President Hipolito Mejia received four ships to be used to patrol the coastal waters of the Dominican Republic. The “Altair”, a GC-11, is brand new and just delivered from the Swiftships boatyard in Morgan City, Louisiana. The patrol boats “Bellatrix” GC-106, “Canopus” GC-107 and “Procion” GC-103 were all rebuilt at Swiftboats, a major military contractor for the United States. The reconstructed ships had been in service since 1967.
The Mejia government contracted a US$22-million US Eximbank loan to purchase the ships, whose aim is to reduce the number of illegal boat trips and drug trafficking operations to Puerto Rico.