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Las vulnerabilidades en la defensa del espacio aéreo dominicano (2da. parte) · The Captains Council Podcast

• Capt. Francisco Díaz: So you were us that the purchase of the Super Tucanos and the Israeli was supposed to be done together so that they together. The idea was that the of primary or three dimensions detect these illicit and that the Super Tucanos would go out and the interdiction of these illicit Tell us then what happened? Why didn't succeed in doing Pelegrin Horacio: you Capt. Francisco Díaz: esto de esa forma. Pelegrin Horacio: Look, think, Francisco, that the rejection of the United States to the approval of the law in a certain way contributed to stopping what was an integral vision of the recovery of air and maritime of the country. Including the maritime because it is known that the air dominates the sea. With drones and airplanes, they have a surveillance of the airspace. Apart from the 3D well placed, they have that ability too. Especially that was a main and two mobile radars that were going to move on the coast. That radar was bought. Immediately it a great resistance internally. here locally so that it would so that it would be The resistance was so that it would be installed. And indeed, the planes the law which was the legal of public policy so that the exercise of legitimate defense of the state in face of an aggression to sovereignty, integrity. the country had a legal legal And then we had the radars, but there was a great pressure from North American from South American did want the Dominican to have these capacities. That's impression I have. The radars, the planes worked. in a sense, because the planes bought so soon and some operations out to demonstrate strength, what was the inter-diary of planes that came from South America disappeared. I know, I know that there was an interception that was made with planes and helicopters and there was ⁓ I know if it a fall, I don't know but someone told me that at one point the armed forces' helicopter dropped a plane and then something similar and from there disappeared that map that they were telling us that an inter-daily The South of States, an official of the United States, admitted that the policy of buying planes and of being an effective over the airspace had contributed to reducing the routes to the Dominican but no can call it a mistake. The operation continued. especially by the route. And it was also masked in the major legal trade Because a good part of comes from the maritime and the air transport. I say this with knowledge of the cause because I'm going to report something that... Me contó un amigo, cónsul dominicano en París, Antonio Abreu. When we visited Paris to discuss legislation on maritime in the Dominican he recommended a task was to transmit to my father the experience he had had. Because just as we in Vienna, the delegation that went to him as a consul, they took him to the Quartier in autumn. where the intelligence located, and they presented the problem that the air was to Europe from the Dominican carrying illicit drugs, especially cocaine. They presented it to him, he obviously came and informed the authorities. I that from the airports of the country, especially private was a large of drugs towards the States, a little more towards Europe. A little further on, my father was informed that through the ports, the largest port, the Multimodal, and the one Hainan. There an increase in the drug shipping to the ports. Even such an important because the figures were was an increase of 800 % that came from the Dominican Republic, from the Multimodal and from Jaina, to Europe. So that led to another debate. If the country had the possibility to the controls, the sensors, the detection of drugs and other illicit in the ports and airports and the border too. Through the border with Haiti, know that drugs pass from there to here. ⁓ in One of them, which is worth remembering, was the arrest of the nephews of Silvia Flores, the first fighter, wife of Nicolás Maduro, in a drug where they arrested in Puerto Príncipe. When the Americans went to negotiate with the Venezuelan The Remy Venezuela was the head the the secretary of They met there to solve the problem of the so-called narco-so-brothers. So, one realizes the strategic Haiti has. It has always it because is a kind of area in colonial was a pirate a filibuster, a canary. Capt. Francisco Díaz: to you. Pelegrin Horacio: uh, the or illegal etc. But the point is that it is. And obviously, this drug that arrives Haiti and the money it generates, that washed, has a communicating with... Capt. Francisco Díaz: And taking advantage of the that you mentioned the issue of super Tucanos, radars, the law, all that organogram that was made to deal with that, is good to point out that in the Caribbean, in the insular really the only aircraft dedicated to an air on subject of the ban are the super Tucanos. The Americans in Puerto Rico had Pelegrin Horacio: See. Capt. Francisco Díaz: a F-16 guard unit that was closed. They no longer have... I imagine that now with the