Colombia and Ecuador reopen border with restrictions

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After keeping the border with Ecuador closed, practically since the beginning of the sanitary emergency due to the pandemic of the new SARS-CoV-2, the way has been cleared for its gradual reopening.

The daily economic Portafolio reported that this process at the border would be carried out in three phases, the first of which began on Wednesday, between the province of Carchí, in the neighboring country, and the department of Nariño.

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The Ecuadorian vice-chancellor, César Montaño, highlighted that only the passage of goods would be allowed as the governors of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, and of Colombia, Iván Duque.

“(It will be) only over the Rumichaca international bridge, under certainly established schedules that have been previously negotiated by the two countries,” said Montaño in a press conference in which other authorities participated after a meeting of the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) in which issues related to the pandemic were analyzed.

According to Montaño, the established schedule will be from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

The first phase should be concluded in thirty days to give way to the second phase “as long as the sanitary conditions” allow it, clarified the vice minister.

Semana magazine reported that pedestrian traffic and the authorization for the circulation of private automobiles would be carried out gradually, depending on the sanitary conditions of the two countries and the cases of contagion.

The Colombian publication also indicated that restrictions such as the “pico y cédula” would be taken into account when entering the country and avoid congestion of vehicles or people, all this under the premise of strictly maintaining biosecurity protocols and preventing new contagions.

On his side, the director of the COE, Juan Zapata, commented that the second phase “already contemplates San Miguel and pedestrian flow in thirty days, and then, in fifteen days, the transport would enter to participate”.

This transport would circulate with restriction depending on the license plate: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, odd plates; Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, even plates. “On Sunday, no one would circulate at all”.

The last phase would be “the return to normality, but subject to what the Ministry of Health tells us”, said Zapata.

For the first time since the pandemic began, the process of reopening the border was to take place on December 1, based on a joint resolution taken in November by Lasso and Duque.

However, on November 30, the mutual agreement announced the postponement as a preventive measure against the threat of the omicron variant of covid-19.

Semana reminded me that Colombia and Ecuador share a 600-kilometer border from the Pacific coast to the Amazon jungle. Although crucial for trade and relations between the two countries, it is also permeated by transnational crime with drug trafficking, illegal armed groups, arms smugglers, and even human trafficking.

The director of Migración Colombia, Juan Francisco Espinosa, also indicated that turnstiles were installed at the Rumichaca Migratory Control Post, which he assured will allow the entry process to take less than 30 seconds.

The official also indicated that there would be support from the departmental and local Health Secretariats for the attention of cargo vehicles. Those in charge will require the vaccination card from drivers and crew members, with a minimum of 15 days of applying the last dose.