President Luis Abinader led the military parade in commemoration of the 180th anniversary of National Independence and with which the activities of the Month of the Homeland culminated on 27 February.
The head of state was received on George Washington Avenue (Malecón) by the First Dominican Regiment of the Presidential Guard with the military honors of rigor, consisting of five flourishes and the national anthem, accompanied by an artillery salvo of 21 cannon shots, band and bugle.
Immediately, the commander of the Joint Independence Division 2024, Major General Manuel Antonio Lachapelle de los Santos, ERD, director of the Specialized Security Corps of the Metro and Cable Car (Cesmet), asked the supreme chief of the Armed Forces and the National Police for permission to begin the parade, which was granted by the President.
In the parade, battalions of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force of the Dominican Republic, together with the different specialized security corps and units of the National Police, showed their equipment and operational skills to defend the sovereignty of the country’s soil and the security of the citizens.
In a show of brotherhood between nations, the military of the Republic of Colombia and the United Mexican States participated in the parade.
Army of the Dominican Republic: We are born with the homeland
With the motto “180th anniversary of Independence, we were born with the homeland”, a composition of the brigades of regular troops, border security, special forces (hunters, maroons and commandos) and mechanized, the air and blood cavalry, three brigades of four battalions and marching bands, as well as cadets and flag bearers, the troops of the Army of the Dominican Republic showed their readiness for operations to safeguard national sovereignty and fulfill other missions.
Together with the blood cavalry and members of the Military Police, the soldiers marched accompanied by M41 light tanks and armored vehicles, highlighting the new URO VAMTAC ST5 recently purchased.
Also on display were grenade launchers, machine guns, mortars, rifles, J8 Jeeps with cannons, buggies for patrolling in hard to reach places and pickup trucks equipped with machine guns cal. 30 mm machine guns, GPS, 360 degree cameras, drones, communication, used for patrolling in the border zone battalions.
Ships in the Caribbean Sea
While ships of the Dominican Republic Navy (ARD) moved through the Caribbean Sea, near George Washington Avenue (Malecón), to demonstrate their capabilities to protect and safeguard the sovereignty of the country’s maritime borders, soldiers of the Military Police and the amphibious air, sea and land commandos, together with interceptor boats, paraded before their general commander, the Minister of Defense and the President of the Republic,
supreme chief of the Armed Forces and the National Police.
The training ship Almirante Juan Bautista Cambiaso unfurled its sails accompanied by the multipurpose offshore patrol vessel Almirante Didiez Burgos Pa-301, used as a logistic vessel in strategic missions for national defense.
The midshipmen help combat illegal migration and piracy, as well as organized and transnational crime; they perform search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster mitigation tasks, and also guard the entire coastline.
TP-75 Dulus in the air and on the ground
While units of the TP-75 Dulus aircraft, assembled in the Dominican Republic Air Force, took to the skies, along with 31 other fixed and rotary wing aircraft, members of the various special forces paraded in front of the presidential box.
As the super-tucan helicopters passed through the sky, on the ground an example of the TP-75 Dulus made a stop in front of President Abinader, attracting the attention and applause of the thousands of Dominicans who witnessed the military parade.
Specialized security and police forces
The specialized bodies of Land Border Security (Cesfront), Metro and Cable Car (Cesmet), Fuel Control and Merchandise Commerce (Ceccom), Airport and Civil Aviation (Cesac), Port (Cesep) and the National Environmental Protection Service (Senpa) showed their training and equipment to fulfill the mission of guaranteeing the protection of their areas of responsibility.
The passage of the officers of these entities was the preamble for agents of the different areas of the Police assigned to the Central Directorate of Prevention, the General Directorate of Transit Security and Land Transportation (Digesett), the tourism police (Politur), as well as the community and school police, followed by the Women’s Shock and Riot Units paraded before the President.
The SWAT and Lince tactical units concluded the parade with an exhibition of their expertise in carrying out their actions to maintain public safety.
Present at the parade
Accompanying President Abinader were First Lady Raquel Arbaje; Vice President Raquel Peña; Senate President Ricardo de los Santos Polanco; Chamber of Deputies President Alfredo Pacheco; Constitutional Court President Napoleon R. Estévez Lavandier, and former President Hipólito Mejía.
Likewise, the Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Carlos Luciano Díaz Morfa; the Minister of the Presidency, Joel Santos; the Administrative Minister of the Presidency, Igor David Rodríguez Durán, and the Minister of Public Works and Communications, Deligne Ascensión.
Also, the Vice Minister of Defense for Military Affairs, Major General Julio Ernesto Florián Pérez; Naval and Coastal, Vice Admiral Ramón G. Betances Hernández; Air and Space, Major General Leonel A. Muñoz Noboa, and the Inspector General of the Armed Forces, Major General Miguel Rubio Báez.
In addition, the general commander of the Army, Major General Carlos A. Fernández Onofre; of the Navy, Vice Admiral Agustín Alberto Morillo Rodríguez, and of the Air Force, Major General Carlos R. Febrillet Rodríguez; accompanied by the president of the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), Vice Admiral José M. Cabrera Ulloa, and the general director of the Police, Major General Ramón Antonio Guzmán Peralta.
Source: Presidencia.gob.do
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