The Chilean consul in the Argentine city of Rosario, Fernando Labra, has died this Wednesday after confirming that he had contracted a coronavirus, as reported by the Chilean Foreign Ministry in a brief statement.
“The Ministry of Foreign Relations deeply regrets reporting the sensitive death of the Chilean consul general in Rosario, Argentina, counselor Fernando Labra Hidalgo,” the Chilean government has indicated.
Labra, who was in isolation at a clinic in the Argentine city after he tested positive for Covid-19, had 38 years of diplomatic career behind him.
The Chilean authorities wanted to highlight his work, which he carried out with “great self-denial and professionalism”, as well as his “vocation for public service and his commitment to provide aid to compatriots, particularly the most vulnerable.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Relations deeply regrets his loss and expresses his heartfelt condolences to his widow, who has accompanied him for so many years in the exercise of his diplomatic and consular functions at the service of the Republic,” the text said.
Chilean Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera has mourned his death and assured that Labra “was an impeccable career official.” “Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time,” he said in a message posted on his Twitter account.
“The departure of Fernando Labra obliges us to value the figure of our consuls, who with tremendous sacrifice and self-denial, carry out their work at the difficult moment humanity is facing,” he asserted.
Argentina has already registered 1,054 cases of coronavirus and 28 deaths so far. The first fatality was recorded on March 7.
