PJU Letter to APASC and PASO

No.2009068.

November 2th, 2009.

Santo Domingo.
Dominican Republic.

Sirs:
Executive Committee Members of PASO.
Executive Committee Members ACODEPA
Presidents of National Olympic Committees.
Confederations Pan American Presidents.
Pan American Games Organizing Committee, Guadalajara 2011.
National Judo Federations

Dear Sirs:

On 26 October, I received a phone call from Mr. Ivar Sisniega, President of the Association of Pan American Sports Confederations, APASC, from Mexico to inform me that PASO was opposed to my presence in the General Assembly of that organization to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, November, 4^th-6^th, 2009.

I‘ve had received previously the invitation to attend the to this assembly, Zadbi Cortes, Guadalajara 2011, on October 15, 2009  Mr. Ivar Sisniega sent me the agenda of the meeting of the Association of Pan American Sports Confederations, APASC, to be held next on November 4^th, in my capacity as Vicepresident of that entity.

Refusal of PASO has not sent to me formally and when I required Mr. Sisniega doubted that it will be sent.

The way in which I’m request not to attend is discriminatory and flouts the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS/TAS), whose decisions are binding for the different sporting estates.

Thus APASC - PASO do not recognize the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, TAS/CAS July, 27^TH when in their preamble and conclusions, the opinion is as follows:

1. The decision of the Executive Committee of the IJF announced on March 27, 2009 shall be given no effect unless and until it is upheld by the award of the CAS Panel and therefore the Ordinary Congress of the IJF should not approve or ratify the disputed Decision until the Panel has issued an award on the merits.

2. Communications and information issued by the IJF, in any form, shall avoid referring to the Panamerican Judo Confederation as the recognized continental union unless they also mention in an equally prominent fashion that its status is "contested before the Court of Arbitration for Sport". Thus any existing statements on the IJF website and in any other UF materials must be appropriately amended without delay.

3. No funds or financial advantages in any form shall be remitted or provided to the Panamerican Judo Confederation by the IJF until the CAS award has been issued. 

Based on this ruling the International Judo Federation withdrawal from the agenda of the Ordinary Congress held on August 23, 2009 in Rotterdam, Holland on the recognition of the illegal Panamerican Judo Confederation.

It is clear that any action against the Panamerican Judo Union will not be accepted until the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS/CAS) has issued its final decision.

We might think that the PASO is based on the consultation to give him the Court of Arbitration for Sport on June 10, 2009 the it was answered in record time on July 15, 2009 on the same Panel hearing the lawsuit against International Judo Federation filed by the Panamerican Judo Union, however, the relief in one of his recitals stated:

The Panel is aware that the CAS recently rendered an Advisory Opinion upon request made by the Pan American Sports Organization ("PASO"). The Panel considers that the Opinion deals with questions quite distinct to the issues raised in the current matter. The Opinion focuses on whether the creation of the PJ Conf complied with the statutes of PASO, which was answered in the affirmative, whereas in the current matter, the issue is whether the IJF is authorized to recognize the PJ Confederation the sole union to represent the American continent. 

We are concerned about the attitude of the PASO-APASC and then in an email that we refer Mr. Ivar Sisniega, President of APASC on October 22, 2009  was not included in point No. 8 with the following statement:

Admission of the Pan American Judo Confederation and withdrawal of recognition of the Panamerican Judo Union.

This new agenda received in confidence because it has not been sent to me by Mr. Sisniega is in clear violation of the right of due process and in my capacity as Vice President of APASC I have not been consulted in any way.

We will keep fighting so that countries like St. Lucia, British Virgin Islands, Dominica Island, Suriname, St. Kitts and Nevis, Cayman Islands, United States Virgin Islands, Belize, Trinidad & Tobago, among others, are not overlooked by conditions imposed by International Judo Federation which are unacceptable, difficult to implement and enforce the economic situation of these.

Aruba, Bolivia, Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, among others the International Judo Federation wants them deleted from sporting map of the discipline simply by having independence of criteria.

And the case of Panama, although the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS/CAS) defined the legitimate president of the Panamanian Judo Federation for the Mr. Miguel Vanegas, sporting estates persist in America recognize another entity.

Eventually every action taken by APASC and PASO in the meetings scheduled in Guadalajara from November 4^th – 6^th, 2009 premeditated and contrary to the Panamerican Judo Union is void until the Court of Arbitration for Sport, TAS/CAS, issue the appropriate decision arbitration on the lawsuit between the Panamerican Judo Union and the International Judo Federation.