Peru sends forces to Chile border where hundreds stranded

People seeking to leave Chile amid mounting restrictions are trapped in an extreme climate with few supplies.

The Peruvian government is sending about 700 soldiers and police to the border with Chile, authorities have said, as hundreds of undocumented migrants seeking to enter Peru are trapped at the border.

The announcement on Friday comes as hundreds of people — many of whom have said they want to enter Peru to continue traveling to their home country of Venezuela — remain in camps on the Chilean side of the border.

Other migrants have said they plan to travel north to the United States border, and human rights groups have reported that among the stranded are Haitians and other foreigners.

Peru’s Interior Minister Vicente Romero told local radio station RPP on Friday that about 390 police officers have already arrived at the border and another 300 soldiers will soon arrive from different parts of the country.

“We do not allow illegal entry or attacks on the police,” Romero said. the country.

In recent weeks, Chile has stepped up restrictions on people living in the country without legal documentation, increasing the number of people wanting to leave.

Peru’s President Dina Boluarte earlier this week declared a state of emergency in Tacna, a town near the border with Chile, in response to the influx of arrivals, paving the way for joint military and police operations.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric Boric had deployed troops to the border in late February to stop further border crossings.

In a statement on Thursday, Amnesty International said “at least 300 people, including families with children and teenagers, pregnant women and the chronically ill,” were trapped at the border and facing deteriorating conditions.

The stranded people have been living in makeshift camps for weeks in the Atacama Desert – one of the driest in the world and an area with extremely hot days and intensely cold nights. They have reported a shortage of water and basic supplies.

Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas director, on Thursday accused Chilean and Peruvian authorities of “needlessly exacerbating the situation and turning it into a humanitarian crisis that endangers the lives and safety of these people”.

“Militarising the borders endangers not only refugees and migrants, but also the people living in those areas,” she said in the statement.

Earlier this week, the Chilean government summoned Peru’s ambassador Jaime Pomareda over statements made by the mayor of the Peruvian border town of Tacna.

The mayor, Pascual Guisa, had called Boric “irresponsible” and accused Chile of moving its migration problems to the border.

Amid the deadlock, Chilean House of Commons head Vlado Mirosevic called for a humanitarian corridor with all countries in the region to resolve the crisis and provide safe passage for migrants to Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the mayor of the Chilean border town of Arica, Gerardo Espindola, had promised to provide resources to support the stranded children, especially children and the elderly.

“We will act as quickly as this critical situation affecting the people stranded at the border requires,” Espindola said.