“We have been traveling for 55 hours continuously, sleeping on the road and in the car. We are a group of seven students who lived in Kiev and after Russia announced the attacks we decided together with our parents to immediately leave the city and try to reach Poland”, María José Idrovo, an Aviation Engineering student, who in four more months planned to graduate and continue with a master’s degree in Ukraine, told this newspaper.
María José is 23 years old and together with her brother Francisco and three other students –Fernando, Xavier, Patricio, Roxana and Mishel– they were at 4:00 p.m. on February 26 at the last immigration control to leave Ukraine, where They waited hours to convince the police not to pay a $200 fine for not having updated immigration documents.
“We have passed the last immigration control and I am at the door of entering Poland, where there are entry controls. There have been thousands of vehicles in line. We will go to Lublin and, according to the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, in that city we will find a refuge for Ecuadorians”, he pointed out.
They only hope to get away from Ukraine for the time being and in the next fifteen days – which is the period given by Poland for Ecuadorians to stay in that country – to process their return to Ecuador.
There are many Ecuadorian students still stranded in the city of Lviv, which is on the border with Poland, but they do not have the resources or transportation to cross into that country.
The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, Juan Carlos Holguín, explained that Ukraine unilaterally resolved to allow only women and children from that country to cross the border. In an interview with this newspaper she said: “We are activating the diplomatic channels so that the Ecuadorians who are stranded on the border are allowed to leave.”
And he has asked the countries in conflict, Ukraine and Russia, to respect international law to protect the integrity of foreign citizens.
During the last hours, several Ecuadorians and other nationalities who try to enter Poland, are prevented on the Ukrainian side. We demand that the Government of Ukraine comply with what has been agreed, we make direct arrangements with its authorities.
– Juan Carlos Holguin (@juancaholguin) February 26, 2022
“There are several borders and in some they receive Ecuadorians in vehicles and other borders receive them because they have pedestrian lanes. If they make a mistake, they must walk between 30 and 40 kilometers to reach the indicated area,” said María José.
Until this afternoon, María José and her four companions said that on their long journey they have been watched at various points by the Ukrainian military, who do not allow them to get out of their vehicles or take photographs. Nor do they have the possibility of resting for more than 30 minutes outside the vehicles.
In Quito, his father, José Idrovo, and 20 relatives of students who are still in Ukraine, met in a chat to stay informed of the actions carried out by the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry in Poland and also to be aware of what is happening with each of the their children.
What the Foreign Ministry has done so far, he indicated, is to deliver a virtual document so that each student who arrives at the border presents this communication at the immigration post that guarantees them entry to Poland without rejection.
“We are devastated and desperate, knowing that they are in danger has us unable to sleep. No one from the government has communicated with us,” said Idrovo, who regretted that any decision the government makes now is late. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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