MIAMI, United States. – Some 100 Argentine tourists have been stranded in Havana since June 14 due to the retention in Argentina of a Venezuelan-Iranian plane under investigation for its alleged links with terrorist organizations, according to the newspaper Clarion.
This is the Boeing 737-300 registration YV630T, whose last registered flight between Cuba and Argentina occurred on Saturday, June 11, just after the outbreak of the scandal due to its alleged links to terrorism.
Cuban Aviation had contracted the charter flight of Estelar, a Venezuelan private airline close to the Nicolás Maduro regime, to cover the route between Havana and Ezeiza, Argentina.
After the scandal, the Argentine authorities have refused to supply fuel to the Estelar plane, for which the scheduled flights between the Island and Ezeiza were cancelled.
In accordance with Clarionthe Argentines stranded in Cuba were scheduled to return to their country on June 14 and then on the 16 and 18 of the same month, but all the flights were cancelled.
“Cubana de Aviación informs that it is canceling its operation to Buenos Aires scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, June 18 at 3:25 a.m. local time, taking into account that until the time of writing this email, 5:32 p.m. today, Friday, June 17, no The operational permits have been obtained and there is a refusal to supply fuel for the aircraft contracted by Cubana de Aviación to the Venezuelan airline Estelar,” reads a statement sent to passengers by Ricardo González Sánchez, representative of Estelar in Varadero.
Meanwhile, Argentine tourists have begun to denounce the situation and demand consular attention.
“Among us, Argentine tourists, there are people with labor problems, passengers suffering from heart problems, hypertension, whose medication has already run out and here Havanatur Varadero, which promised to obtain it, has not yet done so. We no longer know who to turn to so they can hire another airline to take us back to Argentina”, one of the tourists told Clarion.
“We communicated with the Consulate and the consul told us that the problem they have is that they should have presented documentation, because they intended to return us on a flight that was not authorized in Argentina to be able to fly on our soil. We have no news, no one communicates with us. We don’t know when we’re leaving, how we’re leaving, or if we’re leaving. We are in trouble and worried,” said Luis Alberto Gui, another of the tourists stranded in Cuba.
Meanwhile, Patricia Vega lamented that they find themselves “without answers of any kind, without certainties on the part of Cubana. We do not understand the reason why Cubana does not replace Estelar with another airline. Nobody gives us that answer, ”she denounced.
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