In a formal session of the Second commission of the House of Representatives, carried out virtually, the Defense Minister, Holmes Trujillo, explained that there are more than 30 thousand members of the Military Forces and more than 1,500 of the Police who conduct the operation for border control, due to the emergency by Covid-19.
The head of the Defense ministry explained that in the 6,342 kilometers of border that Colombia has with 5 countries there are 18 formal and 182 informal entries and he reviewed the operations of the Security forces in each of them, taking into account the order of the National Government closing borders to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
“For the security of the border with Venezuela, 17,752 troops have been sent. On the border with Brazil, there are 1,025 men. In the case of Peru, there are 1,425 committed units. On the border with Ecuador there are 10,105 men of the Security forces. For the border with Panama, the operation is in charge of 383 military," the Minister informed the congressmen.
The head of the Defense ministry highlighted that on the border with Venezuela there is total coverage in 73 entries out of the 123 existing, as well as partial coverage by the Security forces in 50 entries including formal and informal.
In the case of the 1,645 kilometers with Brazil, Minister Trujillo explained that it is fully covered, one entry partially and five without permanent coverage by the Security forces.
In the same way, he explained that for the case of the border with Ecuador there are 35 entries covered permanently, 7 intermittently and 7 entries with partial coverage; and on the border with Peru there are two entries completely covered and seven entries with partial presence of the military.
In this sense, Minister Trujillo specified that “in the entries where there is no permanent presence, it is not because they had been chosen at random. On the contrary, there is a deep analysis of the characteristics of the entries and the study of the flow of migrants through them, which led us to carry out the greatest effort in those entries through which it has been historically demonstrated that the greatest flow of migrants to our country occurs. ”
The head of the Defense Ministry in the same way assured that "regarding the Venezuelan border, the number of Venezuelan migrants to Colombia has practically been suspended and now what we have is the flow of Venezuelan migrants who want to return to their country".
On the other hand, the head of the Defense Sector stated that the Security forces are fulfilling various security tasks and humanitarian support for the communities in the midst of the Coronavirus emergency.
“More than 28,000 surveillance police units are on the streets in prevention, control and surveillance operations at hospitals, transport terminals and financial institutions; 29,000 security checks have been carried out on markets and supermarkets with the aim of preventing crowds; 1,641 security caravans have been made to accompany 7019 cargo vehicles and the safe transport of 110,000 tons; on the other hand, the Police Cyber Center has identified 115 false news regarding Covid-19 ”, informed the Minister.
Finally, he made a detailed account of all the operations carried out by the Military Forces and the National Police throughout the national territory, including support in distributing food baskets, transporting food, drinking water and medical supplies, disinfection activities and production and preparation of elements to support the Health Sector.
Source: Sectorial Communication - Ministry of National Defense
