The President of the Republic, José Jeríasked the Congress of the Republic to approve—before the end of the legislature, on December 15—the bill sent by the Executive Branch that gives the Armed Forces the responsibility of protecting our borders and lifts restrictions on foreign investment within 50 kilometers of the border area.
From Tumbes, the president acknowledged that “there is no adequate presence of the national government” in the border areas, so – he said – “we are going to ask Congress – which already has it in its power, in the Constitution Commission – to review the bill by which the Armed Forces are given responsibility” for the protection of that part of our territory.
“There is another initiative that is also important so that foreign investment can act within 50 kilometers; it is also a restriction that exists. These two measures applied to the entire national territory, to the part of our borders, will contribute to providing security, presence of the State, a much more efficient protection and, in addition, energize and contribute to combating informality and generating sources of formal work. With this we are going to begin to change the unfortunate history of our borders that have been abandoned for the last 25 years,” he stressed.
At another time, he said that among the complementary actions that the government will adopt to combat insecurity is the “strengthening of the number of police officers and vehicles.”
“There are points where people transit regularly and now that we are in an emergency, the protection, the support of the Army, of the Armed Forces is fundamental, but the underlying issue is that the borders have to be in charge of the Armed Forces, of the Army, of the FAP, of the Navy. I hope that it is debated in Congress to be able to give them that responsibility and that the police are in charge of internal order, of citizen security,” he said.
Peru-Ecuador Binational Meeting
In statements to journalists, Jerí also announced that a binational meeting with Ecuador will be held in the coming weeks.
“We are going to address the agenda that we have pending because also at the municipal level there are some agreements that are in the process of implementation, but we are missing some authorizations. There are countless pending issues that we have to promote. Our management time is short, but, as we have said repeatedly, what we cannot do now we are going to leave on track,” he reiterated.
In this context, he insisted on the need to have the support of Congress on the initiatives that are pending debate and approval in the Constitution Commission “so that in this same legislature, before it ends, before a fortnight, the first vote can be voted and that the Armed Forces are the ones that guard the border and that the restriction on foreign investment within 50 kilometers is lifted.”
The head of state also referred to the situation on the border with Chile. In this regard, he indicated that Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela Martínez “has already initiated agreements to implement joint actions to be able to precisely control irregular migration.”
“What worries us as a country is controlling irregular migration and any person who is in national territory who does not have up-to-date papers has to have some type of sanction. We have to impose respect for our own rules,” he stressed.
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