On Monday, 7News showed you the discontent that some cyclists have with the direction that the Belize Cycling Association has taken under the leadership of Incumbent President, Emil Moreno.
Much of the dispute centers over whether the Cycling Association is now a properly constituted federation - as Moreno says, or if it is still an Association - as his opponents contend.
Well, this evening, the Minister of State with Responsibility for Sports, Herman Longsworth, announced at a press conference what will be the way forward. And that plan of action is a major upset for the Moreno camp because there will be no Federation recognized for these upcoming elections.
Instead, the individual cyclists and other members of the cycling community will decide who will represent them at the executive level - as has been customary in the association.
It's a major development - and one that could lead to international sanctions against Belize cycling. That's because the governing regional body for cycling, COPACI recognizes a Federation. The President Jose Manuel Palaez Rodriguez met with Minister of State Longsworth this afternoon in Belmopan where he was given the bad news.
Here's how Longsworth described the unproductive meeting at the press conference just two hours ago:
Hon. Herman Longsworth - Minister of State/Sports
"I agreed to meet with Jose Manuel Peleaz Rodriguez, who is the president of COPACI, to try to see how we could dialog to try to sort this issue out. It appears that Mr. Peleaz Rodriguez is insistent on telling us, how we must proceed with cycling in Belize, and he is insistent that we must confirm to whatever UCI says whether or not that is consistent with the laws of our country. And I refuse to do that; I absolutely refuse to do that. Mr. Peleaz Rodriguez insisted that the only constitution will recognize is that which was supposedly drafted in 2006. I asked Mr. Peleaz Rodriguez if they, COPACI or UCI, had any record to substantiate the legitimacy of that document, and he himself could not say yes. It is not my intention to unilaterally do anything unless I am forced to do so. I want UCI to be here, to dialog with us, and to come up with the best possible format for cycling to move forward in Belize, but if we can't come to a satisfactory arrangement on this, I will move to have elections by the general membership. And when I say the general membership - there is now association as we are concerned right now. Because we have what I consider to be a legitimate issue the constitution that they claim is the constitution of the BCA, and because they have issue with the constitutions we claim, that we should start from scratch. Let's have free and fair elections of an executive for the Belize Cycling Association, where every cyclist who is interested, or anybody who is interested in registering as a member, has a vote. And when that executive is duly formed, that UCI and COPACI then works with that executive to develop a constitution that is acceptable to everybody, and we then moved forward. I believe that is as transparent and as democratic as we can get. They have opted to not accept. There must be elections held by the end of February, I am hoping that UCI and COPACI will opt to be a part of the process for those elections, but if they refuse to be, the elections will be held. Now, I must be responsible, and I must indicate to the general public, that this may mean that the Belize Cycling Association will be sanctioned by UCI. We intend to constitute the interim committee within the next few days, and we will then start the process of registering cyclists for this year because that process hasn't started. What we will do is we will give each person who is interested in registering a chance to say whether we ought to go this way or not. I am hoping that the general public, including those who generally sponsor cycling will appreciate that this is a legitimate effort at allowing cycling to move properly."
And while the elections are scheduled for the end of February, the issue of the scheduling of races in that time period is an issue. To address that, the BCA will be governed by an interim committee in which the Longsworth will invite 2 delegates from both Emil Moreno's camp, and Dion Leslie's camp. This model failed in its first attempt when Moreno had more than two delegates.
There will be 2 delegates from the National Sports Council, and this committee will be chaired by Melvin Torres, who according to Longsworth comes highly recommended by the cycling community.
The Valentine's Cycling Classic has fallen victim of these postponed elections because there was no mechanism put in place to secure funding for it. However, Longsworth assured that the Ministry of Sports is intending for the Belmopan Cycling Classic, scheduled for March 9, to take place. The plan is that the newly elected executive will take the lead in planning other races, including the longest running one, the Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic.
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