Central American and Caribbean Games Decision Next Month

(ATR) With the visits to Mayaguez and San Salvador now complete, we have to wait for the announcement of which of the two cities will organize the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games.

A source close to the Executive Committee of Centro Caribe Sports tellsAround the Rings that in the next few hours its members will receive a report with details of the inspections of both candidates.

A meeting between the 11 members of the Executive to decide the venue has been delayed from April into May, ATR learned.

There is no exact date yet, but according to analysts who follow the issue in both cities, the day will be announced when the CCS leadership will have all the commitments in writing.

The caution of the regional sports leadership is logical after the sudden resignation of Panama in the midst of the scourge of the pandemic, days after having awarded the contest for the mascot of the Games.

ATR learned that both the Fiscal Oversight Board in Puerto Rico and the Congress in El Salvador are carrying out the procedures at this time to officially certify support for the Games.

CCS visited Mayaguez in March and received from the Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, support for the holding the Games in the last week of May and the first days of June 2022.

Last week a delegation headed by the president of CCS and member of the IOC, Dominican Luis Mejía Oviedo, met with the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, in the Central American capital. Bukele confirmed his government's support for the regional sports mega-event to be held in March 2023, four months after organizing the Central American Games in the Salvadoran city of Santa Tecla.

The Future Venues Commission was also made up of Jimena Saldaña (Mexico), Henry Núñez (Costa Rica), Angel Morales (United States Virgin Islands) and Felipe Vicini (Dominican Republic).

Together with the president of the National Sports Institute, (INDES) Yamil Bukele and the president of the National Olympic Committee Eduardo Palomo, the CCS delegation visited several sports facilities on Monday including the Sports Center, the "Magico" González Stadium and the Palacio de los Deportes. The new mayor of San Salvador Mario Durán accompanied them.

The inspection concluded with a visit to the Plaza Olímpica and during a joint meeting, Palomo reiterated his confidence in the good image transmitted by the organizers to the Central American and Caribbean executives.

"The Games should be an opportunity to attract unity, peace, and expand the Olympic ideals. Obviously our country needs to build, in our youth, life examples that can be emulated so that we have better citizens, a better society," Palomo told ATR in allusion to the objective pursued by the Games.

According to INDES, Mejía Oviedo positively valued the presentations of the Candidacy Presentation Committee. The president of CCS had also expressed a similar evaluation after his trip to Mayaguez, so there does not seem to be a favorite suitor as of today.

Written and reported by Miguel Hernandez

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