Venezuela's senior men volleyball team celebrates after scoring. File photo
In a statement issued on Wednesday, September 21, the Venezuelan Ministry for Youth and Sports condemned Chile’s decision to deny travel visas to a delegation of athletes of the men’s national volleyball team. The decision prevented the Venezuelan team from participating in the qualifying round for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
“We publicly condemn that they have not granted the Chilean visas to our National Men’s Volleyball Team that would have participated in the South American [Volleyball Tournament]; we demand respect for our athletes and for the Olympic Charter,” said the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mervin Maldonado. Maldonado noted that the process was requested on time and all of Venezuela’s paperwork was properly submitted.
Venezuela’s volleyball team would have participated in the qualifiers that are taking place from September 19 to 26 at the facilities of the Chilean Olympic Committee, in advance of the 2023 Pan American Games.
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This Thursday, the Venezuelan Olympic Committee and the Venezuelan Volleyball Federation also issued statements about the denial of the visas by the Chilean consulate in Caracas. The president of the Venezuelan Volleyball Federation, María Soto, explained that the federation provides all the support to the team, but an incorrect decision interrupted the athletes’ dreams.
Below is the unofficial translation of the statement by the Venezuelan Ministry for Youth and Sports:
The Ministry of People’s Power for Youth and Sports, National Institute of Sports, express their discomfort at the impossibility of participation, due to visa reasons, of our National Senior Men’s Volleyball Team, in the South American Volleyball tournament, qualifying for the Pan American Games of Santiago 2023, which is taking place in the Republic of Chile, from September 19 to 26 of the current year.
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We want to highlight, as has been reported by the Venezuelan Volleyball Federation, that despite having carried out the pertinent and mandatory procedures in a timely manner, as well as having complied with each of the requested requirements, before the consulate of the Republic of Chile accredited in our country, visas were not granted to our athletes and technical team. This fact, which we reject, is similar to those that have already occurred in the past, within the framework of the organization of other sporting events in other countries where both athletes and technical staff have been disrespected.
The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela has guaranteed, as usual, the investment of necessary resources to reach the optimal level of preparation of our athletes, as well as all the sporting and logistical aspects for the participation of our delegation in the aforementioned event.
Based on what happened and as a sign of respect for what is established in the Olympic Charter, in favor of the work and sportsmanship of our athletes, we respectfully request that the competent authority, such as the South American Volleyball Confederation, evaluate the possibility of applying an exceptional measure to correct what was happened, and allow the participation of Venezuela in Men’s Court Volleyball in the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
-Caracas, September 21, 2022.
According to the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), the Venezuelan senior men’s volleyball team is currently ranked 46th worldwide, and 8th among Latin American countries, despite all the harm that US and European blockade, along with the isolation promoted by other Latin American countries, has caused to the performance of Venezuela’s best athletes.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
