This Monday, journalist Félix de Bedout assured in La W that it was former president Juan Manuel Santos and his wife, María Clemencia Rodríguez, who were not allowed to board an Avianca flight who came from Canada to Colombia.

The event, which allegedly happened at the end of May, was initially mentioned last Sunday by journalist Héctor Abad Faciolince in his column in El Espectador entitled “Anonymous Abuse”. However, he did not reveal the identity of the former president who was not allowed to board the plane.

(Also read: Susana Correa responds to controversy over housing costs in Providencia).

Abad detailed in his column that despite the former president and his wife had already completed the immigration procedures, had the boarding passes and had checked the luggage, they were prevented from boarding the plane at the time of boarding and without explanation.

“When the citizen and his wife try to ask for explanations, they are given none. They simply repeat that they cannot board. Moreover, they ask them to leave, because they are in the way. Needless to say that the citizen is not drunk, that he has not been aggressive, that he has not broken any rules”, writes Héctor Abad.

According to what the journalist says in his column, his wife (María Clemencia) tried to find out the reasons why they had been denied boarding and they replied that “there are orders not to let your husband on board”but that she could travel alone if she wanted to.

(You can read: Pilots fell asleep in flight and missed destination).

Finally, the plane took off with their two pieces of luggage on board and they had to spend the night at the airport and buy a new ticket with another company to return to Colombia the next day.

Ultimately, the former president contacted Avianca to make the claim and request a refund of the money they paid for the ticketsbut after several months, according to Faciolince, they did not give him an answer.

“The Avianca manager promises to find out and give you an answer within 24 hours. To date, no response has been received and no money has been refunded. The suitcases have arrived safely, ”says the Faciolince column.

(You may be interested in: Uribe case: court summons ex-Congressman Álvaro Prada to court).

Airline Response

A document dated June 14 from the airline Air Canada responds to claim made by former President Santos to Avianca. He explains that after investigation, it was determined that there was a 9-minute delay on flight AC120 from Vancouver to Toronto on May 28.

“This delay in turn caused our systems to rebook your travel on the next available flight as the connection was deemed impossible. To complete this rebooking process, Air Canada had to take control of your e-ticket,” explained Air Canada.

According to the Canadian airline, this delay and flight change prevented Santos from boarding Avianca flight AV205. In addition to apologizing, Air Canada offered the former president a “one-time discount” of 25% off the base fare of his next flight.

(Keep reading: Did Avianca drop former President Santos from one of its flights?)

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