Global Courant
The recurring complaints about deficiencies at the La Aurora International Airport are not new, nor are they trivial. Nor is it just an isolated sector that denounces the same failures over and over again, for what they want to invoke sectarian attacks. Of course, on each occasion it is usual for the director of Civil Aeronautics, Francis Argueta, appointed on April 27, 2018 by José Luis Benito, Jimmy Morales’s Minister of Communications, to present excuses, distribute blame or try to belittle the accusations. .
Dirty or useless restrooms, lack of water, blackouts, suspension of air conditioning, lack of security in certain environments, disorder in passenger waiting areas, discretionary allocation of spaces in the air terminal or in hangar points are some of the repetitive items. The crisis reached such a point that on July 1, 2022, a “technical table” was installed (which, to be honest, is a euphemism to describe an entity of delay and distraction) with the supposed objective of promoting continuous improvement from the main gateway to the country by air. There were representatives of the Chamber of Tourism, the Association of Exporters, unions of Car Rentals, Weddings and Honeymoons; also Tourism and Health and Well-being, as well as important associations: airlines, tourist guides, museums, small hoteliers and travel agencies. On the state side there were delegates from the Ministry of Communications and from various legislative chambers, including the president of the Communications, Transportation and Public Works Commission, Vivian Preciado Navarijo, who stressed that the purpose of the “technical table” was to “recognize current problems to seek joint country solutions”.
Preciado offered to follow up on requests and complaints. He also announced a “follow-up” meeting. At that time it might sound pessimistic to predict the ineffectiveness of such a nondescript table, lacking leadership and any binding power and clearly destined to turn off an uncomfortable issue for the ruling party. A nine-hour suspension in the water service, which occurred last Wednesday, turned on the alerts of the precariousness of the airport. Civil Aeronautics said in a dismissive way that they are “routine problems of a facility.” This argument is revealing in itself, because it is not just another “installation”, but a strategic national infrastructure for the income of foreign exchange for tourism, exports and at the service of all Guatemalans who, for work, family or leisure reasons, have to do use of this door: it is the area that gives the first impression of Guatemala and also the last.
It should not be in the hands of a bureaucrat who washes it every chance he can, who has not generated sustainable solutions and whose conflicts of interest are denoted. The “technical table” had no result. There were no proposals or plans. If so, at least Congress would already have demanded a relief. The Executive must place in the DGAC a professional, competent, capable, ethical administrative profile. Thanks to official inaction, five years of mediocrity have passed, of patches, of covering leaks, of uncovering bathrooms, of apparent repairs, of emptying toilet paper cans under pressure from viral photos and many other excesses. La Aurora airport is unworthy of the wonderful country to which it serves as an entrance, and that must be changed. Because if the same mistakes and compadrazgos continue to be repeated, we are going to have the same bad results, or even worse.
