The Peruvian government is working with Chile, Ecuador, and Venezuela to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow hundreds of migrants seeking to return to their home countries to cross the border safely. Most of the migrants are Haitians, Venezuelans, Colombians, and Ecuadorians who left Chile in the last two weeks after immigration controls were tightened. The Peruvian government has prevented their passage on the grounds of a lack of documentation, and President Dina Boluarte has decreed a state of emergency at the borders and ordered the dispatch of military personnel to reinforce vigilance.
The Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, said that it is important to provide security to migrants wishing to return to their countries of origin and promised that once the humanitarian corridor is established, it will be carried out as it should be. According to the UN refugee office, between 150 and 200 migrants are concentrated daily on the border between Chile and Peru. Some have crossed through irregular passes to the Peruvian border city of Tacna, and others have settled on the Chilean side, in the city of Arica.
On Friday, dozens of military personnel began to deploy on the borders with Chile and Ecuador, and the Minister of Defense, Jorge Chavez, declared that they would carry out surveillance and patrols at critical and sensitive points where illegal entry is evident. Amnesty International advocated for the demilitarization of the borders and expressed its deep concern for the absolute precariousness in which the stranded migrants find themselves, qualifying the situation as a humanitarian crisis that increases the risk to the lives and safety of these people.