An Argentine woman was left stranded with her 9-year-old daughter in Albania, a country that has experienced eight days of anti-government protests that left at least 194 people detained. Agustina Vistalli has a kidney infection and is trying to return to Argentina because authorities in Albania refuse to operate on her, saying she is a tourist.
Student demonstrations have joined a broader movement against Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government, which began in opposition to a luxury tourism project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and his wife, Ivanka.
Vistalli, 47, moved to Albania three months ago with Shakti, her nine-year-old daughter, seeking a better life. She holds a degree in Political Science and International Relations and lost her job in Argentina after 20 years. She relocated after being contacted by an Argentine recruiter who recommended the position. “He lives in Dubai. He offered me a job as a hotel manager with a salary plus commissions. They told me I would earn 5,000 euros,” she told LN+.
La policía detiene a un manifestante durnte las protestas en TiranaARMEND NIMANI – AFP
But things did not turn out as promised. Vistalli was told she would live in Durrës, where there was a school her daughter could attend and a private home for them. Instead, upon arrival she was informed they would move to another town without a school and to shared housing already occupied by local residents and people from the Philippines. “I believed the conditions and took the chance for a better quality of life. We are trapped in this mess,” she said.
Vistalli has pyelonephritis: “It’s a kidney infection. I have a five-millimeter stone. I spent five hours doubled over with colic in an emergency room and begged them for a painkiller, and they said, ‘No, you’re a tourist.’”
The woman is staying 35 minutes from Tirana, the Albanian capital, and traveled there risking her and her daughter’s safety to try to get medical attention. “My health is very serious. We are at risk. When we went to a hospital there, we were caught in a shootout between police and students in the main Skanderbeg square. By chance nothing happened to us. We had to run away while I was having kidney pains,” she lamented.
El calvario de una argentina varada en Albania
She said her employer had promised a return ticket to Argentina. “Now they don’t want to honor it. I only had a ticket to come here and I will probably need surgery to remove the stone. I’ve been in pain for 20 days,” she explained. Vistalli works seven days a week for about ten hours a day, sometimes with fever and taking medication for her condition.
“We are under great distress. I’m here with my 9-year-old daughter, both of us alone, going through a very difficult situation. When I try to go to Tirana for treatment they tell me I can’t because everything is in crisis. They are killing each other,” she added.
Protestas en AlbaniaADNAN BECI – AFP
Vistalli contacted the Argentine consulate, but they told her there is no repatriation available at the moment: “They told me they cannot be repatriating people right now and referred me to the International Organization for Migration. They treated me very kindly and are trying to see how to help, but they also cannot guarantee they will pay for my return home.”
She also said her family cannot help: her father and her aunts have retinitis pigmentosa and cannot see. At the same time, her mother is undergoing lung cancer treatment and was recently operated on. “I can’t stand the violence any longer. All I want is to return home,” she concluded.
LA NACION
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