The recent crackdown on a Montecristi network involving military and people smuggling from Haiti has the press looking into the regular corruption related to the Army that occurs at the border with Haiti. The involvement of the military in people smuggling for years has been denounced by municipal and legislative authorities, but the military commanders have looked the other way. This small crackdown is a first.
Operacion Frontera is a small but revealing bust that brings to the open the modus operandi of the military at the border. The Army has not issued a note on the arrest of five military, including lieutenants and sargeants in an Public Prosecutor Office operation. Listin Diario carries details of the prosecutor file giving details on the complicity of the military for the transport of the undocumented Haitians.
Pretrial custody trial is scheduled for Friday, 24 February 2023.
Prosecutors accuse Army second lieutenants José Dolores Hernández Merejildo and Julio César Pujols Montero; sergeants Rafael Contreras and Rafael Zabala Peña and corporal Sandro Liranzo Javier. These were arrested along with 10 other people accused of being part of the network dismantled through 16 raids in the so-called Operation Border (Operación Frontera).
According to the indictment, the alleged network that operated on the northern border, specifically in Montecristi smuggled hundreds of Haitian immigrants thanks to the complicity of the arrested members of the Army.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Noticias SIN
El Dia
El Dia
Huchi Lora
Listin Diario
Hoy
DR1 News
22 February 2023