Paraguayan Olympic Committee denies role in Barranquilla 2027 sanction. COP

The Paraguayan Olympic Committee (CO), through its president Camilo Pérez López Moreira, denied having taken any action to remove the headquarters from Barranquilla for non-compliance and to replace it. The president of the COP, Camilo Pérez López Moreira, has avoided entering into a dispute with a friendly country such as Colombia following the sanction that removed the headquarters of the 2027 Pan American Games from the city of Barranquilla due to serious and repeated breaches of contract.

The head of Paraguayan sport assured that they are working in Asunción to host these Games "with a clear conscience and with our heads held high", as they did not influence the decisions taken by Panam Sports last month.

"Our only sin was to say that we were ready to host any mega-event that was in line with the government policy of President (Santiago) Peña," said Pérez in an interview with EFE.

He explained that they had received the same proposal that they had given to other countries to consider hosting this sporting event. "Other countries have joined, like Peru in the case of Lima, and others have not. We are ready to do it and we will continue to do it with a clear conscience and with our heads held high," affirmed the top sports official in Paraguay, who was present at the award ceremony for the football team that has just won the pre-Olympic championship in Venezuela and secured its ticket to Paris 2024.

As for the criticism of the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC), Ciro Solano, who said that Paraguay had betrayed his country by bidding for the  Pan American Games, which Colombia lost due to government irregularities, he avoided any controversy and only regretted the words of his Colombian colleague.

The President of the COP thanked the President of the Republic of Paraguay, economist Santiago Peña, for his support, not only for his country's bid to host the next Pan American Games in 2027, but also for visiting the Paraguay Olympic Park as a sign of support for the sporting leadership of the National Olympic Committee.