The departure of the first humanitarian flight with 350 people was confirmed on March 2, 2022. There are still 204 Ecuadorians inside Ukraine.
Juan Carlos HolguinForeign Minister of Ecuador, announced that, with a cutoff at noon on March 1, 2022, 498 Ecuadorians outside Ukraine. «All alive; all healthy in shelters, in hotels, in shelters, in families that have welcomed them », he said. Of that total, 313 are in Poland, 86 in Hungary, 47 in Slovakia, 17 in Moldova, 14 in Romania.
According to Holguín, 82% of those who have left the war zone have confirmed, after a one-on-one contact, that they want to go back to Ecuador.
“We want to inform you that our humanitarian flight which will take off tomorrow -Wednesday, March 2, 2022- will also pass through Budapest, and then to Warsaw. We expect you to arrive in Quito between 8:50 and 9:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, 2022,” he said.
That flight will take off full, with a capacity of 350 passengers, according to information from the authorities.
Another humanitarian flight coordinated with Mexico
Holguín thanked that, through the Mexican Government, there will be at least 20 additional places for Ecuadorians in a humanitarian flight what will come out of Bucharest, in Romania, during next Friday, March 4, 2022.
When that flight arrives at Mexico, The operation is already being put together, by Ambassador Francisco Carrión, to transfer the nationals immediately to Quito.
For his part, General Luis Hernández, Minister of Defense, assured that the “monumental work” of the Chancellery. “Most of Ecuadorians is safe and out of the war zone, in the midst of a situation where 660,000 refugees are already registered, in different countries bordering Ukraine. That number is equivalent to the population of Basin. The queues to get out were approximately 15 kilometers long. The Ukrainian authorities took about 60 hours to determine who can leave and who cannot, “he said.
Those who stay will sign a release statement
Holguín stressed that the humanitarian flightss they will go out with all those who want to return; and that with those who have not yet given their consent they are trying to change their minds one by one.
“Those who want to stay must sign a release statement where they fully assume their responsibility for staying irregularly. We take care of bringing safe and sound to the Ecuadorians who have decided to get out of a war and we are not going to promote any irresponsibility. We hope that everyone will leave, and I insist that there will be flights for everyone, “he said.
According to the authorities, a plan is being worked on with the Secretary of Higher Education, Science and Technology and the UNESCO office. The objective of this plan is to implement, from the moment of return of the Ecuadoriansinsertion policies so that they have “those opportunities that they did not have and they made them leave”.
On February 28, 2022, more than 300 telematic meetings were already held to evaluate case by case what the reality of the students who were in Ukraine. This analysis included what career they were studying and how they can be helped to continue their training.
For example, it has been determined that 303 Ecuadorians in that country were students of Medicine. For a good part of them, through Minister Garzón, the possibility is being opened up for them to come directly to Ecuador to do rural work.
????#EcuadoriansInUkraine | “The humanitarian flight has space for 350 people. We wait until Friday to receive them in Ecuador”, says the foreign minister @juancaholguinduring the press conference on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
– The Ecuador Time (@lahoraecuador) March 1, 2022
New humanitarian flights will open
The foreign minister called for calm and assured that all Ecuadorians who want to return will do so in the humanitarian flights that will continue to open in the next 14 days, which is the time they have according to international regulations to coordinate everything.
«With responsibility we are going to mention the next opening of flights. Our emergency protocol determines that there are no anxieties. We have hundreds of parents who are worried that their children are not going to arrive and we are going to leave them there. No Ecuadorian who decides to return is going to stay“, said
Currently, there are still 204 people inside Ukraine; However, Holguín did not rule out that there may be more because Ecuadorians entered the Ukraine at the hands of “unscrupulous” intermediaries.
«I want to differentiate Ecuadorians who have been contacted by us, but there are intermediaries whose business was to take Ecuadorians to study in Ukraine and to work illegally. That they give us the list of students who may not be reflected in our registration system », she stressed.
In addition, he recalled that, during last February 2022, while the Chancellery made measured calls for the Ecuadorians get out of Ukrainethere were people (intermediaries) who said that nothing would happen and They discouraged leaving.
«As one of the Ecuadorians who today appears on all social networks, in all media, as the star of Kiev. He said that nothing was going to happen to him and they didn’t go out because it was his business. We are not going to allow that here », he concluded. (JS)
#Ukraine made a special request to #China ???? in the middle of the war. We tell you ???????? https://t.co/RJdmzI7OvW pic.twitter.com/vmVsHw6E8L
– The Ecuador Time (@lahoraecuador) March 1, 2022
