Santo Domingo.- The Secretary of War of the United States, Pete Hegseth, will arrive tomorrow in Santo Domingo to carry out an official visit, the embassy of that country informed this Tuesday, one day after the Dominican president, Luis Abinader, announced the matter.
Hegseth will land in the Dominican capital at noon (16:00 GMT) tomorrow Wednesday, specified the North American diplomatic delegation in a brief note, which does not offer details of the agenda of the high-ranking US official.
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Abinader revealed yesterday that Hegseth will visit the Dominican Republic to, among other things, “strengthen” the “joint efforts” in the fight against drug trafficking.
The ruler said that Hegseth will travel to the country to “continue coordinating” the “trust” between both countries to face drug trafficking and other transnational crimes.
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We have had (United States and Dominican Republic) a collaboration, a strong fight against drug trafficking at a time when the production of cocaine has increased in some South American countries”, the president said.
Hegseth’s visit comes at a time of heightened tension between Venezuela and the United States, a country that has deployed a military contingent in Caribbean waters and has destroyed several boats that, it claims, were transporting drugs to that nation.
Yesterday, the United States designated the Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist group, attributing to it links with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and with the military leadership of that country.
This decision gives the Trump administration additional tools to increase pressure on the Maduro government.
Although US authorities have mentioned the existence of this group comprised of Venezuelan military personnel since the nineties —whose name would supposedly come from the sun-shaped insignias worn by the generals—, the investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were not formalized until March 2020, during Trump’s first term.
