Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in South America, more than 23,000 Venezuelans have embarked on the road back to their country of origin, driven by quarantine restrictions and other obstacles and insults that have taken away their livelihood.
Guayaquil, an Ecuadorian city of about 2.8 million inhabitants, today occupies the second place with the most cases of COVID-19 in the country, only surpassed by the capital, Quito. A bleak panorama that has mobilized Ecuadorians and Venezuelans living in this coastal province.
Family groups, couples, single mothers and the elderly are the protagonists this Wednesday of a new flight of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria from Guayaquil, enabled by the Venezuelan Consortium of Aeronautical Industries and Air Services (Conviasa), under strict biosafety and protection protocols required by the WHO and the Presidential Commission for the Combat of COVID-19 in Venezuela, and under the certification of the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC).
Josua Chinchilla, a 17-year-old young man who left Venezuela three years ago with his younger brothers and his mother, suffered along his family difficult moments in a country that was not his, from which he longed to leave.
“Actually we are very happy because we can meet with our relatives again and because we are going to be able to enjoy all the beautiful things that Venezuela has”, said the young Venezuelan with emotion.
They have not been the only ones to make this decision; Freddy Ezequiel Colmenares, from Manabí, recounted how difficult it is to reside in this province and how “chaotic” the Ecuadorian health system turned out to be and the shortage of medicines and medical supplies necessary for COVID-19 care.
«I come from Manabi and I am very happy and grateful to be in my homeland again. It is the best joy of my life, I am going to see my family, my daughter, my wife, my mother, my brothers, with great joy I hope to see them and that they are well (…) Anyone who is out there, turn back to your homeland that we are waiting for you here”, said Colmenares.
Upon arrival at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, the 80 Venezuelans were received by medical-health personnel and the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, among whom the Vice-minister for Latin America, Rander Peña, stood out.