President Danilo Medina issued Decree 39-19 to appoint Félix Alburquerque Comprés the new president of the National Drug Control Agency. The appointment came after the resignation on Friday, 18 January 2019, of former director, Major General José Eugenio Matos de la Cruz, following the murder of a highly respected police colonel in a controversial incident that recently occurred in southcentral city of Baní.
At the time of his appointment Alburquerque had served as deputy vice minister of Defense for naval and coastal matters. In his career he has served as deputy chief of the Navy, military security director at the Puerto Multimodal Caucedo, the largest in the country, deputy director of naval intelligence, director of investigations at the Migration Agency, among other important positions. He is a graduate of the Naval Academy and of International Policies at the UASD, the state university. A career Navy vice admiral, Alburquerque will turn 56 on 25 January 2019.
Matos de la Cruz has not explained the reason for his resignation. Yet, El Nacional reported that Matos de la Cruz had not accepted the imposition of his being subject to work under the coordination of the Public Ministry and state security agencies. Matos de la Cruz had been appointed in August 2018 and had maintained the position the DNCD should operate independence from other security organizations. As reported, the Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez assumed the control of the DNCD operations after the seizing of 1,000 kilos of cocaine at the Haina Port on 20 November 2019.
El Nacional reports that it is unlikely the country will now know the names of the military and anti-narcotic agents that were involved in the seizing of the 1,000 kilo shipment of cocaine at the port in November. Matos de la Cruz had said he would go public with the names of these persons.
Likewise, the country will neither have information on the results of the investigation regarding two pineapple vendors that died during a shootout at the Duarte Produce Market.
Following the murder of Police colonel in Baní, Peravia province senator Wilton Guerrero accused the authorities of complicity with the drug vendors in the province.
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El Nacional
El Nacional
Listin Diario
22 January 2019
