Related videos:
Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila was detained this Tuesday at Jorge Newbery Airport in Buenos Aires and was prohibited from entering Argentina, a country he traveled to in order to participate in the launch of the local chapter of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which is set to sail to Gaza next month.
Argentine immigration authorities did not provide detailed official explanations regarding the measure, although they technically cited "false tourism" as the reason for the ban.
Ávila's wife, Lara Souza, who was able to enter the country along with her daughter, recounted to the agency EFE what happened in the immigration hall: "The police told Thiago that he is not welcome in Argentina and that they would not let him enter."
Close sources to the activist indicated that the decision was not an administrative one: "The police were very clear that it was not an administrative decision nor from the security forces, but a political determination that came from high levels of the Government," added El Diario.
Ávila is the international coordinator of the Global Sumud Flotilla and recently participated in the Nuestra América convoy to Cuba, where he coordinated the arrival of a vessel at the port of Havana carrying between twenty and thirty tons of food, medicine, and solar panels from Mexico.
During the official event in Havana, the activist labeled Cuba as a model of sovereignty and dignity since 1959 and shouted slogans in support of the regime.
The detention in Buenos Aires is the second one experienced in less than a week. On March 25, he was held for more than six hours at Tocumen International Airport in Panama while returning from Cuba, and was released afterward.
The Argentine delegation of the flotilla decided to postpone the announcement of its participation in the mission and denounced the measure as "an undemocratic maneuver that criminalizes and proscribes, not only against the Global Sumud Flotilla and Thiago, but against all activists who defend the Palestinian people's right to be free," as stated to EFE by former provincial deputy Ezequiel Peressini, a member of the Argentine delegation.
The new flotilla to Gaza will depart on April 12 from Barcelona with more than 100 boats and nearly 3,000 participants, including doctors, educators, and specialists. In the first expedition, carried out in September 2025, Israel intercepted more than forty vessels and detained 473 crew members between October 2 and 3 of that year.
Filed under: