United States Ambassador Hans Hertell called on political parties to take care that money deriving from drug trafficking does not become a source of funding for their political campaigns, according to a report in El Caribe. He is advising political parties to be very careful who they accept money from. Hertell admits that it may be difficult, but mechanisms must be found to avoid tainting the political process with the influence of drug trafficking. He highlighted the joint actions being taken by Dominican and US authorities to stop the expansion of this criminal activity.