issue of the deployment that there now, perhaps reactivate that unit with other types of planes, but they at that time did already have interdiction there, they helicopters from the Coast Guard and things like that. And on the southern side, Colombia, uses Cessna Citation, are small, private, corporate that the Colombian installed precisely F-16 radars and those are what serve as the pursuit right? And well, the Colombian also has Super Tucano and everything else, but in the Caribbean as such, only island country that uses aircraft by air for this type of thing, Pelegrin Horacio: Check. Thank Capt. Francisco Díaz: are the Super Tucanos. I remember seeing in a documentary of the National Security Department here in the United States, a plane that they use for detection, which is a Dash 8, a two-engine turboprop that when it detected any suspicious it was precisely the Dominican with the Super Tucanos. Pelegrin Horacio: I to that I participated in an important that was in the forces between the Colombian and the Dominican services. held in the of Defense. I was invited to give a conference on the importance of the Dominican the insulars, the regionals, and international security. the more opportunities that came from Colombia and that allowed us to raise the record of both air and maritime because also maritime came accompanied also from Colombia by those planes and also by the American but the information came from Colombia, that is the reality. The same Americans, well, I told you a moment ago that at some point, on several occasions, operations came to the east, in the Romana Sabona, the radars in Puerto Rico paid several times. And that didn't trust the officials of the country, who were left in a mess and opposed, because then it turned out that we the ones who were failing. Capt. Francisco Díaz: And let me tell you that for the Dominican pilots, what I have spoken, the colleagues of the Air Force those are dangerous because the Super Tucano is a aircraft designed for ground-air it is an interceptor as such and it is an aircraft that as you is a single engine, a two-waprope and these pilots go out to missions sometimes very far from the Dominican sea within. Pelegrin Horacio: More believe. to Capt. Francisco Díaz: with a single engine, that if they a failure of engine, will be left alone in the water and wait for them to be rescued. And you know that the Dominican is a navy designed to be close to the coast. So, they missions with little support for rescue issue in case a plane that and the pilots are aware of that and still go out to do the missions. Pelegrin Horacio: state. you Thank you. Capt. Francisco Díaz: And they have told me that sometimes they are so far away that they communication with the Dominican Pelegrin Horacio: Well, I want to emphasize that in the original vision that existed, was considered the construction of four high-altitude They were going build in Siramarco, in alliance with Daman. As well built four... the paddlers that are working there with very good quality and a few patrol There was a project to build a high-altitude boat that could even carry helicopters for surveillance in larger areas precisely to support those missions because that patrol boat... Now the government has just announced and I see as positive. the acquisition of high-level I think there are four or two, when the army of Portugal is being built or being repaired. point is that soon we have patrols with more capacity and surveillance. And some important for example... I know that the Navy took measures to establish a surveillance system with maritime I did tell that every tons was very high. They had to find a boat that more than 21 feet or 30 feet of land. to make that because what we could prove, I proved it, is that in the southern we could prove it, at least the suspicion that there are some structures in the seabed that are launched and that apparently pass ships and manage to a kind of water flower, drugs, and then boats out to fish and come with drugs. That was a very strange of a gas and oil campaign that was done here in the year 2012, 2013, when I was going to the ministry. I was supporting a Spanish hydrocarbon on San Pedro de Macorís And this campaign, which was very anticipated and explained, was the launch of 2D Geophysics indicated that there was gas, and there gas. in that structure, a very interesting according to which the mobile had in the 90s, the mobile today. So when it was released, a strange because precisely on the navigation five incidents navigation because some structures that made tied the geophones. that was being launched. So the campaign supported the Spanish and the University of Madrid was suspended in the fifth incident. So the debate left about who is causing this, if was really a group of very sophisticated who have capacity to anchors at more than 1,000 meters deep. If it was a boycott, directly to the campaign, that would be a confirmation that there is gas and oil, especially gas, in large quantities. Or if it was a drug trafficking which made more sense to that on that route, because there are many boats