Santo Domingo.- In a meeting held by the United States Secretary of Defense,
Pete Hegseth, with President Luis Abinader, at the National Palace, both countries agreed to
expand bilateral cooperation to strengthen surveillance against drug trafficking.
This cooperation agreement between the Dominican Republic and the United States, the Southern Command and the North American Air Force will provide aircraft for
refueling and air transport to support operations against drug trafficking, including the
Southern Spear Operation, announced by the U.S. Secretary of Defense,
Pete Hegseth, on November 13, which also fights
against the illicit trafficking of weapons.
This collaboration aims to disrupt illicit operations by
transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and
foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), identified by the United States on various routes spanning the entire Caribbean Sea.
There will be the presence of several
KC-135 tanker aircraft in support of air patrol missions, expanding the capabilities of
monitoring and interdiction over a large part of the
maritime and aerial environments, and they will provide refueling services to aircraft from partner countries, thus guaranteeing sustained monitoring,
detection and tracking of verified illicit smuggling activities.
Additionally, the cargo aircraft
C-130 Hercules will facilitate aeromedical evacuations, firefighting, meteorological reconnaissance, and disaster assistance.
During the long trajectory of solid
security cooperation between both countries, the Dominican Republic continues to be an important partner committed to
international efforts to counter illicit trafficking. This positively impacts
the security of both territories and
the stability of the entire region.
In the meeting, held in the Ambassadors’ Hall of the National Palace, President Abinader was accompanied by the First Lady Raquel Arbaje; the ministers of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza; of Defense, Lieutenant General Carlos Antonio Fernández Onofre; of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Álvarez, of Interior and Police, Faride Raful, and the United States Ambassador to the country, Leah Campos.
