Bolivia inspects border milestones with Peru to reinforce the presence of its Armed Forces

By Carlos E. Hernández

Personnel from the General Directorate of Border Security Zones, under the Vice-Ministry of Defense and Development Cooperation of the Bolivian Ministry of Defense, inspected the border milestones with Peru “to guarantee the territorial integrity and the preservation of the Bolivian strategic natural resources”.

According to the director of the General Directorate, Willy Espejo, they “verified and checked the physical state of the milestones, the needs of the forward military posts, military units and municipalities, to promote the presence of the Armed Forces in the border security zones”.

The Ministry of Defense detailed that the Forward Military Posts, Major – Minor Port Captaincies, and border milestones dependent on the Mechanized Division I of the Army and the Fourth Naval District ‘Titicaca’ of the Navy, with jurisdiction over the borderline with Peru, were inspected, according to the Inspection Plan Hichocollo 23.

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The borderline separating Bolivia and Peru has an extension of 1,047 km and crosses the 8,300 km² Titicaca Lake, of which 4,996 km2, 56 %, correspond to Peru, and 3,304 km², 44 %, to Bolivia.

Regarding the units deployed on the border, the Army has the Mechanized Division I with its command established in the city of Viacha, department of La Paz, and includes the following:

• a Command and Services Battalion,
• a Mechanized Infantry Regiment,
• a Mechanized Infantry School Regiment,
• an Anti-Mechanized Infantry Regiment,
• an Anti-Mechanized Infantry Regiment,
• an Anti-Mechanized Infantry Regiment,
• one Anti-Tank Infantry Regiment,
• two Armored Cavalry School Regiments,
• two Mechanized Cavalry Regiments,
• one Mechanized Artillery School Regiment,
• one Mechanized Anti-Aircraft Artillery School Regiment
• and one Mechanized Engineering Battalion.

The Navy is present through the Fourth Naval District ‘Titicaca’, located in San Pedro de Tiquina, department of La Paz, and to which are assigned, among other dependencies and training centers:

• the ‘Tiquina’ Naval Base,
• the Naval Flotilla No. 3,
• the port captaincies of Tiquina and Guaqui,
• the Marine Infantry Battalion IV ‘Alianza’,
• the Mechanized Marine Infantry Battalion VI ‘Independencia,’
• and the Naval Military Police Battalion No. 4.

With information from Infodefensa