The Police reported on Tuesday, 11 March that they have dismantled a group that for several years had been transporting Cuban ballplayers to the DR to be signed for professional baseball in Puerto Rico, Mexico and other regional countries as a first step before being scouted for Major League Baseball. Police spokesman Jacobo Mateo Moquete said that Cubans Angel Oscar Abueye Valdez and Johan Manuel Jimenez Hernandez are accused of repeated organisation of illegal trips from their country.
The Police said they arrested 12 Cubans near a hotel in Juan Dolio n three women and nine men, according to a report in El Nacional. The Cubans were planning to travel to Isla Mona or Monito on board a Zodiac boat. The police had been on their trail for five months, working in coordination with other security and intelligence authorities, including the Armada (Navy) Naval Intelligence Division.
The arrest comes at a time when the Obama administration has reduced the budget of the US Coast Guard Service. The Dominican Armada says the budget cuts have a negative impact on the restraining of drug trafficking and illegal boat trips in the area. As reported in El Dia, the US has removed the drones that operated in the area, to use them at the border with Mexico.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2014/03/11/cuban-migrants-intercepted-in-dr/
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/3/11/313916/Apresan-a-12-cubanos-que-trataban-de-viajar-en-yola
www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Documents/2014_SOUTHCOM_Posture_Statement_HASC_FINAL_PDF.pdf
EU reduce vigilancia canal de la Mona por recorte presupuestario