Guatemalan Olympic Committee repeals statutes and worsens sanctions on Guatemalan sports – 2024-02-29 07:02:32

This new action by the current COG Executive Committee aggravates the sanction imposed on the participation of Guatemalan Olympic athletes and their participation in this year’s Olympic Games to be held in Paris.

According to a publication This Monday, February 26, in the Official Gazette, on page 2, it is clear that agreement 011/2021-CE-COG was repealed, which was issued by its Executive Committee on December 23, 2021, with the argument of guaranteeing the autonomy of the sport.

The agreement is signing by Jorge Rhodes, president, Selvyn Ponciano, Vocal I, Walter Vasquez, Vocal II and Edwin Gutierrez, Vocal III. However, as established, the only one with the power to repeal the statutes is in an Ordinary or Extraordinary Assembly.

The statutes issued at the COG Assembly in agreement 01/011/2021-CE-COG were endorsed, approved and supervised by the IOC, Therefore, Rodas’ action is far from what was requested by the highest entity of Olympic sports to end the suspension.

The current COG group, called “usurper” does not have the legal authority, nor the power to act on behalf of the Guatemalan Olympic Committee, Therefore, acting further traps the country’s problem before the IOC, which requires that the authorities must be governed by the Olympic Charter.

The action of the leadership group takes place a week after the President Bernardo Arévalo met in Switzerland with Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, and where the president expressed his commitment to solving the problem that the country has without competing with the Blue and White flag in events of the Olympic cycle.

“By repealing the statutes of the COG, they do not recognize the mandates of the IOC, and according to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, a repealed regulationdoes not restore the validity of the repealed statute, so, at this time in Guatemala, there is no statutory regulation of the COG,” said Jorge Rosales, president of the Gymnastics Federation.

Rosales stressed that the actions of Rodas and company demonstrate “total anarchy” and the state could be forced due to the lack of regulations “to suspend budget allocations.”

In the Official Gazette publication, It is agreed that the current COG will be governed by the statutes approved by the General Assembly on December 17, 2002, and sanctioned by the IOC on February 14, 2003.

At the beginning of February, Jorge Rodas’ group repealed the Electoral Code and the Committee’s Ethics Code, according to agreement 12-2023-CE-COG, published in the Diario de Centro América on February 2.

All the actions of the current Executive Committee have been unknown by the COG, according to a letter that was sent by the IOC to Rhodes, where they reiterate that the COG “is no longer authorized to function as a National Olympic Committee in accordance with its role as defined in the Olympic Charter.”

To date, Rodas continues to ignore or ignore the letter and continues to sign and act as a representative of the IOC, so any action he takes is unknown to the highest entity of Olympic sport.