Lima (EFE).- The Prime Minister of Peru, Alberto Otárola, on Thursday urged the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, to “solve his problems and not throw them towards another country”, alluding to the migratory crisis that affects to the border between the two countries, where hundreds of people have been stranded for days.
“What we ask President Boric and the other presidents (is) to solve their problems and not throw them to another country,” Otárola told the press.
The prime minister added that the Peruvian government is “actively” talking with the Chilean immigration authorities to resolve the tension at this border point, which escalated after its militarization.
He assured that the migratory crisis “does not affect” diplomatic relations with Chile but, on the contrary, “forces” both countries “to actively cooperate.”
Not only Peru is affected
Along these lines, he insisted that “the migratory phenomenon affects more than five countries in the region” and that the authorities must “dialogue and coordinate.”
The head of the ministerial cabinet also defended the decision announced the day before by President Dina Boluarte to declare a state of emergency in all the border departments of Peru, including Tacna, on the border with Chile.
“The Government’s decision is to prevent foreigners from continuing to enter without immigration regulations because they are affecting the security of the country and because they are not duly registered,” he asserted.
Otárola insisted that “foreigners without documentation will no longer enter the country” and, in line with the statements made by Boluarte on Wednesday, pointed to migration as one of the factors responsible for worsening citizen insecurity in Peru.
“Violence has increased and crimes have become more violent, this is due to multiple factors, one of which is that there is a small number of foreign citizens who are committing execrable crimes in our country and we as authorities have to react,” Indian.
He added that the Government “does not want them to continue committing crimes” and that, for this reason, “it is going to take the bull by the horns.”
He also assured that on the border there are “many children, sick people, the elderly, women” and that Peru “is going to give them humanitarian attention.”
Peru says there is a lack of collaboration on the border
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru reported this Thursday that it summoned the Chilean ambassador in Lima to express his protest at the “lack of collaboration” of its police authorities at the border, which it considers has generated the entry of migrants by force.
Through an official statement from the Foreign Ministry, the Government expressed itself regarding “the situation that arose” this Thursday “in the area of the border complexes of Santa Rosa – Chacalluta”, where a group of migrants confronted the Police National of Peru (PNP) who guarded the area and tried to enter the country through irregular passages.
As a result of the events, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Chilean ambassador in Peru to express “their protest at the lack of collaboration shown by the Chilean police authorities, which has generated the events that occurred today,” he said.
What was discussed with the neighboring country
The Foreign Ministry recalled that it has held working meetings with the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs since April 21 with the objective of “finding, cooperatively, solutions that address the critical migratory and humanitarian situation in the short and medium term” in the common border.
In these meetings, the “urgent need” for the corresponding Chilean authorities to “guarantee security” in Chilean territory in the area of the Santa Rosa-Chacalluta border complexes and “prevent the blockade” of the Pan-American highway has been reiterated.
Likewise, the Peruvian ministry considered it of the utmost importance that the ongoing talks produce concrete advances in resolving the migration crisis at the border that affects both countries and the human rights of migrants.
Minister confirms police reinforcement at the border
The Peruvian Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, confirmed this Thursday that they are sending 390 agents of the National Police and a contingent of the armed forces as of Friday to control the situation on the border, in the presence of a group of foreigners who want to enter the country illegally.
Romero arrived Thursday night at the Santa Rosa complex, located in the Tacna region, on the border with Chile, to verify the services at that border post and to supervise “the problems we have regarding the migration crisis,” according to what he told reporters at the scene. .
The minister confirmed that 200 policemen arrived in Tacna during the day to reinforce security at the border, but that this number of agents will rise to 390 in the next few hours.
“We are working with our peers (from Chile) to see how to create a humanitarian corridor,” since among the foreigners stranded at the border there are children and the elderly, and a decision cannot be “made so quickly,” Romero reported.
“We have to humanitarianly assist these people,” Romero pointed out, while visiting the place accompanied by the police chiefs in the area.
The minister assured that this Friday the services of the armed forces “will be supporting the National Police first thing in the morning”, in compliance with the state of emergency decreed by the Executive to maintain internal order at the border.