chargement...
Travel restrictions implemented by Morocco to avoid the spread of coronavirus have left hundreds of tourists unable to go home. In addition to French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch tourists, hundreds of Americans stranded in Morocco have addressed their authorities urging them to speed up their repatriation.
According to the Washington Post, nearly 200 Americans stranded in Casablanca have created a Facebook group after they claimed the consulate of their country did not help them. They are now calling members of the Congress to take action and arrange flights for them.
Gayle Guynup, 68, from California, told the newspaper that she was one of the people who went to the airport on Monday to try to find a flight. She said she felt «abandoned by her government».
The Washington Post recalls that the embassy’s website, last updated on Monday, urged, «US citizens in the high-risk categories identified for COVID-19 to contact the US citizen services at the Consulate General». Gayle Guynup estimated that among the Americans stranded in her hotel in Casablanca, almost all are over 60 years old. «I think a 60-year-old man would look like a teenager in this group», she says.
On Tuesday, the American embassy in Rabat urged, on its Twitter account, American citizens to try to book a seat on one of the 50 commercial flights that the British embassy in Morocco has set up for London until Thursday. On the same day, at least 80 other American citizens went to the neighboring American consulate together to request a meeting, which they were denied.
Nine Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Commission sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday asking that «Americans abroad should have full confidence that the State Department will support them abroad and will facilitate their efforts to return to the United States if they seek to evacuate».