the drug traffickers who have resources to these structures, tie drugs from the boats and then continue their route. From here they go out to look it and bring it to the land and here embark it in containers that go to Europe, to the United States, to other parts of the world. So that's what I faith and testimony That's what I lived through. And was with the third hypothesis that was more of a drug trafficking The authorities know that. We informed them. ⁓ Capt. Francisco Díaz: Well, the truth is that issue of drug trafficking in our area is quite broad. We are to change now a little bit and then about the topic of modern that we are seeing in the Dominican and in the airspace of neighboring countries. Speaking a little bit history, as you the Trujillo the Dominican was a fairly large and powerful in the region. and was used for many patrols, interventions, interdictions, etc. And after Trujillo, that was falling and in time of Balaguer we had a small situation with Cuba, what the Cubans called Operation Pico, which was a Cuban that the Dominican army seized for illegally entering Dominican and the Cuban as a way to intimidate the Dominican government sent Pelegrin Horacio: See you. Capt. Francisco Díaz: squadrons of mixed to enter the Dominican and make rapid supersonic that broke windows, is, to scare the mixed with the planes. Already at that time what we were the P-51s, which obviously being propeller were not in of these mixed and the Dominican could not them in front. That is the introduction to the Dominican Pelegrin Horacio: you Thank Capt. Francisco Díaz: the we have had in a country in the region. And now, with the subject of drones, taking it to modernity, all this airspace and the aircraft, the operational has been significantly There are drones of all kinds and are threats of all kinds. So let's talk a little bit about the Venezuelan The Miami Herald Pelegrin Horacio: you Capt. Francisco Díaz: He says that in 2006 the Venezuelan signed an agreement with the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the development of drones and in Venezuela. Tell us a little bit this and what danger could pose for the Dominican Pelegrin Horacio: See. Look, I think we have to be aware that organized transnational is an actor that grew within the global of Canary Islands in the era of globalization. This globalization that we see to be progressively weakened all the national states and allowed transnational to But everyone who knows the operand of transnational knows that it seeks to states, institutions, authorities, spaces, routes, structures, communications, etc. And then, evidently, evidently, that happened in the region in a brutal way, especially because from 2001, when States was attacked in New York, in Washington, the United States fled to the East to free that war. that lasted more than 20 years in Afghanistan. And, in addition, spread to Iraq. Well, we ended up sending troops to Iraq so that we this clear So, what happened? Well, we have to be clear that In this process, it became clear that the Americans were to prioritize the fight against terrorism. And in the Caribbean, the fight against drug trafficking changed its focus. For the Americans, the priority was to an alliance between international trafficking, local cartels. that had grown a lot in Central America, Mexico, Colombia, in South America, with fundamentalist Islamic That was, in that context, the focus that prevailed. I talked to a North American and they told me, well, the fight against drug trafficking as such went down. of intensity because for the Americans, most important thing was to prevent those alliances What had happened? Let's forget that more or less for that time in Argentina, two important One against the in Buenos Aires and another against the ANMIA, which is a mutualist the The that was behind that attack was Iran. The version that Iran and the fundamentalist were taking of the advantages that the triple border to operate with smuggling in all that area to generate resources to send it to the fundamentalist of the East. The point is that when Chávez and especially when Chávez radicalizes, from 2002, with the coup attempt of Pedro Carmona, who was a terrible fiasco, it turns out that It Venezuela in the of Cuba. And the Yacuban was to strengthen the Bolivarian Revolution, socialism in the 21st century, the Foro de San Paulo, with the global of Third World. There comes all that speech of internationalizing the fight against imperialism, against... And that's why... And in 2005, an an alliance that was because, notice that Cubans directly because they don't dare to that There are 90 miles of Havana, however, was logical that an oil economy like the Venezuelan one, a of the OPEC, its foundation, made an alliance with the Bolivarian the Islamic revolution in Iran. And that alliance, we are talking about two extremes. the biggest oil Venezuela was producing, had capacity to produce, it produced 3 million barrels. That capacity fell, but there was the big tension, conflict, and so on. I have no doubt that in the Islamic world there are very important that