The 17th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico.

The ODECABE staff developed a more close working relationship with the Games organizers in Puerto Rico to carry out the Games in the context of the commemorative celebrations of the discovery of Puerto Rico exactly 500 years earlier to the opening ceremony day, in 1493.

[3] The Games were due to take place in 1994, but were anticipated for 1993 to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Island by the Spaniards.

In a decentralized way, this sport was the only one that did not have events held on the island.Three new sports are added at the program:handball, skating, and kárate-do.Due a lack of suitable venues and athletes canoeing events took place in Havana, bringing the total number of participating countries to 32.Cuba was originally going to boycott the event due to the fact that it would be held on American territory, but the relocation of canoeing to Havana was one of the guarantees that made the retroactive decision of the government and the country sent a delegation to Ponce.

A major one occurred when the Organizing Committee attempted to move several of the events to the San Juan area,with the intentions of saving money and taking advantage of the existing infrastructure.This action provoked a heated debate between the sports community and the mayor of Ponce Rafael Cordero Santiago, stayed his arguments managed to maintain its arguments and managed to convince ODECAC so that the event could continue in the city.

The arguments convinced the autoroties and the games remained in Ponce, which continued as the main venue of the event.

[8] The Games centered on the Francisco Montaner Stadium.Around 20,000 people were at the venue during the opening ceremony.At the event,the cauldron was lit by basketball player Juan “Pachín” Vicéns, having received the torch from the Puerto Rican silver medalists that participated in the 1930 Games in Havana.These were Eugenio Guerra and Manuel Luciano, as well as from Rebekah Colberg, the first Puerto Rican woman to win gold in the 1938 Games in Panama.

[9] The opening ceremony occurred in the midst of the use of special effects as laser rays,smoke,and plus local plena music,including vejigantes, including local musical icons as world know singer Chayanne and the El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico.

The XVII Games witnessed the world records in weight-lifting by the Cuban athletes William Vargas and Pablo Lara.

The plaque was then added to the podium structure at the Pedro Albizu Campos Park in Ponce, Puerto Rico, where it currently remains.