Chiefs of National Defense in the north of the country warned of the difficult control of migrants who have arrived in the country, a situation that unsettles local authorities, who warned of a sustained increase in illegal immigration by unsalted steps.
In this regard, the head of the National Defense in Tarapacá, Guillermo Paiva told the newspaper El Mercurio that “the migration issue is a very serious problem, due to the number of foreign people, mainly Venezuelans, who are currently based in cities in southern Peru and Bolivia, in areas close to the border”.
He detailed that “in Tacna there are more than 12 thousand people who have expressed their interest in arriving in Chile, bound for the central area, so once the border is opened the situation will be quite conflicted.”
Regarding the strengthening of surveillance on the northern border, Paiva commented that “I must wait for the President’s descent (Sebastián Piñera), because I do not have the proper attribution to make a border check. Decree 265 states that, in order to assist police in the control of drug trafficking and organized crime, the Armed Forces support with technology, transport and logistics”.
The situation also worries the Head of National Defense of Arica and Parinacota, Army General Luis Cuellar, who stated that “the call to those of us living in this region is that we are responsible. When we detect these people immediately, we inform the health authority, the police or if it is at the border, inform the military. So that in the shortest time you can get to that place, locate the people, do the respective checkups and enter them to a health residence.”
“Those people, who have the right to a better quality of life, are entering through unsabling steps. But the most serious and main problem is that they cross all over Peru, where there are a lot of contagions and consequently we do not know what health condition they come from,” Cuellar added.
On the other hand, the head of National Defense of Antofagasta, José Miguel Aguirre commented that although in his area it is not as complex as in Tarapacá and Arica, he did receive migrants from those regions. “While we don’t have the problems tarapacá and Arica have right now, we are with some significant amount in some health care homes. This is also the case that we have been supporting Tarapacá’s health residences, as they are not providing a rush and people of Venezuelan nationality have been transferred or transferred to some of the region’s health residences.”
