Minister of Foreign Relations Eduardo Latorre will meet tomorrow in Washington, D. C. with U.S. Secretary of State, Madeline Albright. On the agenda is the discussion of drug trafficking and money laundering in the Caribbean. The D.R. is center point in the Caribbean connection. Reportedly, drugs enter the D.R. by way of Haiti and then are shipped by small boats to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is an ideal transshipment point as there are no customs controls between the island and continental U.S.A. The Listin Diario reported that the U.S. seeks that the D.R. allow U.S. Coast Guard and Drug Enforcement Agency boats to patrol Dominican territorial waters. The newspaper also reported that the U.S. authorities are very interested in making an example out of the Luis Horacio Cano case in which four Dominicans are involved, two of which are renown businessmen accused of money laundering in the Dominican Republic. The U.S. has requested the extradition of Dominican businessmen Ricardo (Tito) Hernández, owner of the Aguilas Cibaeñas (Caribbean Series title holders), and Edmon Elías, owner and operator of several casinos and night clubs in the D.R.
