Andina

Peru: Security cameras to be installed at Machu Picchu's critical areas

14:43 | Cusco (Cusco region), Jan. 20.

Security measures will be strengthened in critical areas of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, located in Cusco region, with the installation of video cameras and the increase in security staff.

According to Jose Bastante, head of the National Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu, the devices will be placed at Ruinas, Inti Punku, and Inca bridges, as well as at the access to Machu Picchu Mountain. The first camera will be installed at Ruinas, where the optical fiber has already been deployed. 

"We have already installed the optical fiber. The camera will be installed at this location next month, and the rest will depend on the possibility," the archaeologist explained.

"We are not going to reach the monument with optical fiber. Instead, we are going to install a repeater somewhere in the area, so that cameras can be installed in strategic locations," he added.

At present, 60 security guards patrol the Llaqta or citadel. Besides, there are 60 conservation and maintenance specialists in the area and other 40 people at checkpoints and registration stations (for 37,000 ha). They are all committed to security.

An additional unspecified number of guards will be deployed in the area. This will make nighttime surveillance possible.

It must be noted that a series of incidents have taken place in Machu Picchu over the last decade. Tourists have posed nude, run naked, camped, defecated, and even produced pornography.

The aim is to prevent these situations with drastic measures, such as the ones taken against six tourists last week.

As is known, six tourists —four males and two females from different countries— were arrested January 12 accused of entering the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu illegally, provoking the fall of a stone, and defecating within the site. 
They were expelled from Peru.

The group included tourists from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and France.

(END) PHS/MAO/RMB/MVB

Publicado: 20/1/2020