CARICOM territories and the English-speaking Caribbean’s quest to be a formidable voting force at the upcoming AIBA Congress suffered an embarrassing knock down as more than half of the countries have been deemed ineligible to vote by the world governing body.

In a list announced on Wednesday AIBA gave only seven countries from the region the green light to vote at its Congress scheduled for December 12 – 13.

Those eligible to vote are Barbados, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Dominica, Haiti, Saint Maarten, Suriname and US Virgin Islands along with Curacao are forced to observe the AIBA voting red light.

Of the 43 countries affiliated to the Americas Boxing Confederation, only 21 have been cleared to vote. No reason has been given for the trimming of the regional voting block which president of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) and AMBC vice-president Steve Ninvalle branded a monumental setback.

“I can only opine that this exclusion has something to do with nine of the ten countries being named in a recent breach of the AIBA election rules. I personally see this as a monumental setback and a wakeup call for individual Caribbean countries to get their houses in order. Obviously it has weakened our region’s ability to be a force at such a critical time but we have only ourselves to blame and no one else,” Ninvalle declared.

Last month Ninvalle labelled as unfortunate a disclosure that nine Caribbean countries had been named in a possible breach of AIBA election rules.

Saint Maarten, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Virgin Islands, Dominica, Anguilla, Bermuda, Haiti and Suriname were named in a letter to the AIBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committees as countries that had their annual AIBA fees paid by the Dominican Republic Boxing Federation (DRBF).

The payment raised concerns as a possible breach of International Boxing Association (AIBA) election rules, after the DRBF, which nominated one of the seven candidates vying for President of AIBA, paid the membership fee of the nine countries so they can vote in the December Congress.

Website, Insidethegames, reported that the DRBF, which nominated Domingo Solano for president – transferred a total of $4,800 (£3,700/€4,000) to the Americas Boxing Confederation (AMBC) to cover the dues of the nine National Federations.

AMBC president Osvaldo Bisbal reported the “disturbing case” of the payment in a letter to the heads of the AIBA Disciplinary and Ethics Commissions, which he said was made “without previous approval from our side”.

Bisbal alleged the DRBF told AMBC that the money “was to pay for the membership fees for nine National Federations in order for them to be eligible for the upcoming Congress where AIBA is due to elect its new president.

The Argentinian, a vice-president of AIBA, also suggested the DRBF had asked for the source of the money to be covered up as it “requested AMBC to issue an individual receipt to each National Federation that AMBC pretended to receive each fee from each of these nine National Federations”.

The money was for AIBA’s member federations in Saint Maarten, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Virgin Islands, Dominica, Anguilla, Bermuda, Haiti and Suriname, according to the letter.

“I am reporting this to you because I believe that AIBA and AMBC could be affected from an ethical point of view,” Bisbal wrote.

“As we are in critical situation to restore our damaged image, I am requesting your proper considerations on this case,” insidethegames reported.

Solano is a former president of the DRBF and a current honorary AIBA vice-president.

According to insidethegames, the payment from the Dominican body could create problems for Solano as election statutes dictates that candidates “should in no case and under no pretext give presents or offer donations or gifts or grant, advantages or benefits of whatever nature to or at the request of any party who will vote in, or who may otherwise influence an election”.

In a then invited comment, Ninvalle, who on October 6 resigned as Chairman of the Caribbean Steering Committee for Boxing, declared the matter unfortunate.

“I don’t believe that there was any intention by anyone of the Caribbean countries to go against any ethical rule laid out by AIBA. The Caribbean just does not operate in that way,” Ninvalle said then.

“However, this is an election season and anything that is said and done will be immensely scrutinised, hence, we as region need to be extremely careful with our modus operandi.

“We also need to make sure that we don’t conform to the usual last-minute rush which is clearly the genesis of this issue. It is my sincere hope that we all learn from this,” the Guyanese vice-president of AMBC added.

Bisbal was later attacked for his actions which several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean considered unpatriotic to AMBC. However, Ninvalle then claimed that the Argentine could have only acted because he was provided with the opportunity to do so.

“Everyone in boxing knows that you have to protect yourself at all times. If you drop your guards and get floored because of it, then you only have yourself to blame. This is an election season, so there will be no velvet gloves being used.

“My hope is that this important lesson is not forgotten and our regional administrators will now better understand the value of acting in a prompt manner.  We owe it to our country and those who elected us,” Ninvalle declared.

The recent ruling by AIBA could be viewed as a direct castigation of the alleged defaulters although Curacao was not among Bisbal’s list of offenders.  It is unknown if the affected countries will lodge an appeal.