Migratory controls in Ecuadorian territory
Migratory controls applied to foreign citizens entering Ecuadorian territory through the Rumichaca bridge.
Colombians and Ecuadorians will be able to travel without restrictions to Carchi, Imbabura, Esmeraldas, and Sucumbíos in Ecuador, and to Nariño and Putumayo in Colombia.
Officials from the Ecuadorian Migration Police are conducting checks at the international Rumichaca bridge, border parishes, and interprovincial buses, reports El Universo.
Tulcán
Following the Migration Undersecretariat definition of guidelines for the implementation of Ministerial Agreement No. 007, which aims to prevent and control the entry of individuals belonging to terrorist organizations into Ecuadorian territory, Migration Police officers launched operations at the international Rumichaca bridge.
Entry into the country is also restricted for members who are part of organized crime or pose a threat or risk to public security and the state structure.
Carlos Realpe, head of Migration in Carchi, explained that after the issuance of the agreement, the flows of foreign visitors through the binational viaduct have been reduced.
The official indicated that there is a strategy to ensure the entry of travelers based on strict compliance with the document issued by the Migration Undersecretariat, which states that the presentation of a criminal record certificate is mandatory for foreign citizens entering through land and river borders with Colombia and Peru.
The presentation of this requirement from the country of origin or residence during the last five years must be apostilled and in Spanish; if presented in another language, it must be translated into Spanish and apostilled (legalized).
If the traveler presents the apostilled certificate with criminal records, police officers will verify if this person is subject to grounds for inadmissibility established by the Human Mobility Law.
Failure to present the criminal record certificate at the migratory control points in the border areas will be a cause to initiate a process of inadmissibility established by the Human Mobility Law.
Exemptions
Those holding a visa granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility are exempt from presenting a criminal record. This includes those applying to enter the country as land crew members, as determined by the decision of the Andean Community of Nations.
Infants and adolescents in accordance with the constitutional principle of the best interest of the child. Those entering the national territory in a migratory capacity as transients, as defined in the Organic Law of Human Mobility.
Those presenting an official or service diplomatic passport, in accordance with the international treaties of which Ecuador is a part. Also, victims of trafficking in persons, who will be subject to the provisions of the Organic Law of Human Mobility.
Respecting the Esmeraldas Agreement
A special exemption applies at the Ecuadorian-Colombian border to people residing in the Border Integration Zone, border towns and nationalities, where the provisions of binational agreements in which Ecuador is a part will be maintained.
In this part of the border, Colombian citizens will be able to enter without restrictions to the provinces of Carchi, Imbabura, Esmeraldas, and Sucumbíos, as established in the Esmeraldas agreement, and Ecuadorians to the departments (provinces of Nariño and Putumayo).
In other words, they will not have to present a criminal record, but they will need to show identification documents, passport, or visa when crossing the border. Ernesto Chirán, a resident of Ipiales (Colombia), welcomes this decision as he works from Monday to Friday in San Gabriel (Carchi) in agricultural activities and returns to his hometown on weekends.
There is also peace of mind among small traders engaged in commercial exchange activities between Tulcán and Ipiales or vice versa, who move between the two cities daily.
Ernesto Tatamués, originally from Tufiño (Ecuador), mentioned that due to work and family reasons, he has to visit the neighboring town of Chiles (Colombia) three or four days a week and was concerned because he thought he had to obtain a criminal record certificate that costs approximately $12 in his country.
Realpe stated that police officers have been deployed to various border areas, where they verify the entry of foreigners. They have started this task by publicizing the decree and the declaration of the state of emergency in the face of the internal armed conflict declared by President Daniel Noboa.
Operations are also being carried out on the E35, at the height of the South Control of Tulcán, inside interprovincial and intracantonal service buses, in La Paz, and in the rural areas of the parishes of Tufiño, El Carmelo, Urbina, among others.
Colombia activates operations on the international Rumichaca bridge following internal conflict in Ecuador
It activated three military posts in the areas of Chiles, Carlosama, and La Victoria, in front of the Ecuadorian border towns of Tufiño, Tulcán, and El Carmelo, reports El Universo.
Ipiales
The Colombian Armed Forces reinforced their presence at various fixed and mobile positions on the Colombia-Ecuador border. More than 180 personnel arrived at the military fort of the Cavalry Battalion José María Cabal in Ipiales to carry out this mission.
The international Rumichaca bridge, dividing the border cities of Ipiales (Colombia) and Tulcán (Ecuador), considered a strategic area by the governments of both countries, is militarized on the Colombian side.
Two armored vehicles located a few meters from the viaduct, one in the middle of the six lanes and the second in the entry duct to the neighboring territory (Colombia), are part of the heavy logistics that will operate during the emergency.
In contrast, heavily armed military personnel accompany Colombian police and migration officers in verifying documents for drivers and occupants of over 6,000 vehicles entering the neighboring country daily.
The combined forces conduct random checks on vehicles with both Ecuadorian and Colombian plates. Military, police, and migration intelligence personnel, under profiling strategies, halt the movement of cars occupied by suspicious individuals or those showing nervousness while passing through this border port.
See Also,
Ecuador to Request Criminal Record Certificates
Soledad Quartucci | CEO/Founder, Latina Republic
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