Gov’t denies request for 7th commercial flight to take out Americans

The Government, through the National COVID-19 Task Force with the President having the final say, has now denied approval for a commercial flight to take Americans out of Guyana to Miami next Friday.

This follows the blunt refusal of the President to allow observers of the Carter Center back in the country to observe the recount process.

The U.S. Embassy was hoping that the observers could come in on the flight next Friday, but the U.S. Ambassador was Friday sharply told that America should respect Guyana’s COVID-19 guidelines.

The airport has been closed since March 13 but authorisation is given for certain flights to come in. The Government has been routinely allowing flights in with oil workers from multiple countries.

In fact, it has so far allowed permission for six flights into Guyana to take out Americans. The last flight was on May 4.

That flight was coming to Guyana empty and a request was made to have the Carter Center observers join that flight from Miami.

“The Center deployed an observer to Miami who was prepared to travel to Georgetown…but unfortunately, his flight was denied approval to carry international election observers,” The Center’s Atlanta headquarters said in a statement.

Though the Carter Center, through the U.S. Embassy had reached out authorities to ascertain what requirements they need to fulfil, they have been blanked and it is unlikely that any future requests would be entertained by the President.