Three border provinces of the Dominican Republic will see additional forces assigned to the defense of the border with Haiti. The order was issued by President Danilo Medina on February 27, 2018.

Dominican troops are sent to the border with Haiti as sentinels in charge of blocking illegal immigrants, drug trafficking, and the smuggling of goods (Picture source: Dominican Today)

The plan is designed to counteract the well-known traffic of undocumented persons, drug trafficking, and the smuggling of goods into the country. The deployment will involve 1,000 troops from the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the commissioning of 30 drones and 50 new vehicles for patrol; and the use of Air Force aircraft and Navy vessels to support ground troops. Defense Minister Lieutenant General Rubén Darío Paulino Sem traveled to Dajabón, Elías Piña, and Jimaní to supervise the formal start of the operations. He handed off command of the operations to commanders of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Army Brigades.

The 900 soldiers assigned to this sentinel mission have been duly trained with command courses oriented to develop their skills, abilities, and aptitudes for the operational tasks they will have to carry on.

The drones acquired by the Government for the MIDE are equipped with state-of-the-art technology and designed, especially for military and surveillance purposes, to take high-resolution images and transmit them in real time to the command post at the border, to the headquarters of the ERD and the MIDE information processing center. The information provided by the MIDE indicates that along with the entry into operations of the drones, the intelligence structure has also been strengthened in a general sense.