Venezuela Repatriates 211 Fellow Citizens Stranded in Panama – Vuelta a la Patria Program
CARACAS (Sputnik) – The Venezuelan government repatriated 211 fellow citizens stranded in Panama through the Vuelta a la Patria program.
“This morning, in another deployment of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria, 211 Venezuelans arrived from Panama on three Conviasa flights to Caracas, Valencia (in Carabobo state, in the center of Venezuela) and Maracaibo (Zulia state, in the west) thanks to the efforts of the Bolivarian Government,” reported the Foreign Affairs Ministry through its Twitter account. Conviasa, the Venezuelan state-owned airline, currently faces harsh U.S. sanctions.
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#EnFotos 📸 | Está madrugada, en otro despliegue del #PlanVueltaALaPatria llegaron desde Panamá 🇵🇦 211 venezolanos en tres vuelos de @LAConviasa con destino a Caracas, Valencia y Maracaibo gracias a las gestiones del Gobierno Bolivariano. pic.twitter.com/8t2lrbtDJx
— Cancillería Venezuela 🇻🇪 (@CancilleriaVE) November 18, 2020
Ramón Velásquez Araguayán, Vice Minister for Air Transport and president of the Venezuelan Consortium of Aeronautical Industries and Services SA (Conviasa), mentioned that this action allows the reunion of these Venezuelans with their families during the Christmas season.
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Citizens were received at airports by health teams to comply with biosafety protocols and halt the spread of COVID-19.
According to the government the Plan Vuelta a la Patria has returned more than 20,000 Venezuelans to the country through free flights.
This plan, created by President Nicolás Maduro in 2018, establishes an air and land bridge for the voluntary return of migrants who are in vulnerable situations in other countries.
Featured image: Photo courtesy of MPPRE.
Translation: OT/JRE/SL
