Another nine Colombians evacuated from Ukraine arrived in Ecuador

Last week, Foreign Minister and Vice President Marta Lucia Ramírez reported that the humanitarian flight she had prepared to repatriate Colombian citizens from Ukraine was canceled; however, new alternatives were offered. That is why in the last few hours nine Colombians arrived in Ecuadorian territory on a humanitarian flight organized by that country.

On Monday, March 14, its third and final repatriation flight arrived in Ecuador, on which 189 people were on board, including 143 Ecuadorians and 32 Ukrainians, and nine Colombians. The nine compatriots and one Ecuadorian were then transferred to Quito, the capital, to continue their processes.

The foreign minister confirmed that, according to the most recent update of the Diplomatic and Consular Mission in Poland, 271 Colombians have been evacuated from Ukraine, following the military intervention that Russia initiated in that country. “To date, the census is 296 compatriots in Ukraine, of whom 271 have been evacuated. We need 24, of them 8, apparently, are not going to leave because they don't want to divide their families. We are attentive to the rest for the evacuation,” said Marta Lucia Ramirez.

In total, on all its flights, Ecuador has helped with the repatriation of 15 Colombians; as well as 655 Ecuadorians, 43 people of Ukrainian nationality, one Peruvian, one Belarusian and one Egyptian.

The vice-president also confirmed that 34 Colombians are currently staying in Warsaw and Bucharest, places where they are receiving guidance, accommodation, food and, in some cases, medical services.

It should be recalled that, in the past, the national Government made available a military aircraft to evacuate its nationals, mainly those who have managed to leave Ukraine and are refugees in Poland. However, at that time only 16 Colombians out of 271 expressed their desire to return to Colombia, which is why the plane was not available and other alternatives were sought to transfer those concerned.

“As the number of Colombians interested in returning to the country is very small, for that reason and for now, the humanitarian flight that we had agreed that President Iván Duque approved will not take place. So we are going to repatriate those 16 people with other options,” Ramirez explained at the time, adding that the national government has a census of 293 Colombians living in Ukraine.

Previously, on March 5, the first group of Colombians arrived in Quito on one of the first flights and last Wednesday a Colombian traveled on a Brazilian humanitarian flight. The latter as part of the alternatives that the Colombian State found to repatriate its compatriates.

“This cooperation has been done for more than 6 weeks with the common purpose of helping our compatriots, there is a Colombian who was already evacuated precisely with the support of Brazil came precisely Warsaw - Brasilia on March 13, we will also have the support of a humanitarian flight from Ecuador are 15 Colombians who are scheduled to arrive on that humanitarian flight, Ecuador had already brought us a group of Colombians over the weekend,” explained the foreign minister.

Different groups of evacuees have migrated to nearby countries in important cities in Europe, as mobility has been facilitated by the mass exodus of people from Ukraine, however, according to the Foreign Ministry there are others who have chosen to stay in the country for different family and personal reasons, some have even taken the decision to to enlist in the Ukrainian Army to deal with the conflict.

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