Washington. - The U.S. undersecretary of State for Hemispheric affairs said the rise in violence in Dominican Republic stems from an increase in the operations by drug cartels which seek to expand their presence in the country, aside from using it as a bridge to Europe and his country.

Thomas Shannon compared this situation to what’s happening in Mexico and Venezuela, and blamed the latter of not applying the necessary controls to keep Colombian drug from reaching Hispaniola.

It’s not the first time Washington blames Venezuela of being permissive with drug trafficking, but until now no U.S. official had spoke of drug trafficking’s gravity and expansion in Dominican territory.

“For a long time the Mexican cartels were concentrated only in the logistics of transport to the USA, but soon they realized  that they could make money selling in Mexico; it’s just like what’s happening in Dominican Republic,” Shannon said.

“It’s no longer only the drug transport through a country. The cartels have realized that they can pass it and sell retail,” the official said in an interview for newspaper Listin Diario.

Recognizing the gravity of the topic, the U.S. Government’s main regional official  said his country plans to increase the antidrug aid to Dominican Republic, which the U.S. Congress has already included, through the Plan Merida, to confront drug trafficking.

Shannon said this shows the U.S. legislators’ concern with the drug flow that’s occurring in Hispaniola.

Of the planned 165 million dollars in aid, only 5 million correspond to Dominican Republic. “We recognize that it is little, but this is better than nothing,” the diplomat said.