In 2023, the scene that has most exposed citizen insecurity in Latin America has been the emergence of a dozen armed hooded men on a live Ecuadorian television program. A fact that led the Government of Daniel Noboa to declare the existence of an internal armed conflict in the country. In the midst of tensions over the measure and an atmosphere of uncertainty, a detail involving Peru has set off alarms: one of the grenades carried by the criminals bore the insignia of the Armed Forces of the Andean country with which they border to the south.
Shortly after the Government of Dina Boluarte declared a state of emergency for 60 days in the five regions that border Ecuador (Tumbes, Piura, Cajamarca, Amazonas, Loreto), the Minister of Defense, Jorge Chávez Cresta, confirmed the information: “Explosives, ammunition and some war grenades have been found and investigations are being carried out, the exchange of information between Ecuadorian and Peruvian intelligence to determine the supply channel.”
The taking of hostages at TC Televisión has only highlighted a problem of international scope that has not been addressed with solvency: arms trafficking between these two neighbors. A report from the Intelligence Directorate (Dirin) of the Peruvian Police, revealed by the newspaper Trade, puts into figures what was an open secret. In 2023, 391,239 ammunition were confiscated in Tumbes, a record that represents an increase of 13,000% compared to 2022, when 2,832 ammunition was confiscated in the coastal region. Another detail that exposes the porosity of the border is that what was seized in Tumbes alone in the year he left accounts for 92% of the total ammunition seized nationally.
Tumbes also ranks second in firearms confiscated in 2023, a total of 89, behind Loreto (151) and ahead of Piura (71). They are mostly revolvers, shotguns and pistols. The Peruvian Police, according to the report, claims to have identified 48 unauthorized border crossings between Peru and Ecuador. For Christian Aguayo, mayor of Zarumilla, in Tumbes, the calculation is not precise given the magnitude of the matter. “There are definitely more steps than 48. All of this has happened because the border has always been open. The only border control occurs at the international bridge, where only the merchandise of formal merchants is controlled. They are harassed by police officers. But ten meters away there are open entry and exit lines for all types of smuggling and illegal crossing of people. We have been forgotten,” he assures.
An alliance of Peruvian and Ecuadorian journalistic media (the Ojo Público, Code Vidrio and Vistazo portals) had access to a classified document where it appears that there would be 80 irregular passages and that the weapons come mostly from the Army Weapons and Ammunition Factory Peruvian (FAME). “The main gateway for arms trafficking is the southern border of Ecuador through one of the 80 irregular crossings detected,” the publication says. In the same report it is indicated that “52% of the explosives seized throughout Ecuador are manufactured in Peru.” The most used by the mafias is Emulnor, wrapped in plastic of different colors.
If the contraband does not pass through these unauthorized places, it does so because of poor police and immigration controls, using trucks, cars and even mules. At least four routes have been distinguished: “The first leaves from Aguas Verdes (border district of Peru), from where the cargo is transported in taxis and motorcycles to a group of farms on the border in Ecuador. The second part from the city of Tumbes towards Huaquillas, then Guayaquil, Quevedo, Ambato, Tena, Lago Agrio and Putumayo, before reaching Colombia. The third route incorporates the area of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, then Quito, Ibarra and Tulcán. And the fourth variant incorporates the Andean center, passing through Latacunga, Ambato and Baños,” the analysis describes.
Meanwhile, Segismundo Cruces Ordinola, governor of Tumbes, a strategic region wherever you look at it, has made an appeal to the forces of order: “Come and carry out a check. Arms trafficking is a daily occurrence (…) We need many more troops to control the 74 kilometers of open border that we have. There are kilometers that are totally helpless where Ecuadorian and Peruvian criminals cross to hide.”
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