Hoy newspaper speculates that the reason why the last 39 Dominican soldiers en route home from Iraq are stranded on the small island of Santa Ana, Portugal is because the Armed Forces Ministry lacks the funds to pay for their return tickets. The newspaper says the ministry should start a national drive to raise the funds in the private sector to bring the men back.
Armed Forces Minister Soto Jimenez says today that the soldiers of the Quisqueya II Task Force will now arrive on Thursday aboard a C5 Galaxy flight of the US Air Force. This is the fourth time their return has been postponed.