In the face of pressure from authorities and residents of the border parish of El Carmelo, located in the northeast of Carchi, on the interprovincial border with Sucumbios, several crossings that connect Ecuador with Colombia have been obstructed.

Silvio Rayo, president of the parish council of that locality, denounced that this binational corridor, which has a military checkpoint a few meters from the border line, is being used by illegal organizations.

In several places, with heavy machinery from the Prefecture of Carchi, dirt mounds were raised on the narrow roads. This obstructs the traffic of cars and motorcycles.

These passages and secondary roads are allegedly being used to transport migrants and promote smuggling of goods to the neighboring country during the nights. Jairo Noguera, a resident of the area, stated that vans or trucks cross the border with people or merchandise.

In the Colombian towns of La Victoria, San Antonio, and Miraflores, where former FARC and ELN militants predominate, foreigners are expected and then transported to Ipiales after an eight-hour journey.

Leonel Villarreal, spokesperson for the sectional organization, reported that three specific sectors that were used for the irregular passage of people and by neighbors of the two countries who disregarded the curfew and moved between both nations, putting the population at risk.

The elevations with stones and dirt were placed on the bridge, located 100 meters from a military checkpoint in El Carmelo and in the communities of El Frailejón and Cartagena, which border Colombian villages.

The work was verified by the security forces who patrol this area. Rayo said that they had to close and protect the parish in the face of the insensitivity of people who do not want to respect the protocols and the curfew.(I)