Panama loses hosting rights of Bolivarian Games

Last May, the Bolivarian Sports Organization (ODEBO) [es], named Panama the host of the XVII Bolivarian Games that will take place in 2013. This was great news for the country, which has not hosted the event since 1973 [es]. However, this week the organization removed Panama from hosting the event. On October 20, The Panama Digest published:

The Bolivarian Sports Organization voted five-to-one not to host the Bolivarian games in Panama after all.

The reason given is that Panama “was not going to act or deal appropriately to integrate the Organizing Committee or carry out their responsibilities without interference or intervention of agencies and groups outside the Olympic movement. ”

Image by Flickr user M0n3d4 used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

In a report by Kathyria Caicedo in the website of the Telemetro News Channel [es], she explained that:

Dicha decisión se remite a la existencia de dos Comité Olímpicos en Panamá, uno que consta con personería jurídica y otro no, la Odebo estaba exigiendo el reconocimiento de la organización dirigida por Miguel Sanchiz. Sin embargo, este es un caso que se encuentra en las esferas jurídicas de Panamá.

The background for this decision is in the existence of two Olympic Committees in Panama, one that has its legal entity status and one that doesn't, the ODEBO was demanding the acknowledgment of the organization led by Miguel Sanchiz. However, this case is still being handled at the judicial level in Panama.

The news and the reactions from the authorities are being covered by Panamanian traditional media, as well as by some websites at the international level; however, there are already reactions from Twitter users, who are spreading the news and also to reflecting on how this situation has made them feel. Carol Carito (@carolcarito) commented:

Qué mala noticia lo de la sede de los juegos bolivarianos #fail :((( #panama

What bad news about the hosting of the bolivarian games #fail :((( #panama

Noel David Ortega (@noelpty) said:

Enterandome q le quitaron la sede de los bolivarianos a #Panama…. es por gusto q haga un coment, estos ineptos q tenemos por dirigentes :@

Getting news that the hosting of the bolivarian [games] has been taken away from #Panama…it is useless to make a comment, these incompetents that we have for leaders :@

User Sr Criticón (@SrCriticón) offered a different point of view:

Mejor q nos hayan quitado la sede de los Bolivarianos. Inviertan ese dinero para obras sociales y cosas que realmente necesitamos. #Panama

It is better that they have taken away the hosting of the Bolivarian from us. That money should be invested in social projects and things that we really need. #Panama

Panama needed to make important infrastructure investments in order to serve all the needs that the event requires. Last August, in an article by Rogelio Adonican, Panama America [es] published “What would Panama win with the games?,” where he summarized the benefits that, according to the organizers, hosting the games would give the country, infrastructure being one of them. The article also mentioned the benefits for the tourism industry and the experience that Panama would acquire by managing an event of this magnitude.

It is easy to understand Yadisel Buendia's feelings (@yadiselbuendia), who said: