Mexico City, Mexico — Due to the unrest in Haiti, the Government of Mexico has repatriated 34 Mexican nationals. The 24 men and 10 women left the country by boat Sunday during a government rescue mission.
Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SRE), reported the Mexican nationals are returning home due to the security crisis in that country.
In a morning press conference with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the Secretary of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda Durán Monday, she detailed that 24 men and ten women were repatriated, four of whom Mexican embassy officials. Of the 34, seven were minors. Four pets were also part of the mission.
The two-part operation was carried out on March 31 by elements of the Secretary of the Navy.
“The Navy Secretariat ship sailed to waters near Haiti and rescued these 34 nationals who are already on their way back,” she said.
From the sea, a helicopter on board that ship flew to land from where the 34 Mexicans were ushered and returned to the ship for sail back to Mexico.
Mexico made the rescue by sea since many airports around the country are closed.
Through a video, the Secretary of the Navy announced that the transfer of 34 people and four pets in two flights of the Mi-17 helicopter from the ARM ship ‘Isla Holbox’ BAL-02 to the embassy of the Dominican Republic in Haiti, due to the closure of the airport.
“All those who return do so, of course, voluntarily so they can be safe. (…) This was a very important operation, very relevant to bring back the Mexicans and their families who were in Haiti,” the official explained.
The Navy Secretary ship is on its way from Haiti to Progreso, Yucatan. The arrival is expected for Thursday, April 4.
Criminal gangs who have been called more powerful than Haiti’s state security forces have taken over the country’s main city of Port-au-Prince, displacing more than 15,000 people.
