Mon 2 Oct 2006
Botero acquitted… time to drop the charade around Basso?
Posted by Michael A. under Operation PuertoComments Off on Botero acquitted… time to drop the charade around Basso?
The most recent development in Operation Puerto is that the charges against Santiago Botero has been dropped by the Colombian cycling federation. “His file has been analysed in depth, but we have found nothing against Santiago Botero. All is based on suppositions only,” affirmed FCC president Ettore Sangiovanni in the local press.
Why is this a big deal? It is a big deal because Santiago Botero is one of the riders who has publically acknowledged working with Dr Fuentes and Labarta. In Colombia’s “El Tiempo”, Botero commented. “I don’t deny that he helped me when I came to that team [Kelme],” he said. “I explained to [Phonak] that Ignacio Labarta did my training program. I have no reason to hide that. I was with [Fuentes] for eight years. I arrived at Kelme at the age of 21, like a boy, and the first thing that I discovered was that it was a team of people, of experienced riders and doctors, Fuentes and Ignacio Labarta. Since 1995, the did all my programs, prepared the calendar, effort tests, and everything that has to do with the preparation of a sportsman that has nothing to do with giving steroids, anabolics or anything that they found on them.”
If the UCI cannot even get Botero convicted – a rider who has openly admitted working with the key protagonists in Operation Puerto – how can they expect to convict Basso and other riders for whom there is very little evidence of any contact at all? The case against Basso has always appeared weak, but the whole of Operation Puerto is increasingly turning into a farce.
I can not comment on whether or not Basso is innocent (obviously, only he himself knows), but this vendetta-like pursuit that the UCI has against the cyclists that the press decided should be involved in Operation Puerto is farcical at best; highly unethical at worst. It is time that the UCI stopped the farce of trying to convict riders whom they have no chance at all of getting a conviction against in any reasonable court of inquiry, and got to work on solving Cycling’s problems rather than attempting to score cheap points in the press.
Incidentally, [url=http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/main.php?page=news&cmd=cerca_d&id=8259]TuttoBici[/url] reports that CONI has received a fax from the spanish authorities: a certification that says Basso is not accused and there is no investigation against him. This would presumably allow CONI to drop the case against Basso quite handily, although it remains unclear exactly what these certificates mean. Apparently, some riders are allowed to ride once they have received these certificates (e.g. Paulinho), while others are not (e.g., Caruso).