2024-01-04 10:55:33
The Government assured this Wednesday that the agreement it had made with Panam Sports to pay the eight million dollars for “organization rights” and for the “granting of media rights” for the 2027 Pan American Games was for January and not December .
This was stated by the Ministry of Sports in a statement published after the regional organization removed the venue of the 2027 Games from the Caribbean city of Barranquilla, considering that it had failed to comply with the signed contract, in reference to the payments it had to make.
The parties had reached an agreement in October to fulfill the contract, which included the payment of four million dollars for the “organization fee” of the Pan American Games, a figure that had to have been disbursed on July 30 of last year.
Four million dollars corresponding to “the granting of media rights” also had to be paid.
As it became known this Wednesday, the parties had supposedly agreed that the payment of the first four million dollars would be made before December 31, 2023 and the other four million dollars before January 31, 2024.
“In conversation with Neven Ilic, president of Panam Sports, the Minister of Sports, Astrid Bibiana Rodríguez, reached an agreement to make the total payment of eight million dollars during the month of January 2024, while there was a difficulty in doing so. during the 2023 term,” the Ministry said in a statement.
For this reason, the information added, the Ministry regretted that “surprisingly”, the regional organization sent the letter in which it stated, by “unilateral decision”, to terminate “the contract and cancel the holding of the Pan American Games in Barranquilla.”
“It should be noted that this administration (…) continued the procedures to appropriate the resources for the quotas for granting media rights, sales of official products and sponsorships, as required,” the Ministry detailed.
In that sense, the Government said that “it maintains its firmness and determination in fulfilling the country’s needs by holding the Games, advancing the management and procedures for the disbursements intended for this purpose.”
The venue was in doubt due to a letter sent by the president of Panam Sports, Neven Ilic, in August to the then mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo, and the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC), Ciro Solano.
In it he asked them to fulfill the contract to organize the 2027 Pan American Games or, otherwise, they would be transferred to another country, as he announced this Wednesday that will be done.
With this, Colombia lost, for the moment, the opportunity to organize the Pan American Games for the second time in its history, since it had already hosted the 1971 Games in Cali, the main city in southwestern Colombia.
The withdrawal of the Pan American headquarters to Barranquilla has been regretted by athletes and politicians who have pointed to the Government of President Gustavo Petro as responsible for what they consider a negligence that damages the image of the country.
Among the critics is the representative to the Chamber Agmeth Escaf, from the party of the ruling Historical Pact and a native of Barranquilla, who assured that what happened with the loss of the Games venue is “inconceivable, unjustifiable and unforgivable.”
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