The chief of the Dominican Navy joined other military groups that are openly supporting President Hipolito Mejia?s re-election yesterday with his statements during a Mejia visit to Peravia province. As is widely being reported in the press today, President Mejia and First Lady Rosa Gomez yesterday visited the Las Calderas Naval Base in Bani that was remodeled by the government at a cost of RD$26.5 million. The chief of the Navy, Rear Admiral Euripedes Uribe Peguero, made a speech in which he praised all that the incumbent government had done to improve the force, but also said ?that there was a lot more yet to be done? (Mejia?s campaign slogan) prior to Mejia concluding his ?terms.? Uribe said that the statesman has promised to build a 50-bed hospital and a housing development for the Navy members.
Uribe highlighted that the Mejia government took ?some financing? to confront what he described as an infinite number of problems inherited by government institutions from the previous government. Uribe described Mejia as a ?great statesman? and criticized his predecessor, Leonel Fernandez, for handing over the government coffers in an empty state in 2000. ?Thanks for all that you do for this country, which so much needs a President like you,? said Uribe, as reported in El Caribe.
At Calderas, the Navy presented the first Dominican-built tugboat by the newly created company, Astilleros Navales Bahia las Calderas, C por A, a Damen Stan Tug 2608 built with the assistance of the Dutch company Damen Shipyards, with a US$20-million foreign loan contracted by the government. The financing is also destined to pay for the construction of another tug boat and four patrol speedboats. In the past, the US Coast Guard Service had patrolled Dominican coasts to impede the entrance of illegal immigrants and drugs.