After the Press Secretary deleted the tweet, Salvadorans ask for a public apology and stop stigmatizing them. They assure that little or no help has been received from the government in two months in which they have been quarantined.
The Legal Secretary of the Presidency said this morning in a morning interview that of 2,800 registered Salvadorans stranded abroadAbout 850 are infected with COVID-19 and that the government cannot bring them “because they are going to infect those who enter with them.”
The textual quote was published on the official Twitter account of the Presidential Press Secretary and later deleted, however users on social networks and stranded abroad took the screenshots to ask the government for evidence of these statements as they assure, Although they have asked to be tested, they have not had access to it.
The official’s statements have generated outrage among the stranded who claim that with this information that is generated “irresponsibly” by the government of Nayib Bukele they are being victims of stigmatization and discrimination.
“We do not want to be a political issue, what we ask is that this issue be seen as a human issue because that is what it is,” he says. Alejandro Ponce, who for two months has been staying in Managua, Nicaragua, trying to “subsist”. For the Salvadoran it is difficult to think that, with the plan presented by the Foreign Ministry to bring them to El Salvador, he has to spend 6 or 7 months away from his two-year-old daughter and his wife, and without being able to generate income for his family.
“We ask for a public apology from the government. We were amazed to see these statements in an official media, we began to ask for evidence, evidence because no evidence has been applied in the consulates. They are daring statements, there is no evidence to support them ”Luciana Villavicencio pointed out.
The stranded also ask that this kind of information be handled through the Foreign Ministry since statements of this type not only impact their families, but also favor stigmatization and fuel discrimination against them.
According to the account of several stranded Salvadorans consulted by this means, they have kept a strict quarantine for two months and express their concern that this is only one way of delaying the return plan that the Constitutional Chamber requested from the government.
“They just want to generate panic and lengthen our arrival in El Salvador, In any case, even if someone did have it (COVID-19), it is their right to return home, they cannot continue to violate our rights, “another Salvadoran woman who wanted to omit her name to avoid affecting her name, told elsalvador.com his family since one of his relatives is in a terminal state of health and is looking to return to be with him.
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“We do not explain where they get that information, I am in contact with people who have stayed in the US, Mexico … no one has been tested,” says Ponce.
Villavicencio adds that they are extremely concerned about the management that the State is giving to this crisis, he points out that the majority of stranded, with whom he is in contact, have been blocked from official Twitter accounts, a channel that the same government uses to give statements which can lead to more confusion and panic.
“They say there are 850 infected, that represents 30% of the stranded,” he adds, noting that the plan presented by the Salvadoran government to return them “is not a plan,” does not contemplate a schedule or flight schedule. “
Stranded with economic and emotional crisis
“We are Salvadorans inside and outside our country”, is the claim of these voices that for now seek to maintain closeness with their families in a virtual way, while seeking to help others in the face of the human drama that is perceived in virtual groups that they themselves have created.
They point out that the aid received by the consulates is little or nil. “There are people in the groups, where there are also representatives of the embassy who have said that they no longer have money to eat or to pay for the hotel. We have come together to help ourselves, collecting food or money to help, “says Alejandro Ponce.
Ponce points out that there are around 150 Salvadorans stranded in Nicaragua. “It is sad that our own government is creating a feeling of hatred and discrimination against society by giving unfounded statements,” he regrets.
After two months away from home and their families, many of these people are also experiencing anxiety and depression, so they organize to contact psychologists for help.
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“What we are only interested in is going back and hugging ours. This is all frustrating, “they exclaim.
Government assures that there is a plan
According to data from the Foreign Ministry, there are more than 4,800 people who stayed in around 70 countries unable to return to El Salvador following the emergence of COVID-19.
After the Chamber ordered the Executive to present a plan for their return, whose term expired on May 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered in late April to gradually repatriate them, prioritizing people with chronic diseases, children, pregnant women, older adults and people with disabilities.
According to the chancellor, Alexandra Hill, a kind of poll has been done of which people will benefit. Conan Castro said that they made a diagnosis of those who apply according to the established criteria.
“They talked about 100 people a week. You have to be transparent. The Salvadoran flight in Panama was organized by Argentina, those who arrived from Costa Rica paid $ 600 for the flight, the buses that arrived were organized by another organization, “adds Villavicencio.
President Bukele vetoed a decree of the Legislative Assembly that favored the return of citizens who have remained in transit or out of the country without being able to return, however Hill said, in previous statements, that the Government has a plan that it executes from from a survey of which people will benefit.
Despite the fact that the Chamber’s order has represented a light of hope for the thousands of Salvadorans stranded in 70 countries, they ask “to be more rigorous with this issue”, because in his opinion the plan presented by the government so far is unsustainable. “Economically it is not viable for us, we cannot survive abroad for so long and support our families. We want to return home and they cannot stop us ”, is the message they send.
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