The airlines and travel agencies say they work within the legal norms of the countries where they are operating from and are simply providing a service to the Haitian diaspora in South America.
The flights from Haiti became a lucrative business as restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus decimated tourism, according to the travel agents. Planes arrive empty to Haiti but return to South America full. Many of the Haitians go back to Chile and Brazil, rather than places close to the U.S. like Mexico, because they have visas and other legal paperwork to get into those countries. And having lived there, they can find jobs quickly to make money for the trip north.Some, like Amstrong Jean-Baptiste, also have children who were born in South America. The 33-year-old father of two said he spent $6,000 on a harrowing trip from Chile to Texas, only to be sent back to Haiti.
Most of the charters to Chile are on planes rented from SKY Airline, owned by the Chilean Paulmann family, which is worth billions. “Unfortunately, we have had many passengers who have not been able to board because there are people who stand outside with some kind of a list and some kind of uniform and they started charging, saying ‘You are not on the list, sir, but for $250 you can be added,’ and then they let them enter the airport,” Spode said.
Dan Foote, a former U.S. envoy to Haiti who resigned over the Biden administration’s handling of Haitians at the Texas border, said he is not surprised to hear Haitians expelled from the U.S. are making their way back to South America, and that businesses are lining up to help them. She said the flights run four times monthly on average and represent a minuscule part of SKY’s business.
The slogan of the Santiago-based agency is “travel with joy.” Reservations for flights are largely done through WhatsApp. The agency’s social media accounts have nearly 40,000 followers; they promote travel from Haiti to such countries as Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, Chile and Mexico. U.S. officials told the AP they were unaware of the charter flights from Haiti. Some South American nations have taken action to prevent their use by migrants and smugglers. Last year, Suriname stopped charter flights from Haiti and issuing visas to Haitians, according to Suriname’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.“What was strange was that in the middle of a pandemic, so many flights were arriving from Haiti ...
Flight data showed that 54 Azul planes flew charter flights from Port-au-Prince to Manaus. The flights stopped in October. That same month, the Brazilian embassy in Haiti stopped issuing all visas to Haitians, according to a document from the Brazilian ambassador in Haiti obtained by AP and Berkeley.
All told, he said it cost him about $7,000 to return to Tijuana, where he was trying to find a way back to the U.S. He’s driven, he said, by a determination to “have a good life” for his children.