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News > Latin America

Ecuador Halts Building of Wall on Peruvian Border

  • Ecuador's Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa at a news conference in Quito June 26, 2017.

    Ecuador's Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa at a news conference in Quito June 26, 2017. | Photo: EFE

Published 13 July 2017
Opinion

Talks between foreign ministers from both nations are due to be held later this week.

Ecuador says it has halted the construction of a controversial wall on the Peruvian border, following a request from the government in Lima.

The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa also said she has asked for talks with her Peruvian counterpart, "We have requested the meeting, I think it is necessary, important, to reach a definitive agreement on this matter and I also believe that we have had a permanent dialogue on this matter with Foreign Minister Ricardo".

The discussions will be held in Lima and Espinosa said she hopes to find a solution, "We think it is a technical issue that can be solved in the most appropriate way for both countries. We are sure that we will find a way out, because a linear park or a wall can not ignore twenty years of permanent and lasting peace for the benefit of the border population".

She added that the extension of the wall is "only 900 meters, in front of a border that is 1,500 kilometers" and has been functioning as a "living and dynamic border".

And the Foreign Minister reiterated that Ecuador has "stopped construction on request from Peru ".

At the beginning of June, the Peruvian government expressed its concern and asked for explanations from Quito over the construction of the wall in the border area between the towns of Huaquillas in Ecuador and Aguas Verdes in Peru.

Ecuador said it was needed as a barrier to prevent the flooding which affects local people annually.

Peru countered that the construction violated the Basal Agreement, part of the Brasilia Accords of 1998, in which Ecuador committed to release a 10-meter strip on the right side of the border channel so that both countries could carry out maintenance and cleaning work.

Ecuador has repeated "its willingness, previously expressed to the Peruvian Government, to hold a meeting during this week, at the level of foreign ministers, to address this and other pending issues regarding the obligations of both countries in the in the Channel of Zarumilla ".

But the move has been criticized by the former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. 

In a message on Twitter, Correa said the wall is in reality a lineal park and questioned who would defend the town of Huaquillas.

Tags

Peru Rafael Correa Lenin Moreno

Efe-Sputnik Novosti
by teleSUR-cl
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