Conflict in the Venezuelan Olympic Committee with the intervention of the Supreme Court of Justice that ignored its Electoral Commission

The Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela has ignored the electoral authority of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) elected two weeks ago by the Sports Federations.

That decision was revealed to Around The Rings by the COV President Eduardo Alvarez.

The Supreme Court’s determination could further complicate the current conflict in the COV and also require the intervention of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) if an immediate solution is not found.

The situation was denounced this Sunday in separate communications from international sports organizations that alerted about an alleged government action against the autonomy of the COV.

The sports organization of Central America and the Caribbean (Centro Caribe Sports) exhorted the Venezuelan authorities “to respect the Olympic Charter, always prevailing the sense of legality and respect for the Sports Family of Venezuela, especially its athletes, who have so many glories offered to the sport of his nation, and therefore, to our entire continent .”

The letter was signed by its president, the Dominican IOC member, Luis Mejía Oviedo.

The Assembly of the Bolivarian Sports Organization (ODEBO), meeting in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, demanded “respect due to the autonomy of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee, enshrined in its statutes and endorsed by the Olympic Charter, as the regulatory framework of the Olympic Movement.”

The declaration was signed by the National Olympic Committee’s of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru, and signed by the president of ODEBO, the Colombian Baltazar Medina.

The regulations do not contemplate that legal conflicts in the COV are resolved in the Supreme Court of Justice but in specialized sports areas such as the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Eduardo Alvarez told Around The Rings the TSJ appointed, instead of the electoral commission of the COV elected on December 7, another ad hoc Electoral Commission to continue with the electoral process that should culminate on January 5, 2022 with the selection of a new Executive board.

Two candidates must be presented that day, one led by Alvarez, and the other by the president of the Venezuelan Baseball Federation, Aracelys León, and which includes the former minister of sport, now a parliamentarian, Pedro Infante.

Alvarez, elected for the first time on January 30, 2006, aspires to his fifth term as head of the COV.

Alvarez rejected complaints against him of alleged manipulation and illegality in the step that opened the electoral process and denied having restricted the participation of federations in the extraordinary assembly of the COV on December 7.

“That is not true,” he stated categorically.

The president of the COV revealed that this Monday he had contacts with the IOC, Panam Sports, with members of the IOC in America and regional sports organizations.

He informed that he has requested the accompaniment of the IOC in the electoral process

“What we demand is that the Olympic Charter, the statutes of the COV and of course the majority decision of the assembly of national federations be respected”

“What the Supreme Court ruled is a final judgment that does not accept any type of controversy to change its decision.”

The COV has 55 national federations of which 25 percent are Olympic. In the December 7 elections, 54 federations cast their vote between two nominating committees.

Alvarez recalled that there have been these conflicts in other countries “and years have passed for the wounds caused by these divisions to heal due to the fact that the executive, legislative, judicial or electoral powers interfere in the Olympic Movement.”