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As we've shown you, he was sentenced to 2 years in prison in the US for conspiracy to smuggle half a kilo of cocaine into New York. That basically calls his eligibility as an executive member into question, but instead of kicking Pelayo out, the Federation decided to allow him to tender his resignation and make a graceful exit. 7News was at the meeting on Saturday, and after the 3 hour congress meeting, we spoke with FFB President Ruperto Vicente about the Pelayo situation:

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"Mr. Pelayo is a member of the football family and we want to treat every member of our football family with respect. Mr. Pelayo, yes, he was an agenda item on our Saturday's meeting, but we remove that from the agenda. We want to give Mr. Pelayo to submit his resignation, which he has indicated that he will submit that resignation and so for that reason we moved the item from the agenda."

Daniel Ortiz
"We've made to understand that criminal conviction in the US is what made him illegible to continue as an executive member. Is that indeed accurate?"

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"Certainly. And that has always been a part of the federation's guideline for any executive member, whether it be international or nationally - if you have been criminally charged, then you cannot served on the executive of the Football Federation of Belize. Yes, that is true."

Daniel Ortiz
"What is happening with this timeline of his orderly departure from the FFB?"

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"We are waiting for his resignation. When that comes around, then the executive will move on from there and make an announcement."

Daniel Ortiz
"What will happen to his replacement? How will that process takes place?"

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"The Federation would have to call an extraordinary congress for an election or the executive can recommend that someone replace him in the interim."

Daniel Ortiz
"We are made to understand from inside information that the initial picture presented from Mr. Rawell was that, I was acquitted and these charges couldn't stick and therefore I should continue as normal and it was only that it was revealed that the conviction documents, the court records reflected that he recanted and explain to the federation, that look, I was indeed convicted of these criminal charges. Can you speak to us on that issue?"

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"No. I cannot speak to you on that, because I have not met with Mr. Pelayo and I have not seen any of those documents."

As we've shown you, Vicente told the press that they could not provide a vetted audit of the finances that the FFB spent for Belize's first appearance in the Gold Cup in 2013. Vicente claimed that Pelayo had a number of important cheque stubs in his luggage when the Drug Enforcement Agency detained him in Houston. So, now that he is back, can the FFB get those documents back? That's what we asked, and here's how Vicente responded:

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"I have not have any meeting with Mr. Pelayo and I've been out of the country most of the time and so we will be meeting with him and as soon as we get those documents - whether we get them or not we will produce that financial report that we are required to submit and that we have the obligations to submit to the public."

Daniel Ortiz
"What will happen exactly? Has he indicated to you all or any member of the FFB that he still has those cheques stubs?"

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"As I have said, I have not spoken to Mr. Pelayo, so I have no idea."

Reporter
"Have you gone about in any other way trying to complete that report, in terms those banks statements that we have query about the last time?"

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"Because the Federation is changing the way it does business, we now have a management team, we now have a financial director in place and so that person now has been tasked with producing that financial statement/financial report that is going to be given to the public."

Reporter
"You came in on a platform of accountability and the previous president in your place faced a lot of criticism about not being accountable. Do you feel that you have practically let down a lot of people? I heard even on the radio Ms. Sandra Coye having very criticism or when you made the statement that you would not produce an audit, because of these lack of materials. There should probably have been copies at least."

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"The idea that we could not produce an audit is untrue. We did produce an audit, but we had difficulty. I justifying a lot of the stuff for our audit. So now, our professional people in place are now going to produce that statement, financial report and I want to state here, that yes we made mistakes with the 2013 national team finances, but I can rest assure and I can assure the public, that because of what we are now doing at the federation, that, that mistake is not going to be repeated."

Another important business for this weekend's congress is the recent performance of the National Team in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. The Jaguars inched its way into the second round when it defeated the Cayman Islands National teams due to away goals scored. They now take on the Dominican Republic in less about 2 months' time. Critics watched closely as Belize played superior defence against Cayman, but the strikers and midfield could not score any goals, no matter how many attempts they got at goal.

Belize's premier striker, Deon McCauley, did not play in those games and depending on who you speak with, it's either the Federation's fault, or it's McCauley's fault for not communicating his plans clearly to them. As we showed on Friday's newscast, the latest roaster says that he is now on the team, so we asked the president to confirm it. He told us that while McCauley is on the team, he'll have to make his own way to Belize:

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"The national director made it clear in his report this morning that Deon McCauley is on the national team program. He is a part of it. He has been invited to be a part of the national team, but he cannot be given the same courtesy as international players. Because he is not assigned to any team at the moment. So he is a part of the team. He is being called to come in for practice, just like any other player."

Reporter
"Is that how you would treat other athletes in the past? I mean this is a Belizean who is one of our best, is probably the best right now and shouldn't we have some kind of courtesy to treat him with much more respect?"

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"Certainly we are treating him with a lot of respect. The fact that he is on the national team - that's maximum respect to any of our players. Remember that all our players are important in this process. We are treating every player with respect."

Reporter
"Has there been any confirmation from McCauley that he will be here for the training and of course to be in the match that's upcoming later this year?"

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"He has sent an email stating that he wants to come, but he has also set some conditions and those conditions include that his transportation from the US be provided. He will also want to negotiate his fee for playing on the national team. Our international and national players are treated with the same respect and they get the same payment for being on the national team."

Daniel Ortiz
"That is to say that Mr. McCauley will be required to make his own way here to Belize if he wants to participate."

Ruperto Vicente, President - FFB
"Yes, because at this moment Mr. McCauley is not attached to any football team internationally."

We communicated with McCauley today, and he declined to give us comment on this issue.