Peru denies it will “militarize” the border with Chile

He Government of Peru This Friday he denied that he would “militarize” border with Chili and noted that he would respect the agreement with that country in order to make his Armed forces stay at least a hundred meters from the border area, where there are dozens of migrants trying to enter the territory of Peru.

“It has been said that the presence of the Armed Forces means the militarization of space, I completely rule that out,” the Defense Minister said on Friday. Jorge Chavezbefore traveling to the border town of Tacna.

He explained that “the contact that migrant citizens will have in the border area will be direct with the police” and that the army will support surveillance “from a hundred meters back”.

Chávez reported that the commanding general Third Tacna Brigade He has already contacted his mate Chilean Armed Forces and “unrestricted compliance with this regulation has been established” regarding military positions on both sides of the border.

Local media later showed that even the Peruvian border control Santa Rosawhich is located a few hundred meters from the border line, a larger group of soldiers in suits and field weapons arrived in military trucks, armored and light vehicles.

The minister also pointed out that Office The Peruvian seeks to establish “the best mechanism to guarantee the safety of citizens who are currently in a situation that no one would want”.

He announced that the possible opening of a humanitarian corridor, “which can be land or air,” is being considered, but he said that “there is a fundamental and important factor, which is the intervention of the countries from which the citizens come.”

“We can’t do anything if we don’t coordinate and we don’t have approval, in this case Venezuelain order to facilitate the return of its citizens”, he said.

Chávez assured that “they are also working on the case of Haitians and Colombians” who remained at the border with Chile.

He also pointed out that the Peruvian government has decided to implement immigration reform and a list to legalize migrants “so that they know what they are doing, but mainly to prevent criminal acts” in the country.

“We don’t think that all foreign migrants do this, but a large part do, and we have an obligation as a state, as a government, to protect our citizens,” he pointed out.

More precisely, the Peruvian authorities began this Friday to review the situation of people who want to enter the national territory through the border with Chile, with the deployment of officials from the Directorate of Migration who give priority to cases in which there are children, pregnant women and the elderly.

This action took place hours after the Secretary of the Interior, Vicente Romero, arrived in the area, together with the PNP Commander-in-Chief, General Jorge Angulo; and the national migration supervisor, Armando García.

After clashes and illegal entry into Peruvian territory that took place in the area on Thursday, the situation remained calm this Friday, although hundreds of migrants are still waiting to cross into Peru.