Yesterday, the head of the Dominican Olympic Committee (COD), Jose Joaquin Puello, convened a meeting of the National Sports Federation – comprising the heads of the DR?s sports organizations – to explain planning measures in advance of the Pan Am Games, scheduled to be held in Santo Domingo in 2003. Puello gave the assembly details regarding the progress of negotiations with Pan American Sports Organization (ODEPA), and announced that a further meeting of the group would be held next Wednesday ?in order that the Dominican sports family can be fully informed.? He declined to respond to the claim of ODEPA?s president, MarioVasquez Ra?a, that he (Puello) and he alone, is responsible for mounting the games. Puello said ?I have a lot of work to do, and I respect the views of Vasquez Ra?a,? adding cryptically that ?in a few hours? he expects to have ?good news for the country? regarding the Games. The comment by Puello appeared to be the only affirmative note amid a chorus of disharmony that continues to surround the Games. Roque Napoleon Mu?oz, the sole Dominican delegate to the International Olympic Committee, rejected the assertion of Vasquez Ra?a that if Puello were to disassociate himself from the games that the task would fall to him (Mu?oz). ?I have absolutely nothing to do with this,? he said. ?I divorced myself from these Games completely on May 6.? Mu?oz blamed his decision to disengage from the project on the ?improvisational and irresponsible way in which things were managed by the former government,? naming former President Leonel Fernandez and ex-Public Works Minister Diandino Pe?a, in particular. Further controversy was stirred by the head of the Dominican Basketball Federation (FDB), who called on President Hipolito Mejia to ?take charge? of the Pan Am Games. Julio Subero told reporters that the organizing committee ?has had two years and has done nothing.? The FDB ?is hoping that that the government will assume? the task ?otherwise the Games will never be held.? Subero charged that ODEPA is not responsible for the problems. Rather the organizing committee, which ?comes close to incompetence,? has spent over DR$20 million in a period of two years, ?and we?re still fighting to become the site.? Subero asserted that the ?organizing committee is affirming publicly before both American continents that we?ve been lying.? He characterized as ?unfortunate? the statements by Puello that he had no further responsibility for mounting the Games, and sided with Vasquez Ra?a in the contrary view. However, Subero added that the Mejia government ought to listen to arguments by those who have been saying that the Games are not going to benefit the country. ?It should come as no surprise, because it was pointed out a long time ago that the Games are going to cost DR$5,000 million for starters,? he said. The truly harsh words in the debate, however, were not directed towards Puello and the organizing committee. Articles in today?s newspapers heaped invective on ODEPA?s Vasquez Ra?a. Writing in El Siglo, columnist Bienvenido Rojas charged that the ODEPA president is trying to force the DR to ?commit economic suicidal? by hosting the Pan Am Games. Rojas, who described the planned event as a ?cul-de-sac,? pointed out that no other city in the Americas wanted to mount the games. Santo Domingo?s one and only competitor, Guadalajara, Mexico, had been preferred by Vasquez Ra?a, who is Mexican. However, when Ernesto LaBastidas, the presidential candidate he was supporting, lost to Vicente Fox, that option was ruled out, and Vasquez Ra?a began to ?make life impossible? for the DR. Rojas urged local Olympic officials to top spreading ?a carpet of roses? in front of the ODEPA head, who is, after all, trying to put the DR in a ?a straight jacket.? However, the criticism Vasquez Ra?a by El Siglo?s journalist was mild compared to the words of Gonzalo Mejia, President of the Dominican Tennis Federation. Writing in Listin Diario, Mejia calls Vasquez Ra?a ?a hypocrite? whose ?contempt? for the DR is a reflection of his ?imperial ego.? The article asserts that when Santo Domingo lost out to Winnipeg as the site of the last Pan Am Games, it was entirely due to the influence of Vasquez Ra?a, who had urged ODEPA members to ?vote with their heads not their hearts.? This, according to Mejia, was an oblique reference to ?our poor condition alongside Canada.? According to Mejia, once more he is trying to despoil Santo Domingo of its hard-won campaign to host the games, by ?imposing conditions that not only have no legal basis or precedent, but whose achievement is materially impossible.? The ODEPA president is trying to mask his vengeful hostility toward the Dominican people by affirming that these conditions are imposed solely to benefit the Games. Nevertheless, ?he treats ODEPA like his personal fiefdom,? writes Mejia. ?He deceives everyone – even the Mexican people – into believing that he is helping the international prestige of Mexico, when he is only seeking his own advantage.?
