The Belize Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation has come under scrutiny for the decision to suspend well-known local bodybuilder Cricel Castillo. The executive of the Federation says that they had to do so because Castillo was making serious allegations of mismanagement of funds, which were unfounded.
Notable is that this suspension happened in May, almost 5 months ago, but it did not emerge in the press until this week. That’s because, as Castillo told the press, she wished to deal with it among her peers and the membership of the Federation. It ended up in the media after Castillo came under fire publicly for her non-participation in the 2014 Bodybuilding and Body Fitness Championships, which were held on Friday, October 17. She was being criticized that she was behaving with an elitist mentality, refusing to compete locally, because her name is now international.
So, she spoke with sections of the press, and following her comments, the Federation decided they had to set the record straight. This dispute, it seems, went as far back as February when Castillo was chosen along with Mr. Belize, Rigo Vellos to compete at the 2014 Arnold Classic. Both Vellos and Castillo were chosen because they had won the 2013 Body Building and Body Fitness Championships.
In the days running up to the competition dates, both Vellos and Castillo needed to secure sponsorships and donors so that they could afford the thousands of dollars needed to participate in the competition. This was the very first time that Belizeans were able to compete in this highly prestigious bodybuilding tournament.
Castillo says that one of her donors backed out last minute, and so she was unable to afford her plane ticket. She then sought advice from Vellos, who is her senior, and a veteran in the sport. Both agree that the advice was that she ought to seek assistance for that plane ticket from the National Olympic Committee. They disagree that the procedure was that Castillo needed to get an authentication letter from the Bodybuilding Federation before she approached the NOC. Castillo says that Vellos did not warn her of this requirement, while Vellos asserts that he did explain that this is an important oversight mechanism which all members of the federation must do in order to solicit sponsorship.
Whatever the truth of that disagreement is, Castillo wrote a letter to the NOC without getting the authentication letter from the Federation. Now, this is where things take a twist: Castillo claims that a member of the NOC called her and told her that the Committee could not allocate any more funds for both Vellos and her because they already did so, and that Federation President Stanley Moody, was aware that funds were sent for her.
Castillo claims that she contacted Moody about the funds which she had not received, and she says that he admitted to using the funds for his own travel arrangements because he was informed that her arrangements were already dealt with. Moody has categorically denied this, and he has also explained that he did not engage in any such misappropriation of funds.
Castillo then took to the Facebook social media where she blogged about it, making allegations that the Federation is stealing from the athletes. The action was immediate; Moody was immediately made aware of the posts that Castillo placed on Facebook. He immediately informed the rest of the executive and contacted her explaining that she will have to attend a hearing to justify why she would “slander” the Federation in the manner in which she did.
On the date of that hearing, Castillo brought her attorneys to represent her interests; she explained that she wanted mediators on her behalf to ensure that her rights were not violated and railroaded by the executive. Both Moody and Castillo agree that Moody refused to conduct the meeting in the presence of the attorneys. Moody stood his ground, and so, because they had arrived at an impasse, the hearing did not happen.
Moody and the executive say they gave her other opportunities to present a defence, but she did not take them. Castillo says that they did no such thing. The end result is that she was banned by the Federation for 2 years; she will not be able to compete in any Federation competitions, or any international tournaments which are being held by the parent Federation that the Belize Federation is affiliated with.
To counter this, Castillo has become an independent athlete, and she’s joined another international association, which will allow her to still enter competitions abroad.
The sanction is final, the Belize Federation is refusing to reconsider; Castillo, on the other hand, is criticizing the Federation and President Moody of being too heavy-handed without giving her a fair opportunity to defend against it.
As to the allegation of misappropriation, Moody took questions from the press in which he asserted that he did not steal or misuse any funds which supposedly belonged to Castillo. The NOC’s President, Hilly Martinez, has confirmed that funds were sent to the Federation for the Arnold Classic, but they have a strict policy against dealing with individual athletes. The NOC only deals with federations and associations. Martinez explained that after the funds are handed over, it is for the President of the Federation to decide how it will be used. Moody says that the reasons that the funds were required were clearly communicated to the NOC, that it was for him (Moody) to attend the Classic as a delegate, which was required.
