Natasha Niebieskikwiat
06/01/2020 - 9:12
- Clarín.com
- Politics
From this weekend until Sunday, June 7, there will be a new round of 19 international flights to try to bring another 4,000 Argentines stranded abroad. The crisis surrounding those who remained outside the country when the country's borders were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, consumed most of the energy and resources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship.
Many of these exceptional trips to Europe, Oceania and Latin America will continue to be made by Aerolineas Argentinas, which despite the sharp adjustment in staff salaries just announced by its authorities, operated all this time only to bring stranded abroad. He also made dozens of flights to China to bring up to 400 tons of hospital supplies that the Nation and the province of Buenos Aires bought from the Asian country.
The stranded paid their passages but also received some aid from the Foreign Ministry. They came in Airlines, or in companies authorized to enter in an exceptional way, also under the mode of contracted charters. And there were flights by the Air Force to bring Argentines from Peru and Ecuador.
The situation became relatively calm, and Foreign Minister Felipe Solá reported that since March 17 -when the flights began to face their first difficulties in entering the country and were only exceptionally authorized- 80,000 Argentines entered the country in more 300 flights.
In turn, his chief of staff, Guillermo Justo Chaves , told a Mendoza channel that only 10% of the 210,000 Argentines who were abroad had to return , and that they entered by air and land.
By the way, according to official sources, Aerolineas Argentinas will take over a flight that Air New Zealand was to make , which announced that it was no longer operating in Argentina. In the Government they affirm that the company had promised to bring stranded from New Zealand but that in the end it gave up. And that as punishment, they prohibited him from continuing to operate his cargo flights that were still in operation. Clarín was still unable to obtain the company's version.
Until now, the return operation of the stranded by the Foreign Ministry has always depended on authorizations from the ministries of Transport, Interior, Defense and Health. Although at a certain time it established a maximum entrance for Ezeiza of 700 people, in the end no more than 400 entered . According to they affirm, that the number looked for a strict sanitary control.
"We are pleased to announce that this week we are going to bring all the Argentines who were in Cuba and the Dominican Republic from a charter flight from Aerolineas Argentinas that will connect Havana and Punta Cana with Ezeiza," said Solá. "In addition, 35 Uruguayans who were there will come in solidarity with the brother country," added the minister.
PDL