Peru sends another request for a meeting about Ecuador’s border wall

The Peruvian government has sent a second request to Ecuador’s foreign ministry for a meeting about a wall Ecuador is building between the border towns of Huaquillas and Aguas Verdes.

Ecuador’s border wall under construction.

“This morning we sent a second formal diplomatic note to Ecuador asking that it send a representative to Lima on Tuesday for a bilateral meeting,” said De Zela, Peru’s foreign affairs minister.

He added that Peru rejects construction of the wall, claiming that it violates the terms of an agreement signed in 1998, which established a 10-meter construction-free zone along the Zarumilla River, which separates Ecuador and Peru.

A spokesman for the Ecuadorian foreign ministry said last week that, “The wall is not really a wall but is part of park.”

Borrowing an English-language saying, de Zela responded: “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. There is no doubt that what they are building is a wall.”

In a press conference Monday, De Zela that there was more at stake than a violation of the 1998 treaty. “The wall impedes the free movement of people and goods between our countries and also poses an environmental hazard. During this year’s floods, the Zarumilla River overflowed its banks and the wall will push future flood waters of the river into Peru.”

The Ecuador foreign ministry spokesman said the wall will vary in height but will be four meters at its highest. He said it will run for a distance of about 2,000 meters.