The chief of staff of the Dominican National Army, Ruben Dario Paulino Sem has told the editors of El Caribe and Multimedios del Caribe that the 78 military checkpoints around the country are to be reduced by 40%. At the same time, the remaining checkpoints will be modernized in order to provide a much more efficient service for controlling and monitoring of everyone and everything that enters and leaves Dominican territory.
According to General Paulino Sem, Armed Forces Minister Admiral Sigfrido Pared Perez ordered an evaluation of each one of the checkpoints and as a result of this research a report will be presented to the ministry in order to decide what steps should be taken to improve the posts that will remain. The general mentioned that the posts would have video cameras in order to have a record of the checkpoints and their searches as well as a side road for the exclusive use of vehicular searches.
Many checkpoints are known to be “tollbooths” where smugglers of goods and people have to pay bribes to agents on duty.