NewsWhore
03-03-2009, 06:20 PM
In his 27 February state of the nation address on Friday, President Leonel Fernandez told his audience: "Listen well - we will not allow drug trafficking in the Dominican Republic." He accepted there was widespread public concern about military and police involvement in drug trafficking and crime, including the participation of Navy officers in the murder of seven suspected drug traffickers in Paya last August, the alleged involvement of more than 20 members of the Police in a drug trafficking ring in Puerto Plata, and the raid on the Parmalat milk company installations apparently led by an Air Force officer. He said these recent events mean there has to be a permanent purge of the armed forces and the police.
Shortly afterwards, several changes in the army were announced. The President retired 31 generals, although granting them the full benefits accorded to their rank. Standing out on the list of retired generals is Hilario de la Cruz Gonzalez Gonzalez, who was the Police commander in Bani when the killings of the seven suspected drug traffickers took place in Paya, unleashing investigations that revealed complicity with officers in the Navy. At the time, Peravia Senator Wilton Guerrero openly accused General Gonzalez of protecting drug traffickers in the area.
Commenting on the list of retired generals on his popular CDN afternoon talk show, journalist Huchi Lora shrugged off government nominations as a reshuffling within the Armed Forces, as many officers were changed to new posts. As part of the reshuffling, President Fernandez appointed Vice Admiral Luis Homero Lajara Sola chief of the Navy, replacing Vice Admiral Julio Cesar Ventura Bayonet. Ventura Bayonet was promoted to Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces.
Huchi Lora also expressed concern about the ease with which criminal events are erased from Air Force officers' career records. He questioned how events that linked him to drug consumption, car theft, assault and scams could have been erased from Major Jorge Luis Vargas Cuello's record. Air Force chief Major General Carlos Altuna Tezanos had said earlier on the same radio show that Vargas Cuello only had faults for tardiness on his record. Lora urged the Air Force chief to investigate how several recommendations for his removal from the Force had been erased. He said the multiple criminal incidents that Vargas Cuello was accused of in his 18 years in the Air Force left a paper trail in the legal offices of the Police, Air Force and Armed Forces Ministry.
In his state of the nation address, Fernandez expressed his government's commitment to fighting corruption. Describing corruption as "universal," Fernandez stressed that the DR has "the adequate legal base to confront corruption from four directions: prevention, detection, persecution and eradication." He said this consisted of the National Ethics and Fight against Corruption Commission, and the National Department for the Persecution of Administrative Corruption (DNCPA).
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)
Shortly afterwards, several changes in the army were announced. The President retired 31 generals, although granting them the full benefits accorded to their rank. Standing out on the list of retired generals is Hilario de la Cruz Gonzalez Gonzalez, who was the Police commander in Bani when the killings of the seven suspected drug traffickers took place in Paya, unleashing investigations that revealed complicity with officers in the Navy. At the time, Peravia Senator Wilton Guerrero openly accused General Gonzalez of protecting drug traffickers in the area.
Commenting on the list of retired generals on his popular CDN afternoon talk show, journalist Huchi Lora shrugged off government nominations as a reshuffling within the Armed Forces, as many officers were changed to new posts. As part of the reshuffling, President Fernandez appointed Vice Admiral Luis Homero Lajara Sola chief of the Navy, replacing Vice Admiral Julio Cesar Ventura Bayonet. Ventura Bayonet was promoted to Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces.
Huchi Lora also expressed concern about the ease with which criminal events are erased from Air Force officers' career records. He questioned how events that linked him to drug consumption, car theft, assault and scams could have been erased from Major Jorge Luis Vargas Cuello's record. Air Force chief Major General Carlos Altuna Tezanos had said earlier on the same radio show that Vargas Cuello only had faults for tardiness on his record. Lora urged the Air Force chief to investigate how several recommendations for his removal from the Force had been erased. He said the multiple criminal incidents that Vargas Cuello was accused of in his 18 years in the Air Force left a paper trail in the legal offices of the Police, Air Force and Armed Forces Ministry.
In his state of the nation address, Fernandez expressed his government's commitment to fighting corruption. Describing corruption as "universal," Fernandez stressed that the DR has "the adequate legal base to confront corruption from four directions: prevention, detection, persecution and eradication." He said this consisted of the National Ethics and Fight against Corruption Commission, and the National Department for the Persecution of Administrative Corruption (DNCPA).
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)