Colombia and Mexico could be potential venues to organize the Central American and Caribbean Games of 2022 after the withdrawal of Panama.
The new options, in the midst of the health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, will be the center of the debate at the Extraordinary General Assembly of CACSO, which like its First Seminar on Sports Administration will be held by videoconference.
The seminar had nearly 2,000 participants from more than 50 countries,
The CACSO General Assembly convenes this Saturday with the encouraging announcement of the possibility that Latin America could have a vaccine for the first half of 2021. Mexico and Argentina have signed a deal with AstraZeneca to produce the company's vaccine for the region, provided the vaccine works in clinical trials.
The International Olympic Committee told Around the Rings on Friday "we obviously look forward to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, as it will help the world to recover.
"As far as the Games are concerned, the IOC and Tokyo 2020 will follow the risk management and mitigation measures set out by the World Health Organization for mass gatherings in the context of the current COVID-19 outbreak.
"We will continue to follow the principle that has driven all our decisions so far, which is to organize Olympic Games only in a safe environment for all people involved. We are committed to following this principle in the future."
The IOC remarked that together with the Japanese government, the Organizing Committee and the WHO, the joint task force will "make every effort towards ensuring a safe and secure Games in 2021".
The latest news on vaccine research will give new host candidates more confidence to save the continuity of the oldest regional Games in the world.
After consulting with experts, it appears that the Colombian city of Barranquilla is willing to take over the 2022 Games. Barranquilla successfully organized the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games.
Guadalajara, Mexico has shown interest as well. Barranquilla, though, not only has the infrastructure but Colombian President Iván Duque has reiterated his support for the sports commitments made by Colombia in the current Olympic cycle despite the pandemic that has also severely hit that country.
In this sense, there is hope within CACSO that this support from the Colombian authorities together with that of the country's National Olympic Committee will bring a message of tranquility to the Olympic Movement in the region.
In his closing remarks at the seminar, the president of CACSO, Luis Mejía, expressed his optimism about the vaccine, and announced that communication projects that are being developed by the sports organization will continue.
He reported that the next digital forum will bring together sports journalists from Central America and the Caribbean.
On the last day of the seminar, topics such as Sports Marketing (Jimena Saldaña and Jackie Guerra), Structure and Functioning of NOCs (Sara Rosario), Leadership in Sports Organizations (Brian Lewis) and New Technologies in Sports Information (Alejandro Goycoolea) were presented.
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