Both the government and the PLD have reacted against US ambassador Hans Hertell’s speech at the American Chamber of Commerce, where he called for stronger border controls to prevent drug trafficking, demanded transparency in the Metro project and complained, among other things, about corruption and the impunity that protects it, as reported in Listin Diario. Hertell had said that these difficulties put the country at risk of not being included in DR-CAFTA next January. In reaction, Armed Forces Minister, Admiral Sigfrido Pared Perez, the President of the National Drug Control Department (DNCD), Rear Admiral Ivan Pena Castillo, the General Director of the Office for the Reordering of Transit (OPRET), Diandino Pena, and the Secretary General of PLD, Reinaldo Pared Perez, refuted the diplomat’s comments and defended the government’s actions. Admiral Pared Perez stated that no country in the world has been able to prevent drug traffickers from bringing drugs into their territory, including the US. He promised that the Armed Forces would continue their offensive against organized crime and considered that there has been progress against trafficking in this country on a level that few countries can claim to have achieved. Rear Admiral Pena Castillo pointed out that the DNCD has been drastic in the fight against drug trafficking in the DR. Diandino Pena informed that the tender process for components of the Metro began yesterday through the call for the participation of companies from Spain, Canada, Brazil, France, and Germany, which will compete for the project. Pena expects to dissipate the ambassador’s concerns about a greater coordination of information regarding the project and assured that the tendering system constitutes 55 to 60% of the project. The international firms participating in the tender are Alstom Transport, from France; Bombardier Transportation, from Canada; Caf-Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles from Spain; Ansaldo Breda, from Brazil; and Siemens-Railway Transport Division, from Germany.