Argentina may send Armed Forces to beef up Triple Frontier security

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Officials in President Javier Milei’s government are fine-tuning a plan that would beef up Argentina’s security presence at the notorious Triple Frontier border crossing with Brazil and Paraguay.

The operation, which is being drawn up by officials from the Security Ministry and Defence Ministry, could include the collaboration of the Armed Forces.

Milei’s Security Minister Patricia Bullrich revealed this week that within the framework of her so-called ‘Plan Güemes,’ tighter controls would be implemented along the border with other neighbouring countries, along with increased patrols.

On Tuesday, she announced that the Casa Rosada would be beefing up the frontier controls with Brazil, news that caught officials in Brasília by surprise. Officials at Itamaraty, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, complained they had learnt of the move via the media.

The border clampdown will also extend to the construction of a 200-metre fence at a crossing near Aguas Blancas (Salta Province) and Bermejo to prevent foreigners from entering via Bolivia.

Access limits between the province of Misiones and neighbouring countries with the presence of Border and Coast Guard, Federal Police and Airport Security officers will also be defined.

“We’ll control the frontiers with the security forces and we’re evaluating the possibility of including the Armed Forces,” a senior source in charge of designing the operation confirmed to Noticias Argentinas news agency midweek.

The Defence Ministry under Luis Petri is working with the Security Ministry to fine-tune the details as to the number of troops to be sent and the strategic places where they are to be deployed.

Shielded by Milei’s repeal of Decree 727/2006, regulating the Defence Law, and by Decree 1112/2024, the Armed Forces are authorised to act within Argentina’s frontiers.

According to the letter of the law, they may undertake activities of “operational training, offering logistical support to the domestic security system, carrying out actions to support the community and lending assistance in the event of natural catastrophes or emergencies.”

The idea of both portfolios is to increase available manpower but also take advantage of technology to permit increased vigilance, making use of the drones purchased during Mauricio Macri’s 2015-2019 presidency.

"We have Border Guards patrolling permanently and we need this technology to guard not only the triple frontier with Brazil but also zones like Bernardo de Irigoyen [in Misiones] and Salvador Mazza [in Salta], where we are drafting an integral plan,” said Bullrich.

Border wall

It emerged Monday that the local government has placed a tender for the installation of a 200-metre fence, with the aim of containing the illegal crossings of people and contraband.

"We have been asked to construct a linear fence ... to prevent people from reaching the town without going through Immigration," Aguas Blancas trustee Adrián Zigarán, replacing the elected mayor while he faces charges of hindering a criminal investigation, told Radio Mitre.

The news stirred up the Bolivian diplomatic corps, which issued a statement expressing its "concern." It called for bilateral talks, observing that "any unilateral measure could affect good neighbour policies and peaceful co-existence between sister peoples."

The construction of the fence fits into the "Plan Güemes," launched last December "to combat federal crimes" such as drug-trafficking along the Salta frontier with its focus on the two most important border towns, Aguas Blancas and Orán, some 1,600 kilometres distant from the national capital.

Some 2.5 metres in height, the new fence will fill a gap between the local immigration office and the bus terminal in front of the Bermejo River, which divides Argentina from Bolivia and where, according to Zigarán, people cross illegally from and into this town of some 3,000 inhabitants.

The Bermejo River is within the so-called "drug route," according to the Security Ministry, although it is also used by citizens who decide to buy cheaper goods in the Bolivian city of Bermejo facing Aguas Blancas and then return to Argentina.

Brazil baffled

Bullrich claimed midweek that many people were entering Argentina from Brazil across the frontier with Misiones Province, eluding immigration controls. She even alleged that hitmen were among the unwanted visitors.

Brazilian Foreign Ministry sources decried the lack of notification but admitted this is “a sovereign decision of Argentina, on which it does not correspond to us to comment, but there is no new development to justify it.”

Another Brazilian diplomat observed that the real frontier influx is “mainly Argentines entering Brazil for their summer vacations or to shop cheap,” noting the favourable exchange rate due to the appreciation of the peso and the devaluation of the real.

“Until now the Brazilian Federal Police have not seen anything to warrant reinforced controls. The police of both countries maintain a constant dialogue,” said the source.

The move also surprised Argentine diplomats in charge of the relationship with this country’s main partner in Mercosur. Along those lines, Foreign Ministry sources noted that neither they nor their Brazilian counterparts had received any instructions or warnings in this respect, pointing out that frontier security “is a permanent issue in the bilateral agenda.”

– TIMES/NA/AFP

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Argentina may send Armed Forces to beef up Triple Frontier security

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