MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian families abandoned at Sao Paulo airport; no humanitarian flights from Bogotá

Many Colombians have been caught at Guarulhos International Airport, located on the outskirts of Sao Paulo

More than two months after the coronavirus pandemic triggered worldwide lockdowns, much of the world is gradually reopening. But Latin America remains highly isolated by travel restrictions across the region.

Colombia has suspended all international flights until at least Aug 31, preventing its own citizens from returning by air. It has also suspended river and land border crossings with neighbors including Brazil.

As a consequence many Colombians have been caught at Guarulhos International Airport, located on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, the city with the lion's share of Brazil's coronavirus cases so far. The same airport saw a surge in traffic last week, when travelers descended on it hoping to beat a new United States ban on foreigners coming from Brazil.

Several of the Colombian families with children and others are eating from lunch boxes and donations and also take turns at an improvised kitchen set up outside the airport. They wash in the airport bathrooms using a small hose.

They are demanding humanitarian flights. But Colombia's foreign ministry said on Thursday no new flights from Brazil were scheduled until next week. Since late April there have been three such flights, taking a total of 346 people back to Colombia.

Though called humanitarian, Colombians must pay US$350 for the flights, and that is money many “imprisoned” at the airport do not have. Their calls for a free flight home have led nowhere so far.

“Under current regulations, this request is not possible,” the Colombian consulate in Sao Paulo said in a statement.