The Brazilian activist was held at the Airpark and received a deportation order when he tried to enter the country to participate in the announcement of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which plans to leave for Gaza with more than 100 ships and nearly 3,000 participants.
“We denounce that it is an anti-democratic, criminalizing and proscriptive maneuver, not only against the Sumud and Thiago Global Flotilla, but against all the activists who defend the right of the Palestinian people to be free,” former Córdoba provincial deputy Ezequiel Peressini, another Argentinian who plans to join the trip to the Mediterranean, told EFE.
The Argentine Government has once again established a clear position in the face of the entry of figures linked to radical international activism and political campaigns against strategic allies of the West. Within this framework, the administration of Javier Milei decided to prevent the entry into the country of Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, one of the coordinators of the so-called Global Sumud Flotilla, an initiative that promotes actions in support of Gaza and that maintains links with militant ultra-left organizations
in Latin America.The episode occurred this Tuesday, March 31, in the city of Buenos Aires, when the activist was held at Jorge Newbery Airport and was notified that he would not be able to enter Argentina. Ávila had traveled with the objective of participating in the announcement of the local delegation of the flotilla, which plans to sail again from Barcelona to the Gaza Strip next month. As reported by his environment through his Instagram account, the situation led to a deportation order
.
“The police separated Thiago from his family and are holding him under a deportation order in Buenos Aires,” they reported from their environment on the social network. In that same message, it was indicated that the activist had a ticket to fly this Wednesday to Barcelona, from where he planned to embark days later for Gaza as part of the new expedition. In response to inquiries from the EFE agency, authorities from the National Directorate of Migration and the Ministry of National Security did not provide official details about the specific reasons that led to the ban on entry into the country. However, from sectors close to the activism that organized the event, they offered their own interpretation
.“Technically they talk about false tourism,” Mónica Schlotthauer, a member of the Socialist Left/FIT Unidad and a participant in the Argentine flotilla delegation, told EFE. The situation was also confirmed by Lara Souza, Ávila's wife, who was traveling with him. According to her, the immigration authorities allowed her and her daughter to enter, but stopped the activist when they detected a warning in his documentation. “In the immigration room, the police told Thiago that he is not welcome to Argentina and that they would not let him in,” Souza told
EFE.In addition, he explained that the authorities informed him that there was “an alert” about his passport. After the episode, the local delegation of the Global Sumud Flotilla decided to postpone the official announcement of its participation in the convoy that plans to travel to the Palestinian enclave. In a statement, the organization assured that its activities will continue despite the decision taken by the Argentine authorities
Avila, identified as one of the coordinators of the Sumud Global Flotilla to Gaza, recently participated in the Convoy Our America to Cuba, a political and humanitarian initiative organized from different countries of the continent. In fact, on March 25, the Brazilian activist had also been held at Panama's international airport, where he stopped on his way back from Cuba after completing a mission with that convoy. The caravan had reportedly departed from Mexico carrying 14 tons of humanitarian aid and solar panels to the Caribbean island
.The new international flotilla bound for Gaza, a continuation of the expedition carried out last year, is scheduled to depart from Barcelona on April 12. According to the organizers, it will have more than 100 ships and nearly 3,000 participants, including doctors, educators, construction professionals and specialists aimed at documenting what they qualify as crimes in
the area.In the previous edition of this initiative, carried out in September last year, more than 50 boats from around forty countries sailed across the Mediterranean with the objective of breaking the blockade imposed by Israel. Between October 2 and 3, Israeli forces intercepted more than forty ships and arrested 473 crew members, according to data
released at the time.
