[DR1] US troops leaving country

[NewsWhore]

United States Army troops taking part in the New Horizons humanitarian project in Barahona started to leave the country yesterday and expect to have completed their withdrawal on 31 May. During the program, clinics were built in poor communities in the province located in the southern region of the DR and medical assistance was provided to more than 14,000 persons with an investment of more than US$1.3 million, according to a report by the mission's commanders. Diario Libre reports that US Ambassador Hans Hertell stressed that the soldiers' departure should contradict those who were claiming that the troops' presence in the country had ulterior motives other that providing humanitarian aid, which this year will also be given in Honduras, El Salvador and Peru. "People asked me whether it was a military intervention or the installation of a military base," remarked Hertell during the closing ceremony. Also present at the function was Army Chief of Staff Jose Ricardo Estrella, the Chief of the National Army Fifth Brigade Ubaldo Reyes and US and Dominican civilian and military officials.

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