The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this Thursday that 40 Portuguese citizens were stranded in Peru, in the regions of Cusco, Arequipa and Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu), due to the closure of airports and rail and road traffic due to protests. , which created instability in the country after the removal of the Peruvian president.
“The MNE is aware of 40 Portuguese citizens who are in the regions of Cusco, Arequipa and Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu) and are stranded due to the closure of airports and road and rail links,” the ministry said in a statement, ensuring that “all said citizens are safe” and are in constant contact with the authorities.
Among the 40 Portuguese are ten young people who traveled to Peru last week, including a group of seven detained in Arequipa and one in three in Aguas Calientes, according to reports from the parents of the young people in Luso.
The Portuguese Embassy in Lima “has taken steps with the Peruvian authorities” and is also in contact with the Portuguese and their families in order to be able to expel the Portuguese from the country, the MNE adds.
The closure of Peruvian airports, as well as the suspension of road and rail traffic, has prevented a return to Portugal, according to reports from parents who say young people are safe.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs specifically urges “Portuguese citizens in Peru to avoid land travel”: “Non-essential travel to and from Peru is not recommended,” a statement released this Thursday said.
Lusa spoke to the parents of two groups of young people trapped in Arequipa and Aguas Calientes. All ten of these young men were medical colleagues – some from the University of Coimbra and others from Lisbon – passed the national exam and decided to go to Latin America.
The group of seven began their journey through Brazil, to Rio de Janeiro and then to Peru, where they are kept in a hotel in the second largest city of Arequipa.
“They were trapped in a hotel in Arequipa, where they arrived with great difficulty. On Saturday evening, they were detained as they continued on the Pan-American Highway towards Cusco. were cut by demonstrators,” said Lusa Paula Rodriguez, the mother of one of the 24-year-olds.
The group was supposed to return to Portugal by now, but was still stranded about 1,200 kilometers from the capital, from where a return flight was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
A group of three young men, also recent medical graduates, are stranded in Aguas Calientes, a small village near Machu Picchu.
The mother of one of the girls, Paula Casimiro, told Lusa that the group arrived in Peru last Thursday after a week-long holiday in Colombia.
“Today they were supposed to return to Colombia to then take a plane from Colombia to Portugal, but they got stuck,” said the mother of the 23-year-old.
When they arrived in Peru, they had to change their travel plans due to the instability in the country, and they went to Cusco.
“On Tuesday they boarded a train in the middle of the mountains and when they arrived at Machu Picchu they were told that they would never leave because there was no return train. Yesterday they were informed that train traffic was suspended for an indefinite period. I don’t know when they will leave. to resume connections, as there is no other way out of this place,” he said.
Three young people are in the hotel along with more than 700 tourists who are also in the same situation.
Paula Casimiro says that “the situation is calm in this place” and that the biggest problem is the inability to leave due to the fact that communications are cut and the fear “that there may not be enough food or other essentials.”
Since other EU citizens are also in Peru, “there are contacts with diplomatic representatives of other EU countries in Peru, as well as with the head of the EU delegation in Lima,” the source explains. MNE.
According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 2020, 242 Portuguese citizens were registered at the Portuguese Embassy in Lima.
On Wednesday, the government of Peru’s new head of state, Dina Boluarte, declared a state of emergency across the country for a period of 30 days “to control acts of vandalism and violence committed during protests” against the removal of the former president. Pedro Castillo.
The former president was detained last Wednesday by bodyguards on his way to the Mexican embassy with a request for political asylum. He is accused of “mutiny” and on Thursday the Supreme Court, at the request of the attorney general, ordered that he be kept in pre-trial detention for seven days.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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