Join the dots..
Recent US sale of 3,500 arms questioned
Hoy newspaper reports today that Representative Donald Payne (Democrat-New Jersey) asked that the government explain why the US recently sold 3,500 arms to the Dominican Republic, a country from where former Haitian paramilitaries admit they organized the violent rebellion that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. US Capitol Hill sources report that members of the Congressional Black Caucus yesterday accused the Bush administration of deliberately exacerbating the violence in Haiti to hasten Aristide's exit. Payne requested information on this matter from US Ambassador Roger Noriega, assistant US Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, who pleaded ignorance to the sale.
For background information see
http://www.hillnews.com/news/030204/haiti.aspx and
http://www.nynewsday.com/... Armed Forces denies purchase of arms
Armed Forces Minister Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez denied the Dominican military had purchased weapons from the United States and intervened in the affairs of a foreign country. He was replying to a statement by US Representative Donald Payne (D-NJ) on the alleged purchase of 3,500 weapons made by the DR in the United States. Soto Jimenez says these weapons were purchased by private companies, and did not include war weapons. He denied the Dominican armed forces has supported any rebel groups or governments. Haitian rebel leader Louis Jodel Chamblain told the international press that his troops had received training in the Dominican Republic. US press sources have said that weapons used by these paramilitary forces were similar to those given to the Dominican military by the US.
Major ammunition shipments to DR
Ana Mitila Lora writes today in her Listin Diario column on the significant imports of ammunition into the Dominican Republic, tracing them back to announcements made by American Ammunition Inc. She points to a December 2003 report from the company that stated it had exported a shipment of 225,000 rounds to its distributor in the DR after receiving authorization from the US Department of State. The report indicates that this was part of an export order of 500,000 rounds, from which she quotes, "In the past 30 days AAI has exported more than 3 million rounds:" Lora wonders about the destiny of such an arsenal.
A 3 March Internet press release from AAI indicates that the manufacturer has received two additional export orders from its DR and Curacao distributors, totaling an additional 300,000 rounds. This figure is in addition to the 500,000-round export order placed by its Dominican distributor in March 2003, according to the AAI web site.
