Hoy newspaper reports that the Ministry of Armed Forces has plans to equip frontier military posts with four-wheel vehicles and special motorcycles to enable military to patrol the border with Haiti starting early next year. The plans are part of the program to modernize the armed forces. There are also plans to improve the living conditions of military stationed there. There are 69 posts along the 388-kilometer frontier between Haiti and DR. All of these are ill equipped to combat the increasing trafficking of stolen vehicles, drugs, weapons and humans. Haiti is the principal transshipment point for drugs to the DR, and there are many marihuana plantations located in Haiti along the frontier with the DR, as reports the press. A high-ranking commission of military, head by Chief of the Armed Forces, Manuel de Jesus Florentino toured 1,000 kilometers of border towns with journalists early this week. President Fernandez is scheduled to visit the frontier area tomorrow. Major General Manuel de Jesus Florentino announced that the military have reached an agreement with the Instituto Cartográfico Dominicano to restore the frontier limits that have deteriorated, as part of the general abandon of the frontier area. He said the Ministry of Public Works has also committed to finish the Carretera Internacional, which provides access to Dominican towns located along the frontier. The military is working in coordination with the Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas, Dirección de Migración and the Departamento Nacional de Investigaciones, as well as intelligence departments of the military.
