Peru is militarizing the border with Ecuador to avoid …

In the last days, Peru has deployed more than a thousand troops and fifty armored units tothe army along the border with Ecuador, to prevent the illegal entry of migrants, mainly from Venezuela.

The Joint Command of the Peruvian Armed Forces confirmed the deployment in a statement. There they indicated that it was decided “strengthen control measures” at more than 30 illegal border crossings, that “it will continue in the following days with the relevant measures to block the entry of illegal immigrants”.

In Tumbes, a region on the northern border, 1280 kilometers from Lima, a column of armored vehicles could be observed moving through the streets.

The Joint Command clarified that the operation includes “more than 50 armored vehicles, trucks and patrol cars and more than 1,200 soldiers” that “up to 30 illegal steps detected in the border area have been moved”.

For her part, the Peruvian Minister of Defense, Nuria Esparch, indicated from the border that the operation was jointly planned between Peru and Ecuador, and will remain “until needed”.

He also stressed that “the borders are closed for health reasons and we must check that any stage has all the guarantees”. But he added that “there are people here, not just contraband, and we have to ensure that the rights and lives of all are respected “.

Tumbes is the main crossing point in Peru for the hundreds of Venezuelan migrants who cross from Ecuador in an attempt to stay in that country or to reach Chile or Argentina.

The UN believes that more than five million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015, fleeing the economic and political crisis.

The legal border crossing between Peru and Ecuador remains closed, as a measure to contain coronavirus infections. In early January, however, the armed forces of both countries detected and destroyed 11 illegal routes of people and vehicles with contraband.

Peru faces a second wave of covid-19 since the start of this year. After the Christmas holidays and the end of the year, daily infections have multiplied from a thousand to over five thousand, while deaths have risen from an average of 40 a day to over a hundred .

Peru, with a population of 33 million, reported around 1.1 million infections and nearly 40,000 deaths until last weekend.