Nearly 1000 Americans stranded in Guyana taken home
The United States Embassy here has assisted close to 1000 Americans who were stranded in Guyana amid the COVID-19 pandemic be repatriated home.
Ambassador Lynch with Deputy Chief of Mission, Mark Cullinane seeing Americans off at the CJIA on Tuesday
The Embassy had secured permission from the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) for another relief flight to transport Americans who wanted to return home.
The Miami-destined Eastern Airlines flight departed the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on Tuesday.
To see these persons off, US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, and Deputy Chief of Mission, Mark Cullinane, were at the CJIA on Tuesday.
One of the persons who left on that flight was one of the Embassy’s US Marine guards, who ended his duty with recognition. In fact, Sergeant Coleman received an honorary certificate from Ambassador Lynch at the airport.
In a social media post the following day on the Embassy’s Facebook page, it said: “The Embassy has helped nearly 1000 Americans and their families return home through these repatriation flights over the last few weeks.”
US Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch with the US Marine who completed his tenure in Guyana
The US Embassy facilitated some 800 citizens here to return home last month.
The last batch to leave Guyana was on March 28 via a chartered Eastern Airlines flight, which has a capacity of 200 passengers per flight.
According to a recent social media post by Assistant Secretary for the US Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Michael Kozak, more than 60,000 Americans have been repatriated from more than 90 countries around the world since January 29.
Meanwhile, Canada and the United Kingdom have also been taking steps to repatriate their citizens from Guyana in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two foreign missions have been capitalising on the Eastern Airlines flights, urging citizens to catch the flight to the US and then take a connecting flight home.
Earlier this month, the Canadian High Commission facilitated the repatriation of 28 citizens on two chartered Trans Guyana Airways flights to Barbados, from where they connected to Canada via an Air Canada flight.
