Peru rules out closing border with Ecuador amid emergency due to violence

LIMA -- The Peruvian government has not considered closing the border with Ecuador, amid the "state of emergency" declared on the binational border due to the wave of violence in the neighboring country, said Peruvian interior minister Victor Torres on Wednesday.

"We have not talked about closing the borders, but rather about reinforcing them and exercising strict control to monitor people and their identification, so that no criminals enter the country," said the minister in the city of Lima, before heading to the border department of Tumbes.

He emphasized that the surveillance in the locality has been reinforced with the presence of troops from the Directorate of Special Operations (Diroes), while "all necessary actions" are being taken so that "none of these criminals from Ecuador can enter the country."

The declaration aims to reinforce security with the presence of police and military along the entire border with Ecuador, a territory spanning more than 1,500 kilometers, preventing members of organized crime from entering the nation in an attempt to flee Ecuador.

On Tuesday, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the violence in Ecuador and expressed its support for the president of that country, Daniel Noboa, as well as the institutional and democratic stability of Ecuador.

Noboa on Tuesday announced Ecuador was dealing with an "internal armed conflict."