After holding a press conference in which he confirmed that Colombia would offer asylum to Afghan immigrants fleeing from the control of the Taliban movement that had just taken over their country, the President of the Republic announced Evan Duque had given new information on the cities to which they would be sent, Temporarily, these people.
At least this is reported by the RCN Radio Information System, which confirmed that the head of state warned during his trip on Friday August 20 to Barranquilla that The mayor of that city, Bogotá (Claudia López) and the governor of Bolivar, expressed their willingness to grant asylum to immigrants, who will pass through the country while the United States resolves their immigration status.
In his words:
“Today I received calls from several mayors, here the Mayor of Barranquilla Mr. Jaime Pomarigo expressed his interest in me, the Governor of Bolivar Dr. Vicente Blél expressed his interest and the Mayor of Bogotá also called and expressed his interest Interest in cooperation, how do you cooperate? Looking for those logistical facilities Which, as I said, the United States will pay.
It should be noted that a quick look at the social networks of the aforementioned officials, their departments and their websites, Show no reaction from any of the three Regarding the announcement made this afternoon in coordination with the Ambassador of the United States of America to Colombia, Philip S. Goldberg.
In fact, there were no reactions to the announcement of other political leaders interested in getting to the presidency of Colombia. Like Gustavo Petro, Sergio Fajardo or Óscar Iván Zuluaga. Speaking of which, on the other hand, it was the country’s Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marta Lucia Ramirez, who indicated via Twitter that:
“Colombia reaffirms its solidarity with the Afghan people, especially with women who suffer from the fear of having their freedoms restricted. We support the United States in its 100% funded initiative to welcome Afghan citizens in transit to the United States. Solidarity and humanity, values Colombia.”
It should be noted that, as President Duque explained this afternoon, “Today what we have begun to build at the highest level with the United States is being achieved today, and that is Colombia also joins the group of allies that will provide support to the United States for the citizens of Afghanistan, They have provided assistance to the United States for years and are in the process of registering and transferring immigration to that country, so that they may be in Colombia temporarily.”
According to Duque, these tasks will be carried out in close coordination with the North American country, Bearing in mind that this is the person who will bear all the costs of caring for these immigrants, As well as speeding up the necessary procedures so that refugees can return quickly, within the framework of the temporary, to the United States, to regularize their immigration status.
For his part, the ambassador of that nation described the cooperation announced by Duque as generous and said: We appreciate your response to the appeal to provide humanitarian support to the Afghan nationals who have worked with us. To spread democracy and freedom in a region where those basic values that our two countries cherish are scarce.”
So far there is no certainty about how many immigrants will arrive in the country, let alone when they will arrive or how long they will stay before traveling to the United States. however, a Wall Street Journal report confirmed that Colombia would receive a total of 4,000 Afghans.
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