have been radicalized and that are in a kind of jihad. So an alliance of the Bolivarian of Venezuela with the Islamic Revolution of the Ayatollahs seems like a dystopia, but it happened. And it didn't just stay in rhetoric, it went to concrete like that, which you point out, to open a drone factory for war purposes in the Venezuelan specifically in the state of Aragua. And you ask well, but what is the market of those drones? If they scientific or drones... Capt. Francisco Díaz: They started with small that were surveillance right? They first what was called the Aeronautical-National SA in Venezuela, NASA, and they started with small surveillance But then there is a very famous Iranian Mojair 2 and the Shaheb, which is being used right now in conflict in the Middle East, which are offensive they attack drones. And Venezuela was the first country in Latin to arm drones. Pelegrin Horacio: the rolling. to Thank you. In arming drones. No, only that, people don't know this detail. has been marginalized in all this discussion. Venezuela, Reymem Venezuelan allowed him to a very large probably close to 10,000 kilometers. Capt. Francisco Díaz: important as he is. Pelegrin Horacio: Venezuela obviously has immense but a state grants to Iran. The argument was that Iran had the need to produce lot of for its country, and Venezuela was open to producing all kinds of alliances. when you have an enemy from the United States, And the time, those who know depth the vision. of the Islamic revolution that seeks to headed, let's say, the resurgence of the leadership of the Islamic ummah around a strong Because what is criticism of Iran against the That all the Arab countries are facing West. Everyone has implemented the Palestinian for their own but they don't support the Palestinians. They have betrayed the Palestinians. They are the real of the Palestinian In of the Ummah, the Ummah is the community of faithful believers, whether they Arabs or not, because there the Islamic Ummah and the wonderful Ummah. So, in of the wonderful Ummah, The Iranian Reimans' was that they represented the cause of the Palestinian which Martyrs' Let's that the Shiite is, in its essence, an Islam that cultivates, has a tremendous impressive, to Martyrs, because... The iconic of that martyr was Hussein, grandson of Mahoma, and Ali, the son of Mahoma, who were sacrificed by their Sunni that time until 1400 years ago, there this contradiction. Now, in the 70s, it appears. and have paid attention to what that means. And the government directly involves us, but has created a network. For example, I am going refer to a case that took here in Santo Domingo so that we can see the dimensions of all this. think was in 2010, 2011, at airport of Las Romanas, an interception of was an undercover by the Americans to send drugs to Belgium from the airport La Romana. It was a private Dominican But since it was an undercover the Americans required that plane to set up the operation. What was discovered was that the group that was carrying that drug, to Belgium, was same group that was operating in the area with Esbola. And they were monitoring it inside the operation known as the Cassandra Capt. Francisco Díaz: and we have to say is a proxies controlled by Iran. Pelegrin Horacio: Yes, it the arm, the God's that took a lot of especially after the revolution of Iran. It is mainly by Chitas. But in this case, they took over Lebanon and in that was demonstrated, that the investigation was done since... I think it 2009 or 2010, lasted several years. Unfortunately, was boycotted because President Obama was very committed to justifying his Nobel and he wanted to an agreement with Iran regarding the nuclear program. and an agreement and returned thousands of millions of dollars. But the same time he left it with capacity to continue developing its nuclear capacity. They said, we don't want to nuclear weapons But in the facts, and many times they proved that they didn't They wanted weapons immediately, but they did the capacity to arm them quickly. Which is to the same Because if you spend 20 % there is no other explanation. It good to remember that the Manhattan Project was conceived with different It was considered the bullion as an option. Capt. Francisco Díaz: Claro, claro. Pelegrin Horacio: But it because it was not capable of producing nuclear weapons. Neither with uranium nor plutonium. So the bullion was discarded. If Iran really wanted to develop its nuclear for civil purposes and for energy generation, the simplest is... Obama ⁓ Capt. Francisco Díaz: which is used for weapons. Pelegrin Horacio: was the agreement that Trump denounced in 2017. There was a lot of opposition from Israel. And that moment, what happened? What happened? The vipers of the agreement were paralyzed. Because right at the moment when the leaders were European who was looking for weapons, with the drug money that was generated in Latin Then the operation because it understood that could harm the signing of the agreement. Now, lately, that experience it was made in a way of complaint by the DEA that, well, the American government