Peru’s Defense Minister, Jorge Chávez, reported this Wednesday that he has requested an audit of military equipment, including ammunition and explosives, at all armed institutions, after learning that the criminal gang that took over an Ecuadorian television channel on Tuesday was moving to reportedly ammunition from the Peruvian armed forces.

Chávez told radio station RPP after arriving in the town of Tumbes, bordering Ecuador, that “there is an alleged possibility that some of these explosives may have left the warehouses of the Peruvian armed forces in the past.”

“We are talking about ammunition,” added the Minister of Defense, who traveled to Tumbes with his Home Affairs counterpart, Víctor Torres, to monitor the deployment of National Police officers to ensure security at the border with Ecuador.

Chávez explained that these incidents of illegal theft of military equipment “have occurred in previous years and in previous times” and that it is now up to the government to “take all control measures to the utmost so that they do not happen again.”

In this sense, he reported that an audit has been requested at each of the armed institutions.

State of emergency at the border with Ecuador

Hours after the wave of criminal violence unleashed in Ecuador, the Peruvian government on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in five regions bordering Ecuador and ordered the deployment of armed forces to strengthen the surveillance functions of the Peruvian National Police (PNP) everywhere. the northern border of the country.

“The entire northern border of the country will be declared a state of emergency, in November a (state of emergency) was declared covering both Tumbes and Piura, but now it will also include (the regions of) Amazonas, Cajamarca and Loreto,” he announced. on Tuesday the President of the Council of Ministers, Alberto Otárola.

The Prime Minister confirmed that “when the state of emergency is declared, the armed forces will be instructed to come and support the National Police” and reiterated that this decision aims to “give calm and tranquility to the people of Piura and Tumbes.”

The situation in Ecuador also prompted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a statement saying that the government of Peru “strongly condemns the acts of violence that have taken place” and “expressed its support for the government of President Daniel Noboa and for the institutional and stability “Democracies in Ecuador”. Ecuador has been in a state of emergency since the night of Monday, January 8. (JO)