Defense ships off 600 more troops to Haiti border

Santo Domingo.- The Defense Ministry on Fri. deployed an additional 600 Army troops along the border with Haiti to conduct midyear exercises and heighten surveillance.

In a statement, Defense said the deployment complies with president Danilo Medina’s instructions to boost surveillance at the border to control the entry of immigrants.

It said the exercises, “seek to systematically improve the readiness levels of the Institution’s members and that the soldiers use the knowledge acquired in the different schools, through the execution of short and long range patrolling, establishment of checkpoints, registration of vehicles and people, operations in coordination with Immigration, and reforestation operations in the border line.”

Defense adds that the exercises are within the areas of responsibility of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Army Infantry Brigades.

The deployment is the latest increase in the number of military assigned to the border, and has included Air Force and Navy patrols, as well as Army cadets.