During a two-day visit to the DR, the United States’ Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs William R. Brownfield met with President Danilo Medina, Minister of Foreign Relations Carlos Morales Troncoso, National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) chief Major General Rolando Rosado Mateo, and Police chief Major General Jose Armando Polanco Gomez to discuss the bilateral agenda to fight against drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime. During his visits, Brownfield was accompanied by US Embassy ambassador Raul Yzaguirre, the deputy chief of mission Dan Foot, and the head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the Dominican Republic, John Niedzialek.
Following the meetings, Brownfield highlighted the excellent relationship between the US and the Dominican Republic and the support for the Caribbean Area Security Initiative, which was working to reduce the traffic of drugs and increase public security.
Brownfield said that the US government would collaborate in programs to strengthen capacity to fight illicit drug trafficking, port and border security, train the police and other initiatives against organized crime.
He said that the Dominican Republic is a victim of its geography and that by stepping up the fight against drug trafficking in Colombia, Mexico, and similar initiatives in Central America the traffickers are being forced to find new routes. “We have to strengthen and establish the infrastructure to resist those attempts,” he said, as reported in Listin Diario. “We all agree that during the coming months and years the problem, the threat and dangers of illicit drugs is going to increase, but this is not the fault of the Dominican Republic or its people,” he said.
He said the challenge is for the Dominican Republic to become a regional leader in the fight against drug trafficking and that regional collaboration infrastructure needs to be established for this purpose.
Brownfield now travels to Bogota, Colombia where he will meet government officials to discuss regional cooperation in the spheres of security, drug trafficking and other trans-national crime.
Brownfield is the third high-ranking US anti-narcotics government official to visit the DR for high-level discussions since President Danilo Medina was elected. He was preceded by Janet Napolitano, the US Secretary of Homeland Security (13 July 2012) and Michele Leonhart, administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (3 August 2012).