President in charge: Despite the blockade, Venezuela marked a historic milestone in the IV South American Games

Published at: 04/05/2026 05:27 PM

This Monday, May 4th, the president in charge of the Republic, Delcy Rodríguez, highlighted that the country's victories in the recent IV South American Youth Games, “speak a lot to the world about what is happening in Venezuela.”

“This is a Venezuela that is rising up, that despite adversities, that despite being the only country that was competing under conditions of inequality because we are a blocked country, you carried what is the grace of being Venezuelans: Never, never give up,” he emphasized.

He stressed that “when they went to that competition, they marked a historic milestone in the sport of our country, because for the first time we were runners-up in these South American Youth Games.”

This was stated at the Miraflores Palace, where he led the recognition of the national athletes who were at the IV South American Youth Games Panama 2026 .

He said that these games also marked another milestone, “the women's delegation was in the lead, it must be recognized, since out of 33 gold medals, 25 were won by young people (women)”.

“This speaks of a paradigm transformation in Venezuelan sports, in which women play a very important role,” she said.

Faced with the gift of her medal from one of the athletes, the president in charge said that “I really receive this gift with emotion, with admiration and recognition for you, but it gives me a lot of pain that you let go of your medal and I will try to take it with the honor that you deserve”.

The national tricolor shone with its own light at the event held from April 12 to 25, in which Venezuela consolidated itself as the second youth sports power in the region, thus achieving a historic record of 83 medals in total, broken down as follows:

33 Gold Medals (Historic Record for the country)

21 Silver Medals

29 Bronze Medals