Pubdate: Sat, 14 Apr 2012
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2012 Miami Herald Media Co.
Contact:  http://www.miamiherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Ezra Fieser

CAPTURE AND EXTRADITION OF ALLEGED SINALOA MEMBERS INDICATE CARTEL 
SPREADING INTO DR

The Arrests of the Two Alleged Sinaloa Cartel Members Is Strongest 
Sign Yet That the Group Might Be Active in the Dominican Republic.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Two alleged members of the 
Sinaloa cartel were caught here and promptly extradited to the U.S. 
to face drug trafficking charges, providing new evidence that the 
feared Mexican criminal group is establishing a presence in the 
Dominican Republic.

Hector Andres Chavez Ramirez and Jorge Herman Peralta Medrano, also 
known as "El Nazi," were caught late last month in a Santo Domingo 
hotel as part of a low-profile sting operation organized by the U.S. 
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

They were flown to New York where they face charges of conspiring to 
smuggle drugs into the U.S., according to court documents. The 
arrests came to light only this week when the court documents were unsealed.

An April 16 court appearance has been set, a spokeswoman for the U.S. 
Attorney's Office said.

The Dominican Republic's drug czar, presidential advisor Mauricio 
Vinicio Castillo, said that one of the men served as a pilot to 
Sinaloa boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, considered the world's most 
powerful drug trafficker. It was unclear how close the men were to Guzman.

The arrests are further proof that the Sinaloa cartel is working to 
establish itself in the country as the drug war in Mexico, Central 
America and Colombia squeezes existing operations.

"The Dominican Republic is the victim of the pressure put on [drug 
trafficking] organizations that are large and seeking a place to 
avoid the pressures they are under" in other parts of Latin America, 
said Eduardo Gamarra, a Florida International University professor 
and an advisor to the Dominican president on security matters.

The Caribbean is not displacing the preferred Central America-Mexico 
route for drug trafficking. Only an estimated 10 percent of cocaine 
bound for the U.S. flows through the islands.

But officials, including high-ranking members of President Barack 
Obama's administration, have warned that the islands are vulnerable 
to an increase in trafficking.

Anibal de Castro, the Dominican Ambassador to the U.S., in February 
told a Senate committee, "the Sinaloa cartel is seeking to create a 
route to Europe using the Dominican Republic."

In the last 14 months, Dominican anti-narcotics units have arrested 
10 suspected Sinaloa members, deporting seven of them to the United 
States. One of those captured, Luis Fernando Bertolucci Castillo, 
told investigators that the cartel was working with Dominican 
criminal groups to obtain chemicals used in synthetic drug production.

Last month, Dominican officials, in an operation carried out with DEA 
support, caught a huge cocaine shipment bound for Europe. Dominican 
officials said it belonged to the Sinaloa cartel.

"Obviously, we have confirmed that the [Sinaloa] cartel has a 
presence here and the arrests we've made have shown that," said 
Roberto Lebron, spokesman with the Dominican National Directorate for 
Drug Control (DNCD).

According to a sealed indictment filed against Chavez and Peralta, 
DEA agents began tracking the two men in January.

Peralta and Chavez met with sources working for the DEA on March 13 
and March 18 in Santo Domingo, the indictment said.

In those meetings, they discussed transporting more than one metric 
ton of cocaine from Venezuela to Honduras and importing a portion of 
it into the United States through Mexico.

The indictment was unsealed when the DEA sought to share information 
with Dominican anti-narcotics agencies and execute the arrest.

With its first world amenities and third world judicial system, the 
Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, 
has long been a favored destination for criminal groups.

U.S. and Dominican officials estimate that as much as 70 tons of 
cocaine were shipped through the country as recently as 2008. The 
DNCD said that number dropped to 13 tons last year, about half of 
which was seized.

Thus far in 2012, they've seized about 8,580 pounds, Lebron said.

Still, the country remains vulnerable to trafficking. That may be 
leading the Sinaloa group to seek out collaborations.

But thus far, the cartel's involvement has been limited.

"The Dominican Republic is becoming the center of operations for the 
Caribbean," Gamarra said. "But it has not become the headquarters for 
Sinaloa operations."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom