Peru Declares a 60-Day State of Emergency at Its Border Areas

BOn Thursday, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte declared a 60-day state of emergency in the border areas with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile.

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This measure aims to increase migration controls in the provinces of Zarumilla (Tumbes), Sullana, Ayabaca and Huancabamba (Piura); San Ignacio (Cajamarca), Condorcanqui (Amazonas); Maynas, Loreto, Datem del Marañón (Loreto); Tahuamanu (Madre de Dios); and Tacna and Tarata (Tacna).

Besides establishing that the National Police and the Armed Forces will maintain control of internal order, the decree restricts the exercise of constitutional rights related to freedom of movement, assembly, and personal liberty and security.

The Boluarte administration vows that surveillance actions will be carried out within the framework of International Human Rights Law and considering the stipulations of the border security primers agreed between the Peruvian Armed Forces and neighboring countries.

The tweet reads, "Migration: state of emergency in Peru. Undocumented foreign citizens expelled from Chile are at the border waiting to enter Peru with the aim of returning to their countries."

On Wednesday, the Peruvian Council of Ministers also approved regulations so that foreign immigrants can be regularized more easily.

This measure will only apply to foreigners who entered regularly but later became irregular for different reasons. This type of migrant will have a non-extendable six-month amnesty.

Besides blaming migrants for the increase in crime, the Peruvian president spoke of migratory flows as "a problem of insecurity."