The head of the organizing committee for the 2003 Pan Am Games revealed that he informed the Pan American Sports Organization (ADEPA) that the DR would forego its right to host the games if it failed to fulfill the conditions it accepted at last weeks meeting in Colorado Springs. According to Jose Juaquin Puello, Dominican representatives promised that Congress would (1) approve the US$140 million loan from Spain?s Banco de Bilbao, (2) approve the US$26.4 million loan from the Venezuela Investment Fund, (3) confirm the special appropriation of DR$350 million promised by President Hipolito Mejia, and (4) begin work on the construction and renovation of the sports and housing facilities. ADEPA was assured that all of the foregoing measures would be accomplished within ninety days. ?Its all in the hands of the administration and the legislators,? said Puello. ?The government has to find the money and Congress has to approve the loans.? Nevertheless, Mario Vasquez Ra?a, head of ODEPA, said ?Lies are the Achilles heel of the 2003 games.? He appealed to Dominican authorities to ?tell the truth to the public.? Nothing that was agreed to at the Pan Am meeting held in Rio de Janeiro in May has been done, according to Vasquez Ra?a. The DR was given ?another chance? because ?everyone, absolutely everyone, wants the games to be held in Santo Domingo,? he said. Today?s El Siglo carried the comments of ?sports immortal? Frank Kranwinkel Zaiter, who asserted that the US$140 million loan from Banco del Bilbao is being made with terms that are ?onerous? and that the estimated US$500 million cost of the Pan Am Games would bankrupt the country. ?I can show anyone who wants to see them the undeniable proof that local and international Olympic leaders try to harm and scar the economies of small countries and that the international Olympic leadership is a Mafia,? said Kranwinkel. The games were originally tagged at DR$168 million. Now they are speaking of DR$5,000 million, and “that’s not the end of it,” he added. He also called for an investigation into which companies submitted winning bids for the construction of the Pan Am Village.
