Migrants boarding a special Vuelta a la Patria flight, paid by the Venezuelan government to bring back stranded migrants to Venezuela this Sunday, May 7, 2023. Photo: El Diario.
Migrants who were stranded at the Chile-Peru border arrive in Venezuela
A total of 115 Venezuelans were repatriated with the Venezuelan government program know as Plan Vuelta a la Patria, after the migrants had been stranded at the border between Chile and Peru.
A plane, belonging to private Venezuelan airline Estelar, left this Sunday, May 7, from northern Chile with 115 Venezuelan migrants, on a repatriation flight for people who had been stranded for weeks at the border with Peru.
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Conviasa, the Venezuelan state-owned airline, is usually in charge of Vuelta a la Patria flights, however some analysts believe that the use of Estelar might be a consequence of US sanctions affecting Conviasa, along with Chile’s servile institutional framework toward Washington orders.
In a tweet, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil wrote: “In an operation achieved thanks to the logistical and economic support of the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, under instruction from President Nicolás Maduro, the Plan Vuelta a la Patria managed to repatriate 115 compatriots who were stranded at the border between Chile and Peru.”
En un operativo logrado gracias al apoyo logístico y económico del Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela bajo instruccciones del presidente @NicolasMaduro, el Plan Vuelta a la Patria logra repatriar a 115 connacionales que se encontraban bloqueados en la frontera entre Chile y Perú. pic.twitter.com/STTccAw1Ti
— Yvan Gil (@yvangil) May 7, 2023
Hundreds of migrants seek to leave Chile due to the tightening of immigration controls and increase in xenophobic incidents.
On behalf of the government, Venezuelan deputy foreign minister for Latin America, Rander Peña, went to the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía to welcome the returning migrants.
In statements made to teleSUR, Peña rejected the opposition promoters who maintain that it is better to leave Venezuela, even though the opportunities for expatriates to find work are increasing in the Caribbean country.
Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry posted a message on social media platforms stating that “with the return of compatriots from Chile, the Bolivarian Government continues to demonstrate its firm commitment to the well-being and dignified living of Venezuelans beyond the borders.”
Through the Plan Vuelta a la Patria, 30,000 people have returned from 25 nations, who were victims of the migration induced by more than 900 unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States and its European allies. The flights of this free-of-charge government program were suspended by Chileans authorities a few years ago.
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Nonsensical statements by Boric
Since 2016, right-wing governments in Chile, like the one of Sebastian Pinera, have exacerbated the amount of Venezuelan migrants by explicitly inviting Venezuelans to “escape Maduro’s dictatorship” and, for a few years, providing facilities for Venezuelans to migrate, thus promoting massive migration, until the number of migrants became unmanageable by the weak economic and institutional capacity of the South American country.
President Gabriel Boric has been a vociferous critic of the Nicolás Maduro administration, serving as a mouthpiece for the White House narrative against socialist countries, to the extent of making interventionist statements on Venezuelan internal affairs. The statement were met without response, most of the time, from the Venezuelan government, out of Latin American solidarity and friendship.
🔴 AHORA | Pdte. Boric sobre vuelo para migrantes venezolanos repatriados: “Es un triunfo diplomático, del diálogo y de quienes buscamos soluciones”
📡 Sigue la transmisión en vivo: https://t.co/z3FWDjeRxP #CNNElección pic.twitter.com/WbBROKYEZe
— CNN Chile (@CNNChile) May 7, 2023
After the initiation of this first repatriation flight by the Venezuelan government, financed by Plan Vuelta a la Patria, Boric made some statements during the opaque Constituent Assembly elections, that made little sense for many Venezuelans.
“I congratulate the Foreign Ministry, ours led by Alberto Van Klaveren, and the Venezuelan one, for having put humanity first and not conflicts,” said the Chilean president, implying that the Venezuelan government had initiated conflicts with the Chilean government.
“When we work towards solutions, and not to exacerbate conflicts or try to obtain political benefits, we all benefit,” added Boric, implying that the Venezuelan government is responsible for exacerbating conflicts, when in reality it is his government that acts as the obedient US lap dog in the region, by constantly attacking Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/DD
