Peru sends military contingent to the border with Chile to reinforce surveillance

The Peruvian Government sent today, Friday, a contingent of the Armed Forces to the southern region of Tacna, bordering Chile, to support the work of the National Police (PNP) and to reinforce surveillance in the area, informed the Minister of Defense, Jorge Chavez.

In declarations to the private radio station “Radio Exitosa”, Chavez assured the military troops would enforce “the Security Cards and the regulations between the bordering countries”.

“Our action is from 100 meters from the borderline backward, establishing patrols in critical points where the illegal entry of migrants is verified”, indicated the Peruvian official, who at the same time “flatly” discarded a militarization of the border limit.

He clarified, in this sense, that the military presence will exclusively support the Police in their work and will exercise surveillance and patrolling in those “critical” points where the illegal entry of migrants is being evidenced.

For days foreign migrants have been stranded between the Chilean border of Arica and the Peruvian border of Tacna, waiting, they say, to cross to their respective countries of origin and other destinations.

As reported today by the also private Radio Programas del Perú (RPP), a contingent of some 300 “properly equipped” military personnel arrived in the border region of Tacna, stationed near the Santa Rosa Border Complex.

This measure comes after Peru declared a state of emergency last Wednesday in the departments of Tumbes, Piura, Cajamarca, Amazonas, Loreto, Madre de Dios, and Tacna, with which the Armed Forces were empowered to support the PNP and “preserve internal order”.

The Peruvian Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, went to Tacna on Thursday night to supervise the situation there, together with the general commander of the PNP, Jorge Angulo.

Romero remarked that both Peru and Chile are working on a proposal to create a humanitarian corridor since, in the area, “there are women, children and elderly people” affected.

After the clashes registered on Thursday between migrants trying to cross and the PNP, Peru summoned the Chilean ambassador in Lima to express its protest “for the lack of collaboration shown by the Chilean police authorities”, which, he added, has “generated the events that have occurred”.

For its part, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry indicated in a communiqué that it is holding working meetings with the Chilean Foreign Ministry to “find, in a cooperative manner, solutions to address in the short and medium term the critical migratory and humanitarian situation in the border area”.