By Luis De Jesus
08 Mar 2024, 22:38 PM EST
Duiliana Sánchez, a Venezuelan migrant, has spent more than 30 days in the departure lounge of the Jorge Chávez International Airport in the city of Lima, Peru. Her situation is desperate: Immigration prohibits her from “re-entering” the country where she has resided with her family since 2019, all due to the lack of a visa.
For the 28-year-old, every day becomes an uncertain fight for freedom. “I feel like I’m in a coma, while the world is still outside and I’m here, trapped,” she lamented anguished, according to the Peruvian media. The Republic.
He lives in the terminal, where he is only allowed to eat and use the toilets. Her stay has become even more devastating when she faced alleged sexual harassment by an airport employee, she said.
His documents were stolen in Italy
Duiliana Sánchez’s odyssey began when she left Peru with a temporary residence permit to travel to Europe as a tourist. But in Italy, her documents were stolen. Forced to return to her country to obtain a new passport, she hoped to return to Lima before her permit expired, but her bureaucracies kept her stranded until the following year.
“My goal was to return to Lima before my Temporary Stay Permit expired, on November 30; However, due to bureaucratic issues, they gave me the passport the following year, on January 24,” he explained.
When he tried to return, Migrations denied him entry into the country. Since then, his home has been the airport, where he sleeps on the floor or in chairs.
The Ombudsman’s Office has asked the immigration agency to allow Duiliana to enter the country. According to a resolution, Venezuelans do not need a visa or passport to join her family in Peru. However, the reality of Duiliana is different.
Meanwhile, Migrations insists that Duiliana Sánchez does not have a visa and that her stay permit has already expired. For them, her presence at the airport is a choice and they have completely ignored her desperate situation.
“In the last 12 months, in strict compliance with the law, more than 660 foreigners of various nationalities have been denied entry to Peru through the airport’s immigration control post, for lacking a visa, a requirement established by the State. Peruvian for some countries for reasons of reciprocity and/or security,” the organization justified.
With the case now in the hands of the Judiciary, a habeas corpus is the Venezuelan’s last hope to be able to return to Peru and resolve her immigration status. Her fate hangs in the balance, while the clock continues ticking in an airport limbo full of uncertainty.
“I need to enter Peru because I am the main breadwinner for my parents, I am an only child,” she said.
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