U.S. Counternarcotics Efforts in the Caribbean

A Predator unmanned aerial vehicle from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially began counternarcotics operations July 15 from the Dominican Republic's San Isidro Air Base in Santo Domingo. The unmanned aerial vehicle will monitor maritime routes and territory in the Mona Passage, the body of water between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The United States hopes that increased cooperation with the Dominican National Directorate of Drug Control, including the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, will stem the flow of maritime narcotics trafficking through the Dominican Republic.

Over the past three years, the Dominican Republic has emerged as a principal transshipment point for illegal drugs in the Caribbean Sea. South American cocaine arrives in the Dominican Republic by air or sea, and then smugglers ship it from there to Central America, Europe and the United States. The country's geographic importance to the international drug trade makes counternarcotics action a priority for U.S. law enforcement. By increasing patrols in the Caribbean, U.S. authorities could put pressure on drug traffickers who use the Dominican Republic as an alternate route to evade law enforcement operations in Central and South America.