee. Regional sources of the Olympic movement told Around the Rings that the investment to carry out the Central American Games is $120 million, a figure that rises to $300 million in the case of the Central American and Caribbean Games. El Salvador is one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Violence embodied in gangs, also known as maras, is the central issue for the 10 million Salvadorans, four million of whom live abroad, mostly in the United States.

The Civil War bled and destroyed the country between 1979 and 1992. A descendant of Palestinians from Bethlehem, which in the Catholic tradition is the city of the birth of Jesus, Bukele is the first president who does not belong to the traditional political parties. It is estimated that the war, a direct tributary of the Cold War, left more than 75,000 people tortured, killed or disappeared, mostly civilians.

Bukele, who governs with an intensive and at times unorthodox use of social networks, recently won the parliamentary elections by a landslide, two years after coming to power. His standing is being increasingly questioned at the international level, among other reasons because he has just removed a large part of the Supreme Court, replacing almost all its members. He also dismissed the Attorney General of the nation.

Anthony Blinken, U.S. President Joe Biden's Secretary of State, expressed the White House's "serious concern" about Bukele's drift.

The harassment of other powers is echoed in sports. In El Salvador there are currently five sports federations under pressure from the government to a greater or lesser extent: the swimming and taekwondo federations have been intervened, while the shooting, table tennis and bodybuilding federations are facing legal processes promoted by the government from INDES.

Eduardo Palomo, former rower and president of the Olympic Committee of El Salvador, told ATR that he views the panorama with concern.

"A Games can always leave a positive harvest for a country if the framework of the Olympic Charter is respected and the Olympic values and ideals of autonomy and respect and freedom of the federations are promoted. Since 1935, El Salvador has always been a good host to our Caribbean brothers and sisters and the Central American republics. We believe that the Games should serve the purpose of, through competition, teaching generations the rules of civilized coexistence".

Ilic agrees with Bukele. "We must be very clear: while the governments are the guarantors of the Games, respect for federated sport, the organizers and the Olympic Committee must always be there. And the Olympic Committees are the representatives and guarantors of our organizations in the face of the organization of this type of events."

"I hope that these things will be ironed out and adjusted to work for this opportunity, which is very big. It is a great opportunity to outline a long term project of sports development, this is the grace of having an event of this level. El Salvador should start working now on how it wants its sport to be seen, if the Games pass and there is no legacy for the country, beyond the infrastructure, the Games have no meaning."

Around the Rings sought comment from Yamil Bukele, to no avail. Ilic says he has not spoken to the head of Salvadoran sport.

"Never. At the moment I have spoken with Eduardo Palomo, with whom I have a very close relationship of friendship. I have not had the opportunity to speak directly with the sports authorities of El Salvador, I am always available, one is there to build, to generate ties, available when necessary. The important thing is that the sport is strengthened in El Salvador and that everyone is on the same line to make the sport grow."

Written and reported by Sebastian Fest

For general comments or questions,click here.

Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.