Confused locally with an unidentified flying object, the Predator has been combing Dominican skies for about a month now since the US government assigned the hi-tech unmanned spy plane to fly the routes regularly used by drug trafficking cartels to transport drugs from Venezuela and Colombia to the Caribbean for transshipment to the United States and Europe. During its test period, the Predator transmitted information that led to the seizure of 1,722 kilos of cocaine, both at sea and on land.
Major General Rolando Rosado formally presented the Predator unmanned reconnaissance plane to the press at the San Isidro Air Base on Sunday 15 July. He said that the drone would comb the Caribbean two to five times in the evening to ensure that no speedboats or mini subs are cruising the waters illegally.
Property of the US Coast Guard, the drone serves as an eye in the sky and its hi-tech equipment transmits real time images to ground authorities. Rosado said the US$40 million drone does not cost Dominican State any money as its maintenance is covered by the US Government. US staff is working with Dominican personnel in its operations. The Predator is complemented by the Super Tucanos, under the Dominican Air Force, purchased by the Dominican government at a cost of around US$80 million.
Rosado said the drone is part of the plan to close off the air, maritime and land space to drug trafficking operations coming from abroad.
Rosado said that the next step in the anti-drug strategy is to reach an agreement with Haiti to extend the Predator’s operations to Haiti. He commented that a weakness in Haiti is a weakness for the DR and vice versa, and that the same way drugs are imported to the country, they also are exported through the north of the DR to Miami by way of the Bahamas, or they come from Haiti to be shipped to Puerto Rico.
On Sunday evening, Major General Rolando Rosado highlighted the operation of the Predator as evidence of the spirit of collaboration between the US and DR in the fight against drug trafficking.
US Secretary of Home Security Janet Napolitano and US Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner David V. Aguilar were in Santo Domingo last week to formalize the agreement by which the Predator will be a key player in the combating of illicit narcotics. Minister of Foreign Relations Carlos Morales Troncoso signed the agreement for the Dominican Republic on Friday, 13 July. National Police chief Major General Jose Armando Polanco Gomez, Attorney General Radhames Jimenez Pena, National Drug Control Department president Major General Rolando Rosado Mateo, Dominican Civil Aviation Institute director Alejandro Herrera, General Immigration director Jose Ricardo Taveras Blanco and Metropolitan Transport Authority director Anibal Sanz Jiminian were also present at the signing at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo.
During her visit, Napolitano also met with President Leonel Fernandez for the signing of other agreements on drug trafficking, security and human trafficking.
Coinciding with her visit, military chiefs and officials from Colombia were also in Santo Domingo for talks on bilateral collaboration in the fight against drug trafficking. The Colombian delegation, headed by Major General Javier Fernandez, head of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence of the Armed Forces of Colombia, visited the National Drug Control Department headquarters.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2012/7/14/239680/Republica-Dominicana-y-EU-firman-acuerdos-de-seguridad
www.presidencia.gov.do/app/do_2011/article.aspx?id=15440