Napolitano’s visit heralds drones over Dominican skies

SANTO DOMINGO.- U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano arrives in the country Thursday night for a visit of less than 24 hours, during which she’s expected to sign cooperation agreements on the war on drug trafficking, including the use of drones in the Caribbean region.

Napolitano arrives in the country from Brazil and at 9am Friday in the U.S. Ambassador’s residence, is expected to sign the agreement for Dominican Republic to use the unmanned aircraft, also known as drones or predators, whose range exceeds 1,000 miles.

Quoting military sources, local media report that non-US staff, including Dominicans, currently trains for the drones’ mission, mostly maritime surveillance.

Drug cartels have been consolidating their operations in Haiti, from where they cross into Dominican territory to personally supervise drug transports to Puerto Rico via the Mona Passage in small craft and to Europe on ships.