Peruvian-Ecuadorian border war

date	January – February 1981
place	Condor Mountains
output	Peruvian victory.

Parties to the conflict

Peru Peru

Ecuador Ecuador

Commander

Fernando Belaúnde Terry

Jaime Roldós

The Peruvian-Ecuadorian border war (also Paquisha incident , in Ecuador also Paquisha war , in Peru Falso Paquisha war ) was a skirmish between Peru and Ecuador over the controversial border in the Cordillera del Cóndor in January and February 1981. The conflict became fixed by the Treaty of Brasilia in 1998.

background

After the Peruvian-Ecuadorian War of 1941, the course of the border was specified in the Rio de Janeiro Protocol in 1942 , but without any boundary stones. This was preceded by border disputes that had persisted since the independence of Peru and Greater Colombia and Ecuador in the 1820s and 1830s. The border dispute was a first-rate political issue in Ecuador before and after Rio de Janeiro. In 1960, however, Ecuador terminated the protocol and there were repeated shootings at the border.

Paquisha incident

In January 1981 there was an incident and skirmishes over three Ecuadorian military outposts named Paquisha, Mayaicu and Machinaza (referred to by Peru as "Falso Paquisha", "Falso Mayaicu" and "Falso Machinaza"; Spanish falso = false ) located on the eastern slope of the Cenepa Cordillera in an area claimed by Peru. At times, the armed forces of both countries were even partially mobilized, and the fighting was stopped under pressure from the guarantors of the Rio Protocol ( USA , Argentina , Brazil and Chile ). On January 30, 1981, the conflict was apparently over, but then the Peruvians discovered that more troops of the Ecuadorian army had established three more military posts and three points on the northeast border of the Cordillera del Cóundest and were El Mirador. PV-4-A "and" PV-4-B "(old). On February 21, 1981 destroyed the Peruvian Air Force the last military installations of the Ecuadorian army, which were still on Peruvian territory The. Ecuadorian armed forces had as a result of Retreat to the ridge of the Cordillera.

In the book: "Paquisha, the whole truth of the Ecuadorian writer Claudio Mena, said that the Ecuadorian President Jaime Roldós Aguilera had planned to open on February 12 the surveillance posts that Ecuador had set up on the territory of Peru to prove to the world that it is Ecuadorian territory. "

Cenepa war

On January 26, 1995, there was another clash between Ecuador and Peru over this area (see Cenepa War ). Border patrols on both sides fought in the strip of land that may contain gold.

Conflict resolution

On October 26, 1998, Presidents Jamil Mahuad for Ecuador and Alberto Fujimori for Peru signed a peace treaty in Brasília that led to the final settlement of the conflict by setting boundary stones between the two countries. The Brasilia Treaty confirms the content of the Rio de Janeiro Protocol and recognizes it on both sides. The partial agreement on trade and shipping confirms Ecuador's claim to the economically important access to the Amazon. Ecuador is explicitly allowed to keep its Tiwintza military base, which gained national fame in the border war, as a military-free zone without sovereign rights on Peruvian territory. A binational national park is to be created there. Work on drawing the border was completed on May 15, 1999. In 2002 and 2008, both states declared their intention to jointly clear mines along the formerly controversial border. According to a statement from 2014, 4,000 mines were removed that year in a joint clearance. 620,000 square meters had been demined by then, 225,000 square meters were still missing. Five Ecuadorian soldiers were injured while working in December 2015. It is estimated that there were around 8,000 to 10,000 mines in the area at that time.