There is another strange case for our detective to solve.

This time it is not a forgotten bid, but two missing Board members.

On December 17 the new SCIRA Board of Governors was announced by the “SCIRA Office”.

In summary, effective January 1:

• Martin Bermudez de la Puente Gallego (ESP) will move from Vice Commodore to Commodore;
• Paola Prada (BRA) from Western Hemisphere & Asia General Secretary to Vice Commodore;
• Yannick Laumans (BEL) from European General Secretary to Treasurer;
• Taylor Scheuermann (USA) will join the Board as Secretary.

• Chair of the Technical Committee TBA

Also, in that official statement, “SCIRA Office” verbatim wrote:

“Hemisphere officers will discuss with the respective National Secretaries of the hemisphere regarding Gen Sec position.“

The European General Secretary and the Western Hemisphere & Asia General Secretary are missing!

And what’s about the Vice Continental Secretaries? Missing persons?

Do Vice Secretaries exist? Are they mythological creatures or the result of hallucinations? Are they a meaningless phrase or an empty formula written in the Constitution?

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Constitution (Sections 24 and 25): General Secretaries are elected every two years, in the odd years (when the European Championship and the WH&A Championship is held), and take office on even-numbered years as of January 1st, while the other Board members take office in the odd years.

Section 34 also includes other Continental Officers, a Vice Secretary for Europe and a Vice Secretary for the Western Hemisphere & Asia.

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On August 23, 2023, the European National Secretaries elected Yannick Laumans as European General Secretary and Manuel Stichini Vilela (POR) as Vice European Secretary and they took office on January 1st 2024.

On December 6, 2023, the WH&A National Secretaries elected Paola Prada as WH&A General Secretary and Alberto Prieto (CHI) as Vice WH&A Secretary and they took office on January 1st 2024.

In the past, when a General Secretary moved up to another position in the Board, the Vice Secretary took his place. For example in recent years, this happened in December 2022 when the European General Secretary was elected as SCIRA Secretary, so from January 1st 2023 the Vice European Secretary took his position.

There are two Vice Continental Secretaries! They are not missing, they exist and they were elected! Manuel Stichini Vilela from Portugal and Alberto Prieto from Chile. They should become European General Secretary and WH&A General Secretary because these positions are vacant.

So, why that strange statement from the “SCIRA Office”?

The questions are manifold:

Are they not worthy or are they unable to be General Secretaries for their hemispheres? Are they not welcome to someone? Does anyone prefer someone else? Who is who hides behind the pseudonym “SCIRA Office”? What is the motive?

Will our detective be able to solve this strange case?

UPDATE (January 3) – The National Secretries of their respective hemispheres are voting to ratify the Alberto Prieto position by Manuel Stichini Vilela (who move up from Vice General Secretries to General Secretries for WH&A and for Europe).