The Dominican Republic will support Haiti with combat planes and patrol boats in the fight against drug trafficking, by President Leonel Fernández’s express order, according to the head of the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), Major General Rolando Rosado Mateo.

Rosado announced that President Fernández has given instructions, both to the DNCD and to the Armed Forces, “that the defense system that we have be used to that end,” whether by sea or in the air, because the problem of narcotics trafficking, is pernicious for the two states that share the island.

Rosado Mateo revealed this information while presiding at the graduation ceremony for a group of ten officers from the Anti-Narcotics Unit of the Haitian National Police who received specialized training in the detection and control of drugs at the Dominican National Drug Control Academy.

“There is an evident will, expressed and ordered by the president of the Republic, to organize whatever training courses are necessary and to use the resources of the Dominican Republic’s defense system in this fight, a shared fight,” the anti-drug chief emphasized during his speech at the graduation ceremony for the group of Dominican and Haitian officers.

Rosado Mateo thanked the U.S. Government for its contribution, through its embassies in Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince, to making the course a reality.

The Dominican Republic’s cooperation with Haiti will include the fleet of Embraer A-29B Super Tucano light attack planes that the Dominican Air Force has been flying for over two years, as well as interceptor speedboats operated by the Dominican Navy.