She is terminally ill and has been fighting bureaucracy since the pandemic began in order to reunite with her family

Yanina Size lives in Salto (Uruguay) with her two children and her husband. But she works in Concordia (Entre Ríos) and treats her illness in Buenos Aires. When the coronavirus pandemic began, she was on one side of the Uruguay River and her family on the other.

They have not been together since March of last year, although they had a brief reunion in December. In the same situation there are about 200 families in that area and there are as many of the passes through Gualeguaychú and Colón.

Decisions on restrictions due to the pandemic taken from Buenos Aires for the entire country have had some undesirable consequences.

These problems have remained latent or have worsened over time, a product not only of major emergencies but also of the distance that exists between the place where the problem occurs and the decision center that must intervene. One of them is that of Yanina Size.

She is a therapist and is in the first line of care for COVID-19, a disease that last year had her 24 days out of combat. She works at Concordia in her office and, in addition, she is an oncology patient. The treatment and the doctors who treat her are in Buenos Aires.

Her partner, Luis, 53, is Uruguayan and has the same profession. They have two children: Vito, 11, and Felipe, 9. They all live in Salto and, in the pre-pandemic normality, Yanina traveled periodically between one city and another. But the Coronavirus changed everything.

After the declaration of quarantine and the closure of borders, throughout 2020 she remained on the Argentine side with the boys without Luis being able to see them. Since December it is the other way around: the children were left on the Uruguayan side with the father and the one who suffers the separation is the mother.

The cities of Concordia in Entre Ríos and Salto (ROU) are separated by the Uruguay River and linked by the international bridge built over the Salto Grande dam since the early 1980s.

This physical connection forged a strong integration process, which makes both towns almost the same urban nucleus. So much so that the Inter-American Development Bank will finance a binational airport on the Argentine side.

A long way

At the end of last year, Yanina and her children crossed to Salto for the family reunion. But then she had to come back because she had a consultation with the oncologist in Buenos Aires. In the meantime, Argentina imposed new restrictions on border traffic and the family split up again.

To comply with the procedure defined by the national authorities, once you have passed to Salto Yanina, you would have to return to our country traveling to Montevideo by bus. From there, go to Argentina by Buquebus or by air and from Capital Federal to Concordia you should board another bus.

Namely: Instead of returning on a 30 km journey (the distance that separates the Uruguayan city from Argentina), Yanina would be forced to make a journey of 1,100 kilometers.

Along the way, if affected by COVID-19, it would be spreading the virus throughout the Uruguayan coast and the main Argentine city. If it is not, an oncology patient is being forced to unnecessarily expose herself to contagion. In addition, the economic factor must be added: the cost of the trip does not go below $40 thousand.

“We have been dealing with this problem for a year. But nobody listened to us. Now I am suffering what he suffered throughout the past year. The last time I was with my children was December 8”, she recounted.

“In my desperation,” she confessed, “this week we made a very foolish attempt. I went to the bridge and got to Customs. My children and father went to the Uruguayan Customs, on the other side. It was horrible because when they saw me, the boys wanted to hug me and they couldn’t, we had to meet and wave half a block away. And on top of that, the Gendarmerie fired them because we couldn’t be there. I never do it again. Because it was worse”.

Taking advantage of the narrowness of the Uruguay River at the height of the San Carlos Park in Concordia, Yanina goes there almost every day and greets her children who are on the eastern bank.

The same do other members of the group in another area, Nebel beach.

“Every time I talk to my children, I am distressed. That’s why every day I cycle 15 km to get the fight out of me so that my head doesn’t jump out,” she confessed to Infobae.

The extreme situation she faces makes Yanina see reality differently. When she speaks, you can see the anguish, the anger, however she remained calm throughout the talk.

This year she could not share the celebration of the 11 of Vito, her eldest son. The last family photo of a birthday celebration is when he turned 10. “Life for me is always a time off. I don’t want to miss another sunrise. If the civil servants have a heart as well as a body, this would have to be resolved soon”, reflected Yanina.

Claim

“We are about 200 families, all affected, from Concordia. And a similar situation is encountered at each border crossing. Something is happening to all of us that has to do with human rights. Nobody wants to go (to Uruguay) for a walk or shopping,” Yanina told Infobae.

These cases ended up forming the Puente Concordia Salto Group. They are people who carry out their activity on one side of the river (they work, study) and live on the other.

The prohibition to make the round trip between Concordia and Salto “is Argentine,” said Yanina. “If we get the permit, Uruguay lets us pass as a Uruguayan citizen or resident,” she added.

She also recalled that the group drew up a protocol to be able to carry out the crossing on a daily basis, as do the trucks that carry and bring merchandise. One copy went to the Deliberative Council of Concordia and another to the Chancellery. They never had an answer.

Neither did anyone from the national or provincial government come to be interested in the situation they are going through.

Last Sunday the 21st, the Puente Salto Concordia Group mobilized to the Argentine capital to protest the restrictions on passage. In addition to public demonstrations, they created a group on Facebook and Instagram to support each other and share their stories.

One of them is that of Graciela Inés González. “How can I be with my husband with chronic kidney disease, on dialysis and waiting for a transplant in Uruguay and at the same time be in Argentina for work and accompanying my mother, who has no other relative, with the land border closed?”, she asked herself.

Then she questioned that the PCR, quarantine and special care “are not measures to grant flexibility for the shortest way”, the 30 km between Concordia and Salto but yes “by Buquebus and 1,100 km of transit.”

Doris Correa is Uruguayan and has been in a relationship with a concordian for 10 years. For work, family and health reasons, she lived in Salto and he in the Argentine city. The impossibility of crossing the bridge has kept them apart for a year.

“Is it so complicated to enable the passage through the Salto Grande Bridge for people who have family ties, work, studies, in both cities? From the desks, the rulers can’t read our letters and think a little bit? ”, she criticized.