was the who stopped the Imbahuanma. discover this connection between the drug in Latin America and the wash and terrorism in the Middle East. And specifically, look, part of the drugs were being the money for drugs was being in the West Coast of Africa and in a Canadian called the Canadian bank of the Bolivians. At that moment, a key called Aiman Chuma. And I that series of tensions and conflicts because that group threatened Dominican actors with retaliation. It didn't to the but that was an incident within them, many them went to the regional that shows those connections that are now very important, very important. Look, when the situation in Venezuela up, now, I think the United States was very aware that it had to secure this region before facing this new war scenario that is now in the East. Why? Because if is a possibility to attacks on American American on American with a lot of effectiveness and surprise, and even to disturb the entire continent, would be from the Caribbean region, using drones. And the drones are being used in the region. I'm going to these cases that cost me Tengo conocimiento directo de eso. En primer lugar, cuando derrocaron y asesinaron al presidente Juvenal Moïse en el operativo que se montó para presarlo y ejecutarlo, se usaron drones. Eso lo refiere... Capt. Francisco Díaz: The group of... Pelegrin Horacio: The group that went to the presidential house, the Colombians and Haitians, used drones, not so for attack, but to impress security. Because when approaching the what was being sent was a that there was an operation that was known if they were going to seek support from the president to do it or that they going to Capt. Francisco Díaz: used drones as part of the mission Pelegrin Horacio: to the president, left the argument, and they used the drone to the defense of President Moïse and all these foreign people talking about these issues. Obviously, they were very scared. And the other episode that I found out is that Haiti, were using drones. They were training themselves on use of And when Eric Primm the argument that used to hire Eric Primm was that the Haitian had law, the government, the armed and the Haitian in use of to be able face these groups that were training themselves for use of drones. So we have to be very careful because we have seen the use of drones in Colombia, in Mexico. And here we have to very careful, and the Americans know that the use of drones as attack against the interests of the Dominican critical tourist an attack that is carried out. affects considerably the tourism. Capt. Francisco Díaz: We can see today in Dubai. Dubai is Dubai's the airport with the air in the world, with more passengers. And the Emirates of Dubai lives mostly from tourism, although the Emirates the country as such, also produces a of oil, but tourism for them is fundamental. We even have Dominican who is a captain there and told Pelegrin Horacio: Well, now... See, see. Say it. Capt. Francisco Díaz: of the pressure that pilots to go out and civil because they need to the movement of tourists. So, of we'll you that meeting. Pelegrin Horacio: See. Yes. And it's a tourist, it's an investment Dubai operates networks in the strategic Well, we the biggest investment in Middle East. It's here in the Dominican in the Caribbean. It's there in the zone of the deep world. Dubai, then, there we have to have a lot of Capt. Francisco Díaz: Claro. Claro, con la gente de Divi Port. to you. Pelegrin Horacio: Why? Because this group, and I am aware it, has penetrated many spaces. And right here in the Dominican I was to confirm, I also how the was a country of transit when the corridor operated, it in Damascus, Damascus, Caracas. And Caracas, that flow of people who came from the Middle East Many fled from the problems, but nobody knows who fled and who also to infiltrate. And here was possible to that was a structure of support for this traffic here in the Dominican Capt. Francisco Díaz: plan. Well, now when the president was in Dubai, in this global that they have made as government, one of the issues that was dealt with was that the Punta Cana wants their emirates' to fly to Punta Cana directly from Dubai. They want to the Dominican directly with the Middle East, obviously because of business because we want to push it from the Dominican hub. Now, as you say, that could bring other things that may not be desired. Pelegrin Horacio: I am criticizing the government because tourism is the most flourishing we have to be very aware that the more openness tourism the more risks are and more this international scenario. Look at this detail. At one point, the United States is telling the world that there are 75 countries that have been sealed. to enter the North American suspended from the visa. The Republic starts a policy of visa and includes many those countries that are on that list. Everyone says, come here. You don't realize where we are. Where are we? And what is happening in the world? The who attacked in Paris were in the Bataclan, but in the magazine Charlie Eddo, think. I don't remember They came to spend a week here in