Mayaguez and San Salvador Candidates for 2022

(ATR) Centro Caribe Sports, the former CACSO, will now have to decide how the inspection of the two host candidates for the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2022 will be carried out given the health crisis.

On Monday the president of CCS, the Dominican Luis Mejía Oviedo, announced in a statement that Mayaguez, Puerto Rico and San Salvador, El Salvador were the two cities that are bidding to host the Games.

The deadline to receive these requests was November 15. The application had been opened on September 1 after Panama withdrew from the event that it had won the right to host in 2017.

This Saturday, November 21, the Executive Committee will have an online meeting to analyze a first report from the Future Venues Commission based on initial evaluations of both applicants.

The Mexican Jimena Saldaña, first vice president of CCS, has temporarily taken over that Commission instead of Sara Rosario, president of the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee, as a Puerto Rican city is nominated.

Deciding the dates and the guarantee of government support for the Games are two key aspects that will surely be on the "virtual agenda" on Saturday.

The year 2022 seems to appear, along with 2021, as part of the most crowded sports calendar in history.

This is the first selection process of venues for a sports mega-event in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, so it is expected that it will soon go from uneasiness to hope with the discovery and massive application of vaccines.

For Mejía Oviedo, it is "highly encouraging" that two candidates have appeared to save the continuity of the oldest regional Games in the world in a context not only of health crisis but also of the loss of millions of jobs.

To date the postponements and suspensions of sporting events have marked the season in the Americas due to the cruel disease.

The Dominican leader, a member of the IOC, to a question from Around the Rings, did not rule out alternatives to the traditional inspection trips to the venues due to the health emergency.

A Colombian city, Santander, was expected to also sign up for this race.

Recent reports from the Colombian press had released statements of support for this candidacy by the main Colombian authorities led by the president of that country, Iván Duque.

"They never sent a letter or a communication," explained Mejía Oviedo to ATR.

Yamil Bukele, president of the National Institute of Sports of El Salvador, said on social networks: "We want to reposition our country internationally. We believe it is a great opportunity for our nation to shine again "

Along with the enthusiasm, the Puerto Rican media specified that the COPUR officially registered Mayaguez as a candidate city but on a conditional basis since it must receive the endorsement and financial aid of the new government.

Written and reported by Miguel Hernandez

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