Two key security officers are members of the Dominican Armada (Navy) — Vice Admiral Jose Manuel Caberra Ulloa, director of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) and Vice Admiral Luis Rafael Lee Ballester, director of the Migration Agency. Both have received praise in the media for their efforts in office.
The Navy seeks to change its reputation and move ahead, restoring the prestige of the institution. N Digital reports that 793 members of the Dominican Navy have been discharged in the past five years. In 2020, 121 officials were discharged; 186 in 2021, 171 in 2022, 139 in 2023, and 176 in 2024. Most of those discharged were of lower ranks, but on the list there are four superior officers.
The most extreme case of crime by a Navy person was that of the former director of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) under the Danilo Medina government, vice admiral Félix Alburquerque Comprés, who was sentenced to 12 years in jail for the murder of communicator Manuel Duncan Tavarez on 19 August 2022 in an absurd incident at a food stall on Av. Rómulo Betancourt late at night.
Yet, sociologist Jaime Max Taveras told N Digital that too many times military and police commit crimes to compensate for their low wages.
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N Digital
PGR
6 February 2025