The US Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera and Thomas J. Umberg, Deputy Director for Supply Reduction at the Office of National Drug Control Policy visited the Dominican frontier with Haiti yesterday. They were accompanied by the chief of the National Army, Major General Eliseo Noble Espejo. They visited the frontier points in Pedernales and Independencia province (Jimaní). They were able to confirm the need of increasing the availability of technology to assist Dominican soldiers in detecting contraband of arms and drugs. AFP press release says that 12% of the 300 tons of drugs that were shipped to the US from the DR in 1999 entered the DR via Haiti, coming from Colombia. The US has offered to assist Dominican frontier control points with computers and modern communications equipment. Likewise, in a subsequent visit to Haiti, press reports say President Rene Preval accepted the installing of a radar detection system. From Haiti, Caldera and Umberg traveled to Colombia where they were slated to visit the Colombian head of state. Caldera said that the modern equipment will become available as a control program is implemented in the next coming months. News reports say that the Dominican Department of Customs is also assisting the military in implementing additional phyto-sanitary control measures along the frontier.
