BARBADIAN STEVE STOUTE is president of the Central American and Caribbean Sport Organisation (CASCO).
Stoute, who was vice-president of the body, was elevated to the presidency under its statutes, following the death of long-standing Dr Héctor Cardona on June 16, 2017.
He becomes the sixth president of CACSO, which was founded in the summer of 1959 during the Pan American Games in Chicago.
Stoute, 75, is the first person from the English Caribbean islands to take over the presidency of CACSO and the Central American and Caribbean Games.
His term will run until 2019 when a new Executive Committee will be elected for the 2019 to 2023 sport cycle.
Stoute is one of the Caribbean’s longest serving Olympic officials. He was elected president of the Barbados Olympic Association on 1996, having served as Secretary General from 1968. However, as far back as 1964, he was in sports administration as secretary of what later became the Barbados Cycling Union.
He was a member of the National Sports Council for a record 21 years, serving as chairman from 1983 to 1994.
In 1991, Stoute was awarded the Silver Crown of Merit and the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Order of Merit in 1997.
Previous presidents of CACSO include Julio Enrique Monagas from Puerto Rico, Venezuela’s José Beracasa, Germán Rieckehoff Sampayo of Puerto Rico and José Joaquín Puello of the Dominican Republic.
Cardona headed CASCO from 2003 to 2017. (PR/SAT)
