High -performance athletes and their families protested last week to demand that the sport budget cuts stop. EFE/ Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda
Photo: EFE – Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda
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The Colombian Olympic and Paralympic committees, in addition to sports federations, sent a letter to President Gustavo Petro to express his “deep concern” for the reduction of the budget for sport in 2026, a decision that, they would warn, put formative programs and the international projection of the country at risk.
The representative to the Mauricio Parodi Chamber recalled last week that in 2024 the budget of the Ministry of Sports was 1.36 billion pesos and that it is expected that in 2026 it will be only 310,000 million pesos, less than a third.
That is why organizations pointed out that sport is “a fundamental right and a state policy” and that decreasing their financing would be “a serious setback” that would affect children, young people, older adults, people with disabilities, indigenous communities and historically excluded sectors.
The committees warned that more than 80 federations, 1,000 regional leagues and an even greater number of sports clubs would see their ability to form athletes and participate in national and international events, which would also impact the economy of municipalities and departments where sport dynamizes tourism, commerce and industry.
“The cut is not just a budgetary decision: it is to stop the economy of hundreds of municipalities and departments,” they said, highlighting that during the last 20 years each currency invested in sport “has become social impact, national pride and international representation.”
The text recalls that thanks to the state budget support, Colombia has organized world championships, Pan American, Central American of the Caribbean, South American and Bolivarian, in addition to achieving Olympic and Paralympic medals that have inspired new generations.
However, they warned that a drastic reduction in resources in 2026 would imply cancellation of events, absence in competencies of the Olympic cycle and the interruption of processes that require between eight and twelve years of maturation.
“We ask that investment in sport be maintained as a state issue, as a commitment to social justice, inclusion, public health and economic development,” said the leaders.
The protests of the protagonists of Colombian sport
The pronouncement adds to the protest made last week in the Plaza de Bolívar de Bogotá, where dozens of athletes, coaches and families marched with banners that said “yes to sport, not to cut.”
Figures such as the Paralympic Pesistic Fabio Torres, the swimmer Sharit Yunque, the gymnast Ángel Barajas and the former Rigoberto Urán have warned that the budgetary decrease compromises the preparation towards the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Los Angeles 2028 and directly hits the young people who see in the sport a life opportunity.
This Monday they will meet again in Bogotá to ask that the resources for sport instead of decreasing, to increase.
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