Llaryora for Schiaretti: name change or tactical variant?

The Córdoba Sports Agency will not be left out of the game. The triumph of Martín Llaryora in the recent provincial elections – with a pending celebration of the VAR of the Electoral Justice – will ensure at least another four years of life for the mixed economy society born on July 15, 1999, when it was promulgated by the Law No. 8,779.

“Not only are we going to leave them, but we are going to strengthen them,” the candidate of ‘We Make United for Córdoba’ had anticipated in the campaign, referring to the structure that has its operational base in the Kempes Stadium and the other eight dependencies that replicate the public-private integration model: Tourism, Culture, Investment and Financing, ProCórdoba, Innovate and Undertake, Connectivity, Córdoba Joven and Competitiveness.

From ‘Together for Change’, the main opposition political force, the continuity of the nine provincial agencies had been put in check, which were said to be “focuses of corruption”.

When it was his turn to be the “point guard” of the team, Llaryora chose two basketball players to play on his side: Gerardo Secrestat, in the Municipality of San Francisco, and Medardo Ligorria, in the 6 de Julio Palace. In any case, it is very difficult for the experience to be repeated with Héctor ‘Pichi’ Campana, the current head of the body that acts as the Ministry of Sports, considered one of the “favorites” of the current provincial administration.

Since ‘Together for Change’, the continuity of the nine provincial agencies was put in check, which were said to be “focuses of corruption”.

“The times they had to govern, both (José Manuel) De la Sota and (Juan) Schiaretti set up their own cabinets without any interference, and exactly the same will happen with Llaryora. If he keeps an official, like the case of (Sergio) Busso in Agriculture and Livestock, it will be because he decided so, ”said a connoisseur of the Cordoba dynamic.

Although the book of passes is already open, it is estimated that the new provincial government team will begin to take shape after next July 23, once the bid for the capital’s mayorship is defined. If the polls favor the current vice mayor Daniel Passerini, “Pichi” Campana would occupy an expectant position in the new municipal cabinet, and “el Lomo” Ligorria could extend his term in the Undersecretary of Sports.

STRATEGIC ALLIES. Mayor Llaryora, together with ‘Chiqui’ Tapia and Alejandro Domínguez, presidents of the AFA and Conmebol. /// PHOTO: CEDOC PROFILE

what’s coming

Those who know Llaryora’s tactics and strategy assure that ‘the gender perspective and adapted sport’ will occupy prominent spaces in the specific policy that will be promoted starting next December from El Panal. “The idea will be to link social sports with federated sports, also aiming to recover the prominence that Córdoba had at the time, with great national and international figures,” they say.

In addition to seeking a better articulation of the different levels of sports activity (social, grassroots and high performance), the next provincial management will seek to strengthen the Agency as a ‘business unit’, making it stand out in the generation of events with its own seal, although without eliminating some ‘classics’ of recent times, such as the football matches that the AFA and Conmebol offer to the highest bidder.

The department has a permanent staff of 247 positions and an annual reserve of $1,972,061,000 million ($5,402,906 per day).

Supporting this logic of operation, it transpired that Llaryora is considering repatriating a player who is currently in the ranks of ‘la Muni’ and who accredits management in sports matters: the lawyer Horacio Manzur.

Former manager of the Club Atlético Talleres and current president of the Syrian Lebanese Society of Córdoba, Manzur was head of the Córdoba Sports Agency in the periods 1999-2001 and 2003-2007. In the current municipal government, he served as director of the CPC Central America and also fulfilled functions in the Obispo Mercadillo Center, and since last year he has worked in the Government Secretariat led by Miguel Siciliano.

In addition to Manzur, the Córdoba Sports Agency had Gustavo Oliva Fúnes (2001-2003), Medardo Ligorria (2007-2011 and 2017-2019), Emeterio Farías (2011-2014), Agustín Calleri (2014-2015), Oscar Dertycia (2015-2017) and Héctor Campana (since 2019). The department has a permanent plant of 247 positions and an annual fix of $1,972,061,000 million ($5,402,906 daily), equivalent to 0.11% of the General Budget of the Provincial Public Administration 2023.

DOWNHILL

• Law 10,852, which on December 29 sanctioned the General Budget of the Provincial Public Administration 2023, established in its article 12 a forecast of $1,972,061,000 for the disbursements of the Córdoba Sports Agency during this year.
• The amount earmarked for the operation of this mixed economy company -$164,338,000 per month- represents 0.11% of the general item: $1,752,916,019,000.
• When the regulation was published in the Official Gazette, the figure reserved for the entity headed by Héctor Campana was equivalent to US$5,634,460, while today it is listed at US$3,975,929. Calculated in US currency, the budget devalued 29.4% in six months.

THE AGENCY IS NOT TOUCHED. In the campaign, Llaryora guarantees that he will maintain the entity that is based at the Kempes Sports Center. /// PHOTO: CEDOC PROFILE

Horacio Manzur: “Today the Agency does not work in the spirit of its beginnings”

“It is the only area to which he would return, because he believes that there are great things to do there,” says Horacio Manzur, referring to the Córdoba Sports Agency, where he was the highest authority for two periods.

“They worked a lot together with Llaryora in his time as mayor of San Francisco, when I was a provincial official, and I know that he gives a very special value to sport,” he comments in dialogue with PROFILE CÓRDOBA.

“There was no offer and I’m at ‘the small table’, so I couldn’t say anything about it,” he says about the versions of his possible return to the Kempes-based organization. “Yes, I can give my point of view on how I see the situation of provincial sports,” he points out.

“I think that during Schiaretti’s management, a lot of emphasis was placed on the issue of infrastructure, on finishing the sports center and surrounding it with parks, and that was very important. What was discovered, between quotes, was everything that arose in another era with elite sport”, Manzur maintains.

THERE ARE NO TWO WITHOUT THREE? Manzur sounds for the Córdoba Sports Agency, where he was president in the periods 1991-2001 and 2003-2007. /// PHOTO: EL SUR MAGAZINE

“In those times when they used top-level athletes to pull up, a golden legion that may be insurmountable. In the 2006 South American Games, to cite an example, Córdoba contributed 60 medals to the Argentine delegation. Today we have the infrastructure but we lack the Nalbandian, Meolans, Ligato, Oberto or Mariano Reutemann, and the ‘Sole’ García, Georgina Bardach, Anahí Sosa or Rocío Comba”, he adds.

“I am critical of the current Agency, which functions as one more body and does not have the vision or spirit of its beginnings, which highlighted the participation of sports actors, who must give their opinion, organize and supervise”, points out the lawyer.

“It is very easy to do with State money, but support for sport is in the private sector and you have to seek that sponsorship to generate genuine income, as was done before. In my time there was never a lack of Rallying, we brought the Davis Cup for the first and only time and we did a lot of events with ‘two weights’. How long has it been since Los Pumas have played in Córdoba or there hasn’t been a boxing match for a world title? ”, He emphasizes.

It also points out the need to relaunch the Sports Literacy Plan, with monitors appointed by the different federations, with the aim of accentuating the detection of new talents.