The Listin Diario reports that the Organizing Committee of the XXIV Panamerican Games is going through difficult times still. The newspaper point out the committee has not yet received the budgeted RD$11 million allotment for either January or February. The President had committed to pay RD$25 million to the organization. As of 1 March this had not occurred. The committee has been receiving the RD$700,000 allotment for its payroll says the report. The Pan Am Games have a RD$365 million in allotments approved in the 2001 National Budget. The Listin Diario reports that the Presidency appointed Carlos Cochon Reyes on 16 February as coordinator between the Executive Branch and the Organizing Committee. El Siglo reports that the City of Santo Domingo has offered the Organizing Committee, of which Mayor Johnny Ventura is a member, 520,000 square meters in eastern Santo Domingo on the way to San Isidro for the construction of sports venues. These venues were slated to go up on grounds of the Mirador del Este Park but influential former President Joaquin Balaguer has objected.
