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Everyone approaches the subject from different perspectives, but agree that the Executive should extend the benefits to other companies that are also hard hit by the crisis caused by the coronavirus.
The important media add questions to the long list of questions that have already been prepared by other journalists, congressmen and even control entities such as the Attorney General’s Office, which asked the Government 18 questions, and the Comptroller’s Office, which said it will follow up on those resources, regarding the disbursement that the Government announced last weekend for Avianca, a company that is based in Panama and whose main shareholder and owner, the Brazilian Germán Efromovich, is detained in Brazil for investigations related to corruption.
Anko van der Werff, CEO of the company, explained this Tuesday, the day the flights in the country were reactivated, the reasons why he believes that the airline should be considered Colombian, among them, the fact that, the year Last year, it paid 800 million dollars in taxes in Colombia.
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To show that in addition to Avianca there are also more actors in that sector, El Tiempo, for example, highlights the figures that support the Executive’s argument behind the decision to rescue that airline: “While [Avianca] generates about 20,000 direct jobs, the national airline industry maintains about 62,000 jobs; its supply chain, another 76,000, and passengers and tourists indirectly support more than 400,000 jobs in the national territory.
“At a time when a significant part of the business sector is going through times of financial uncertainty, it is imperative that the aid be distributed in an equitable manner”, Underlines this medium. “In other words, not all companies generate the impact that Avianca has, but each one, in its size and in its sector, today requires that the Government reach out to it. It would be very positive if this loan to Avianca were part of a more comprehensive rescue strategy, for example, from the air sector that includes similar support to the other airlines ”.
El Espectador, for his part, also admits that the Government’s lifeline to the company is “a measure that will protect many jobs in Colombia“, But assures that” it would be fair “to support other airlines, as the Executive who is considering it has said, although, for now, President Iván Duque has only defended the loan to Avianca.
“The questions, however, point to whether this is the best way to invest in times of crisis, when so many Colombian companies have gone bankrupt waiting for help from the State, and also in the case of an airline plagued by administrative and corporate mismanagement, whose headquarters taxation is Panama. Will the guarantees agreed and negotiated by the Government be enough for the generosity of Colombians to be rewarded? Or, with the passage of time, will Avianca’s actions continue to generate just indignation among Colombians? ”, This newspaper asks.
Another medium that admits that a collapse of Avianca “would be very serious” for Colombia is El Nuevo Siglo, which also asks if “will there be the same procedure (although in lower amounts naturally) for other airlines operating in the country?”
“They have also been severely hit by the immobilization of air transport during the pandemic. And they have also resorted to the doors of the Ministry of Finance in search of financial aid “, warns this newspaper. “[…] There would be no justification that this time only Avianca was assisted with official credits for business restructuring, and not to the other companies that provide public air service in our country. Discriminating would be a devious blow to competition, which is so much needed to promote for the benefit of users in the activity of the public air service ”.
This Tuesday, El Colombiano echoed the letter that the attorney general, Fernando Carrillo, sent to the Government in which he recalls that, under the protection of the health emergency, The Executive can support companies that carry out activities of national interest.
The Antioquia newspaper recalls that the Government has also based its decision on Fedesarrollo estimates, according to which, without Avianca, rebuilding air connectivity would take 5 years and the Colombian economy would stop receiving 20 trillion pesos. But it includes the perspective of the Prosecutor, for whom “the treatment must be available to all airlines that require it.”
“All these companies are affected by the pandemic and the future is not clear for any of them,” concludes this media, “because they suddenly lost their demand while they had to pay fixed, variable and financial costs.”
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