The General Electoral Assembly of the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) ratified this Thursday Alberto Durán as the new president of the entity, replacing Miguel Carballeda, who leaves office after two decades at the head of the organization.
According to the CPE in a press release, Durán, who was the only formalized candidate, had 29 of the 30 votes cast by the assembly members present, in a meeting in which the honorary president of the CPE, HRH the Infanta, participated. Doña Elena; the president of the Higher Sports Council, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, and, electronically from Guatemala, the president of the International Paralympic Committee, the Brazilian Andrew Parsons.
The Galician leader, with visual disabilities and affiliated with ONCE, joined the Spanish Paralympic Committee in January 2017 as a member of its Executive Committee and on November 11, 2020 he was appointed first vice president of the entity. He has a degree in Law from the University of Navarra and a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Management from the Institute of Higher Business Studies (IESE).
During the next four years, the new president of the CPE will combine his position with his current responsibilities in the ONCE Social Group: first vice president of the General Council of the ONCE, executive vice president of the ONCE Foundation, vice president of ILUNION (Group of social companies of the ONCE ) and president of the ONCE Foundation for Latin America (FOAL). Likewise, he is general secretary of the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (CERMI).
“We assume a team with experience for this new challenge, it is a magnificent legacy and at a time of unbeatable institutional and social support, the basis is the reputation and trust in the work of the CPE, which has a magnificent group of sponsors “A very exciting stage begins and one of enormous responsibility because the CPE is very important to break many mental barriers and it is a good opener, it saves us many speeches, it is important for society,” Durán expressed to the media after the Assembly.
Among the “many challenges” that lie ahead, the man from Ferrol knows that a vital one is that of “the quarry.” “That no boy or girl with a disability is deprived of playing sports because they cannot find a place to do it,” he warned, without forgetting “the necessary institutional support,” that private support has “fiscal vehicles,” “work for visibility so that In the next Games, Paralympic sport will not have maximum visibility” or “gain international weight.”
“One that concerns us and concerns us is the integration of our athletes into conventional federations. We must have the resources and technical support from the world of Paralympic sports than those who know about this. It is not a comfortable process, there are already 14 federations , but we must increase and improve the process because there is no social element more pedagogical than the fact that a person with a disability can play sports with a person without a disability,” he added.
Durán does not hide that this integration “is a process of will.” “First you have to want, but the Sports Law foresees it like this, now the speed depends on the will and the priorities. The objective is to give a lot of importance to that priority and provide resources to be able to integrate our athletes in their traditional events “It is an irrevocable process, but we have to do it well,” he said.
The new president of the CPE recalled “the added value” that the organization brings to its athletes, which is “fundamental to continue achieving results” and does not forget that “behind each of them there is a story worth telling and an example for the people”.
“The best are always the people and in the Paralympic world there are magnificent people. We have an enormous responsibility because we are playing in a league that is very important for many people, not just the athletes. We have to make this society a ‘little’ better” , he continued.
Finally, he was asked about what Miguel Carballeda had told him. “We all know about Miguel’s perseverance and tenacity, and he uses it to screw you and convince you to take the step, although he also perseveres in a sweet way. As soon as you get here, you experience things that are brutal, if you expose yourself, you will win,” he concluded, recalling the importance of having a good team because “the president of the CPE does not know everything there is to know about this.”
NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
On the other hand, after electing the president, the General Assembly proceeded to ratify Durán’s proposals to form his government team with the appointments of Enrique Álvarez, president of the Spanish Federation of Sports for People with Physical Disabilities, as First Vice President, Marcos Herrero, president of the Spanish Federation of Sports for People with Intellectual Disabilities, as Second Vice President, and Ángel Luis Gómez, President of the Spanish Federation of Sports for the Blind as Third Vice President.
In addition, Miguel Sagarra continues as general secretary for one more term, as well as Julián Rebollo, president of the Spanish Sports Federation of People with Cerebral Palsy and Acquired Brain Injury, as treasurer. Miguel Ángel Machado, president of the Royal Spanish Table Tennis Federation, representing the single-sport federations; and Fátima Cao, head of Paralympic Equestrian at the Royal Spanish Equestrian Federation, and Fernando Riaño, director of CSR/Sustainability and Institutional Relations of the ONCE Social Group, are the two freely appointed members.
In the election of the member representing the Non-Paralympic Federations, there was a tie between the candidacies of Antonio Jesús de la Rosa, president of the Spanish Federation of Sports for the Deaf, and Juan José Beltrán, president of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation.
Finally, the General Assembly also ratified the proposed composition of the Guarantees Commission, with lawyer Mariano Ruiz as president; Olga Recalde as secretary, and Miguel Ángel García as member. Likewise, he renewed Alberto Jofre’s position as managing director of the CPE.
