NewsWhore
02-28-2012, 04:10 PM
The Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia has published an extensive article by Limarys Suarez Torres highlighting the local facilities and institutional weaknesses that make the Dominican Republic a paradise for Puerto Rican drug traffickers. The lengthy article, which is reprinted in Hoy newspaper, reveals how some 19,500 kilograms of cocaine are shipped from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico each year. It also describes how, over the past two and a half years, some 31 Puerto Rican drug traffickers, five of them women, were arrested here. Names such as Jose David Figueroa Agosto, Omar Diaz Pabon and others have been in the newspapers both here and there. According to Suarez Torres, the amount of drugs coming from South America is "monumental" and they cite a United States Defense Department estimate of some 39,000 kilos of cocaine annually, based on the Consolidated Counterdrug Database.
The article mentions the attractiveness of the eight major ports and 17 minor ports in the Dominican Republic as major facilitators for moving drugs. In the Multi-Modal Port of Caucedo alone, more than a million containers moved in and out last year, and only 1,300 kilos of cocaine were discovered en route to Europe or Puerto Rico or the United States. In addition, the private ports and marinas at Cap Cana and La Romana are great favorites with drug traffickers since there is no government supervision. Yachts carrying drugs stuck to their hulls and yachts bringing in millions are par for the course, according to Suarez Torres.
While none of the above is really big news, the fact that over a billion dollars a year, close to 2% of the much-vaunted GDP, comes from money laundering should be a major wakeup call. While the Dominican banks are required to report any suspicious movement of money, no bank has ever been fined or punished for laundering money. "In this country you can buy (anything) and nobody questions where the money comes from," said one former drug trafficker. And the poor pay which leads to government corruption was also pointed out: A colonel in the Dominican National Police receives US$513 a month, and his Puerto Rican counterpart betweenUS$4,700 and US$7,000 a month. With such low pay, the writer asks how can some officers afford Mercedes-Benz vehicles and luxurious houses.
http://www.elnuevodia.com/latierraprometidadelnarcoboricua-1199757.html
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#12)
The article mentions the attractiveness of the eight major ports and 17 minor ports in the Dominican Republic as major facilitators for moving drugs. In the Multi-Modal Port of Caucedo alone, more than a million containers moved in and out last year, and only 1,300 kilos of cocaine were discovered en route to Europe or Puerto Rico or the United States. In addition, the private ports and marinas at Cap Cana and La Romana are great favorites with drug traffickers since there is no government supervision. Yachts carrying drugs stuck to their hulls and yachts bringing in millions are par for the course, according to Suarez Torres.
While none of the above is really big news, the fact that over a billion dollars a year, close to 2% of the much-vaunted GDP, comes from money laundering should be a major wakeup call. While the Dominican banks are required to report any suspicious movement of money, no bank has ever been fined or punished for laundering money. "In this country you can buy (anything) and nobody questions where the money comes from," said one former drug trafficker. And the poor pay which leads to government corruption was also pointed out: A colonel in the Dominican National Police receives US$513 a month, and his Puerto Rican counterpart betweenUS$4,700 and US$7,000 a month. With such low pay, the writer asks how can some officers afford Mercedes-Benz vehicles and luxurious houses.
http://www.elnuevodia.com/latierraprometidadelnarcoboricua-1199757.html
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#12)