Special agent Richard Cernuda was officially presented last Friday, 13 March 2026 as the new interim head at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office at the United States Embassy. As reported, the new interim leadership team now operates under new strictly audited internal protocols.
The DEA office had been closed as of last February due to a corruption scandal that involved the then-head of the office, Meliton Cordero, who is on trial in a Miami court on charges of corruption. Cordero had been the first Dominican to occupy the position. The Dominican government would revoke the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez, and Mella awarded to Cordero by President Abinader in late 2024.
US Ambassador Leah F. Campos presented the new agency chief to the head of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), Vice Admiral Jose M. Cabrera Ulloa. Cernuda had been the supervisor for the Field Office in Miami before this new assignment.
Ambassador Campos noted that the re-opening of the DEA office was the obvious confirmation of the joint commitment between Washington and Santo Domingo to fight organized crime. In response to the introduction of the new head of the embassy’s DEA office, Vice Admiral Cabrera Ulloa said that this was a sign of the strengthening of the cooperation between the Dominican Republic and the United States. He said that the two nations would continue to fight drug trafficking and organized international crime and all that goes along with this criminal activity.
The case of Melitón Cordero has been a major scandal for both US and Dominican authorities over the past month. Cordero, who had been the first Dominican-born official to lead the DEA office in Santo Domingo, was arrested in Washington, DC, in mid-February 2026.
As of 16 March 2026, US federal prosecutors (led by US Attorney Jeanine Pirro) charged that Cordero ran a bribery scheme involving the abuse of a visa program for “confidential informants.”
It is alleged that Cordero accepted bribes, typically US$10,000 in cash, to expedite US visa applications. He allegedly bypassed years of waiting by falsely labeling applicants as valuable law enforcement sources, even when he had never met them.
The early investigation of the case determined Cordero had expedited at least 119 visa applications over a six-year period. In one sting operation, he was reportedly caught on surveillance receiving US$7,000 in a supermarket parking lot in Santo Domingo.
Cordero was released on a personal recognizance bond in early March while the investigation continues. He is facing charges of conspiracy, bribery, and visa fraud, which carry a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
As reported, the US Department of Justice is currently auditing all 120+ visas Cordero touched. There is significant concern that some of these visas were granted to family members or associates of drug traffickers, which could lead to the annulment of past cases if those “informants” are proven to be fraudulent.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
El Caribe
Listin Diario
Reuters
16 March 2026