Santiago de Chile desisted from competing for the right to host the 2003 Pan American Games. This leaves three cities, including Santo Domingo, vieing for the most important regional sports championships. The cities are Medellín, Colombia, Guadalajara, Mexico and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Twenty-six votes are needed to win the vote that will take place on 5 December in Panama. The Dominican Republic lost the right to host the 1999 championships to Winnepeg, Canada by one vote. In case of a triple tie in the vote, the site will be given to the country that has not hosted the Games, which would be the Dominican Republic. Dominican Olympic Committee president, Dr. José Joaquín Puello, who spearheads the national efforts to win the site, says he is optimistic that the DR will obtain the site as he expects to get the vote of the smaller countries that are a majority. But Medellín and Guadalajara are making the smaller countries generous offers of paying airfare and lodging of their delegations, in addition to eliminating airport taxes and visa requirements.
