Defense Minister: "We are going to act firmly and prudently to guarantee free transit"

Defense Minister, Jorge Chavez Crestreported that “in the next few hours”, the National Police, with the support of the Armed Forces, will proceed to unblock the roads of the national road network that are declared in a state of emergency.

“A joint statement has been issued by the Ministries of the Interior and Defense. All procedures are being carried out within the framework of the law. We are going to act firmly and prudently to guarantee health services, freedom of movement and the right to life”, said Chávez Cresta.

According to the aforementioned statement, published the day before, “the right to protest does not authorize blocking roads, much less can it superimpose the right to life of those people who need to be transferred to receive delicate treatments such as cancer, or who need oxygen and medicine to reach their regions.”

In this line, the document adds, the forces of order will proceed to carry out the respective unblocking of the roads.

“We call on those who persist in these illegal measures to desist from it, allow the peaceful unblocking of the roads and avoid confrontations with the forces of order, who will act in defense of legality, within the framework of article 137 of the Constitution, Legislative Decrees 1186 and 1095, and other current regulations,” the statement added.

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The head of Defense, meanwhile, indicated that the measure will be applied “in the next few hours.” “We are going to proceed in the next few hours to take actions in compliance with the corresponding protocols and legal actions because we all know that the interruption of a highway is a crime classified as extortion and all the procedures are being carried out to unblock the highway, not only in Ica but in other very sensitive points such as La Joya, in Arequipa, the highway in Puerto Maldonado; like the situation we currently have in Puno, particularly in immigration control on the border line, ”he stressed.