Santo Domingo on vacation. And here they went to Paris and participated in one of the fierce the most deadly that has ever occurred. Even in the 9-11, there is General Soto, who was a minister and... Capt. Francisco Díaz: Si, así es. Si. That's it. Pelegrin Horacio: the doctora Peña, was consul in Frankfurt. One of the things that was clear in the 9-11 was precisely that apparently some of the passages that sent to Hamburg or Frankfurt were sent from the Dominican That... I've said it before, several occasions. Of of So, we're to be clear that the world is interconnected, but the more naive, naive naive let's call it that, more increase. Capt. Francisco Díaz: That where they trained in Frankfurt, where they trained to learn how fly that kind of aircraft. Yes, yes, that's Pelegrin Horacio: I have told many people here and outside of here, in this scenario, all the conflicts we seeing now are conflicts of the cold war, which have been reactivated tremendously. There is one single new one. Well, the Netherlands is a new But almost all of them are conflicts of the Cold What happens? We are living a hybrid The first hybrid And we have to be aware of what that means. Be aware and prepare to face all those high-level the lot of potential, which is resilient, but which has to have the capacity to the leap to be an anti-fragile That means having vision to predict the scenarios. We can't get ourselves into the wolf's We can't get ourselves into wolf's mouth. Why? Because the fight was... Capt. Francisco Díaz: One of the scenarios that the pilots talked about was what is happening now in the Middle East of the retaliation of Iran towards the Gulf countries using these drones and how during the deployment of the American fleet in the Caribbean, now with the situation in Venezuela, that not talked about in the Dominican Republic, about the danger that Venezuela could do the same because it is same type of drone. that they in Venezuela. Pelegrin Horacio: Not only Venezuela. Look, when Venezuela took over the alliance with the Islamic of Iran, it without Cuba's Venezuela's in the international field was Cuba. That's why they Maduro as a senator and then put him president so he be the heir. And Maduro was a reprimanded the Cuban Communist Party, the Cuban Communist Party's Nicolópez. I mean, he a picture of them. So it's not true that they those steps towards Iran without getting And I wonder, well... But if they are capable of developing drones here in the region, they must have thought that, as Luiso Cruchot in 1962, a hypersonic even if it does have nuclear capacity, could enter the American And if this scenario, Iran and its regional They decide to bring missiles and assemble them in the region to put the operatives in short time and launch them to the United States because it is more complicated because of the size of the teams. But right now it is Right now is very easy, is a ship. So we have to very clear about what is happening to take of ourselves. that nobody is going take of And there is a weak in the region of the Caribbean. If they put the Dominicans and Haitians each and scare the conflict and scale it, a latent that can be very cruel, very violent, they create a support in the Caribbean But not just any support. The organized of transnationalism, the one hand, and all the hostile the States. I say it in my book, Power Crash in the Great Caribbean. I'm to take the to promote this survey in the center of the book, and there are many details of many of these things that we are doing. Capt. Francisco Díaz: See you later. Well, I won't take any more time, Mr. Pelegrín, thank much for this excellent exhibition. I want you that while we were talking, was looking at the Southern General Donovan, is the new commander of the Southern was precisely talking about this front of US talking about Chinese, Russian, Iranian in our region. in the Caribbean. Pelegrin Horacio: Do you know how many electronic and cyber intelligence China in Cuba? Eight bases. Capt. Francisco Díaz: Imagine, imagine. I remember that I spoke with Dominican air traffic and with Dominican during this entire American in Venezuela and we talked about what would if Venezuela retaliated against these countries. The Dominican does even have the radar to detect them. We do even have procedure of what to do in case that Pelegrin Horacio: Look, I think I'm going to you this interpretation. think that lot of planes... Capt. Francisco Díaz: American Pelegrin Horacio: Yes, with the capabilities, with the teams that were there and that probably still there. Because there is the most important of the Dominican is the multimodal there is the AES there is the international And obviously, any attack on that space is not success. the Dominican Republic. There is the Caribbean Capt. Francisco Díaz: Claro. Claro, imagines. Bueno, gracias. Claro, muchas gracias, Don Pellegrin, por su tiempo el día de hoy. ⁓ Vamos a en dos partes y bueno, síganos como siempre en ⁓ Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music y en YouTube. Muchas gracias y muy buen día. Pelegrin Horacio: Bueno, Muy bien. Gracias.