Dominican Army forces walk around an armored tank sent yesterday to the border with Dajabón to reinforce the contingent deployed along the border with Haiti, whose country is experiencing a situation of chaos. These units are used for reconnaissance and infantry support.
Santo Domingo, DR
The Dominican-Haitian border is under a calm atmosphere. Still, as a precautionary measure given the instability that Haiti is experiencing, the military component has consolidated the line of defense along the land strip and the air and maritime spaces, as seen yesterday in the deployment of armored tanks and helicopters in the area of Dajabón.
Among the armed potential, special forces were dispatched for crises, according to military sources who assured that on the Dominican side, “there are no complications.”
“The attention is high there; the Haitian capital is no man’s land,” he maintains, adding that in the Dominican land space, “there is no problem.”
The movement of soldiers and military equipment is a preventive measure applicable by the armed forces to be prepared for contingencies, and ready to defend the sovereignty and security of citizens.
“Every time there is convulsion (in Haiti) there is more preparation here,” indicates the source associated with the military field. “We are ready for anything; there are no problems here,” he notes.
The increasingly complicated crisis in Haiti has led the Dominican Army to strengthen its presence on the border. Helicopter surveillance flights are constant, and patrols cover 24 hours.
The correspondent in the area, Goidy Reyes, said that the instructions of the military operations in Dajabón, ordered by the general commander of the Army, Carlos Fernández Onofre, are being complied with in all their forms.
The tanks
The armored tankettes are a military vehicles similar to a small tank, in the Dominican case, with axles on wheels; they are used for surveillance and infantry support. These vehicles, normally the size of a car, have a crew of two or three members. In addition, the country’s armed forces have the LAV-150 Commando, manufactured in the United States.
Gasoline seized
Yesterday, the general commander of the Army, Carlos Antonio Fernandez Onofre, informed that a patrol of this military force frustrated yesterday the illegal transfer of gasoline by Haitian smugglers, through the town of Partido, in Dajabon.
The Army high command explained that the Haitians were caught “in flagrante delicto,” After resisting arrest and provoking a disorder, they were subjected to obedience. According to the report, the illegal transfer of gasoline was done in collaboration with Dominicans. When they noticed the military presence, a group of Haitians fled, leaving behind the gasoline containers and a vehicle.
Religious
Arrest warrant
The Haitian government commissioner, Jacques Lafontant, confirmed yesterday the issuance of an arrest warrant against the president of the Permanent Committee of the Episcopal Church of Haiti, Jean Madoché Vil, for alleged involvement in the trafficking of arms and ammunition.
Lafontant declined to say whether there would be other arrest warrants for this case, limiting himself to saying that the Prosecutor’s Office will inform the press “at the appropriate time,” said the Haitian daily Gazette Haiti News.