Chile begins construction of a second border trench on the border with Bolivia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Chilean Interior and Public Security Minister Rodrigo Delgado announced Saturday (5) the construction of a new trench at the Colchane customs border complex to curb the migration crisis and drug trafficking in the northern macrozone.

The new construction, which began Monday, complements the trench in the border area between Colchane and Pisiga (Bolivia) on Chile’s northern border that was serviced a few weeks ago.

In this regard, Delgado explained that “as we had already indicated, maintenance was carried out on the 600-meter trench on the border with Bolivia and that it is a trench that was built five years ago.”

“But due to sediment, the passage of time, and often human intervention, especially criminal gangs trying to build bridges or slow down the ditch to get through with their vehicles or drug trafficking, that ditch was pretty worn out. Therefore, today we have 600 meters with a standard depth of three meters and fairly rigorous maintenance,” said the minister.

Regarding the new construction in the area, Delgado said that “on the north side of this trench there is the possibility of growing, which is exactly what is being done, which is a new trench that runs parallel to the border with Bolivia and runs parallel to a trench that already exists on the Bolivian side, but not on the Chilean side, so there are about 300 meters that will grow north of the current trench, where the border complex itself is located.”

Meanwhile, the head of the National Defense (JDN) of the province of Tamarugal, Brigadier General Marcos Jaque, confirmed that “today we started the work that will be extended until the end of the constitutional state of emergency in force in the province, so depending on the nature of the terrain we will advance as much as possible, but of course, we will do our best to achieve optimal extension.”

He also stressed that “the creation of these works will have a positive impact on the control that we carry out at the border, as it will allow us to better protect the security of the inhabitants of the province and, therefore, of the region, and prevent illegal migration and drug trafficking that arise from unauthorized border crossings.”

The general did not rule out the possibility of new work in other areas, “This is something that we will analyze depending on the needs we see.”

With information from Infodefensa