translated from Spanish: Colombia said it wants to make the America’s Cup

Colombia’s Minister of Sport Ernesto Lucena said on Friday that the Colombian government will make every effort to host the next Copa America, even if Argentina decides to detract from receiving the contest, because of the crisis that has caused the Covid-19 pandemic.In conversation with the Colombian Institutional Channel, Lucena stated that “a year ago, when we had to postpone the Copa America , we start with very strict work on the biosecurity protocols that must be had to make the Cup.” Today, that we are so close to the event, at such a sensitive time for Colombia, because of the number of contagions, because of the number of deaths, we have to be even stricter with protocols,” he added. Also, consulted on the option of Argentina to detract from co-organizing the contest, the secretary of state assured that “if the country gives up the Copa America, President Duque’s order is that we work with the Ministry of Health and Conmebol to see what the other venues are, but here the last word is had by epidemiologists”. Finally, the Minister of Sport stressed that “the America’s Cup must be done unless something extraordinary happens,” and valued the donation of 50,000 Sinovac vaccines that the Conmebol received for the athletes who will participate in the tournament. It should be remembered that the Copa América will take place between June 13 and July 10, where Chile will be measured in its Group to Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Original source in Spanish