Manuel Monsalve, Chile’s Undersecretary of the Interior, and Carlos Eduardo del Castillo, Minister of the Bolivian Government, signed this Friday at La Moneda Palace an agreement on security issues with a special focus on the fight against organized crime and illegal immigration.
“We will share information, training and training between our police forces. “We will develop joint police operations on the northern border to combat transnational organized crime and strengthen border security.” Undersecretary Manuel Monsalve said after the meeting, it was the third such meeting between the neighboring countries to address these issues. .
Crimes contemplated in the agreement include: inter alia, human trafficking and smuggling, migrant smuggling, vehicle theft, smuggling crimes, drug trafficking crimes, arms trafficking, corruption and money laundering crimes; A statement released by the Chilean Interior Ministry said:
Del Castillo said the two countries were “cooperating in an amicable manner” to generate “benefits” for their peoples.
“Criminals will begin to tremble, because they already have the necessary legal instruments in place to exchange information and carry out operations in the shortest possible time,” added the Bolivian government minister. .
Officials from both countries also signed a Migration Cooperation Agreement that will speed up and simplify the procedure for applying for and granting temporary residence for nationals of both countries, and reduce the costs of doing so for Chileans and Bolivians, the official document said. are doing.
“We are eliminating these barriers so that nationals who come to work in Chile or conduct economic activities in Bolivia do not have to migrate irregularly,” Monsalve said.
Another point on the common agenda, which will be taken up in future meetings, is a mechanism for regular remittances through formal channels to end irregular remittances.
Chilean and Bolivian authorities have met several times since last July to cooperate on migration and security.
The second meeting was held in Bolivia’s capital La Paz in August, where a partnership was established to combat vehicle theft and smuggling, and a memorandum of understanding was signed to cooperate in preventing, investigating and supporting victims of human trafficking crimes.
Chile has been hit by a migration crisis since 2021 that primarily affects its northern regions, with small border towns such as Colchane crumbling and dozens of people killed in recent years trying to enter Chile through secret routes. are doing.
In March, as a new migrant crisis erupted in northern Chile, Chilean President Gabriel Bolić told Foreign Minister Alberto van Claveren that the crisis with Bolivia, with which Chile had not maintained diplomatic relations since 1978, would be a major threat. They requested that talks be resumed to address the issue.
