Arriving to Tocumen International Airport, Panama, September 2021

My trip to Europe has come to its end and I am now in a full working mood: energised and working out pans for weeks to come, despite suffering from the jet lag!

The scanning of my professional emails yesterday made it clear that COVID has taken a major toll on lives of vulnerable communities across South America, causing sever food insecurity, loss of income, contributing to localised conflicts, depriving people from mobility (just to name a few of the concerning headlines). This translates into humanitarian sufferings of many literally in all of the countries of Latin America, but it is Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Chile and indeed Venezuela that keep on appearing in my 'list to do' issues. In addition, we are still extremely busy with the response to the earthquake in Haiti and worried about the hurricane season that is ongoing in the Caribbean Sea.

In view of all of what is happening, I am trying to prioritise my projects and field visit missions. As it seems initially, I would be trying to visit Chile (migration crisis), Brazil (COVID related projects) and Argentina (support of the indigenous communities) sooner rather than later.

As things become clearer, I will surely be updating you on how things develop soon!