U.S., Dominican military head exercises with regional troops

Bani, Dominican Republic.- The U.S. Southern Command and the Dominican Navy on Monday began the Tradewinds 2014 international exercises at Las Calderas Naval Base near Bani, Peravia Province (south), to last from June 16 to 26.

In the ceremony held at the base’s esplanade Dominican Navy chief of staff Edwin Dominici said the exercise aims to conduct joint maritime interdiction operations, focused on developing capacities of land units and ship crews to fight transnational organized crime.

Also participating this year will be 560 troops from the armed forces ofAntigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Netherlands Antilles, Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Haiti, Suriname.

The officials said the exercises seek to strengthen cooperation among participating countries, to improve security and stability inthe region and the hemisphere.