Duty-Free: Argentine Family Has Lived In Brazilian Airport For A Month
17 July 2009, 11:36 AM. By Alex Alvarez
An Argentine family (who had been living in Panama) has been staying in Río de Janeiro’s International Airport since June 11th because they do not have enough money to get back home. The family, comprised of mother Liliana Sava, her husband, and their three daughters (ages 6, 5, and 2) have managed to obtain food and toiletries with the help of sympathetic airport employees and a police officer who has been looking out for them.
The family refused the Argentine Consulate’s offer to pay their way to Buenos Aires. They had initially traveled to Argentina to visit Liliana’s ailing father, only to discover the situation was more dire than they’d thought and her mother had been forced to sell most of her belongings to pay for her father’s care. When asked why the family did not seek help from Panama, their place of residence, Liliana indicated that the family might be there… less than legally and that it was their “temporary” home. Liliana had initially taken up the consulate’s offer to house her and her family in a nearby hostel, but said she returned to the airport because it had been a bad environment for her daughters.
The family has been asking for someone to help pay for a flight into Roraima, Brazil’s northernmost and least populated state. Once there, Liliana says, she is confident the family will be able to return home. She says a friend was initially supposed to pay their way back, but couldn’t go through with it for lack of money.
Liliana has taken to washing her daughters in public restrooms and having her family sleep on the benches in the airport cafeteria. One of her daughters, Bianca, celebrated her 5th birthday in the airport, and employees brought her balloons, gifts and a cake.
Hey, it’s kind of like The Terminal. Only TERMINALLY IRRESPONSIBLE.
And that’s all we’ll say on what we think of this family’s choices. But, hey. Feel absolutely free to weigh in with your own thoughts.
Una familia argentina vive desde hace un mes en un aeropuerto de Río de Janeiro [Clarin]
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WTF? This makes no sense. How did they end up in Rio in the first place? Why were they traveling without return tickets and why was the WHOLE family going? You don’t undertake a trip like that without some backup resources…And why do they not want to go to Bs As but figure that it will be easier (WTF????) to get home from northern Brazil (which, last time I checked, is a hell of a lot farther from Argentina than Rio is)? Somthing’s reaaaaally odd here.
They want the Brazilian residence or something! Their family here in argentina doesnt want to give them many to return to buenos aires.
And they also have problems with the panama residence.
But its also a very strange situacion.