The Ministry of Defense (MIDE) and the Dominican Hydroelectric Generation Company (Egehid) inaugurated the Alto de la Bandera mixed military detachment, located on the fourth highest mountain in the country, within the Valle Nuevo National Park, which serves to safeguard the country’s main communications antennas.
This detachment protects more than 44 antennas installed in the area, which are essential for communications and telecommunications coverage at the national level. It has first class facilities, including a medical dispensary, kitchen, dining room, dormitories, bathrooms and warehouses, to ensure that the assigned military personnel have all the necessary conditions to fulfill their protection and security tasks.
From the detachment, a strategic point, the safe and continuous operation of the 14 towers that support the telecommunications antennas vital to the national civilian and military communications network is guaranteed.
Representing the Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Carlos Luciano Díaz Morfa, ERD, was Major General Julio Ernesto Florián Pérez, ERD, Deputy Minister of Defense for Military Affairs, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Defense and expressed “his deep satisfaction for the progress achieved in the construction and equipping of the Alto Bandera Detachment”.
Florián Pérez underlined “the strategic importance of this point for national telecommunications, and assured them that for Díaz Morfa the protection of this area is a priority for national security, since it houses critical infrastructure for the telecommunications network”.
The Vice Minister thanked the collaborators and authorities involved in the completion of the work, who worked together with other government institutions, such as the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, to improve the infrastructure, including the reconstruction of the Valle Nuevo-Alto Bandera highway. In addition, the Ministry of Defense installed a system of security cameras which are monitored in real time from the J-6 Radio Station Monitoring Center of MIDE.
Finally, Florián Pérez “reaffirmed the commitment of the Armed Forces to the protection of the telecommunications system, essential for the sustained development of the Dominican economy”.
Angel Rafael Salazar, general administrator of the Dominican Hydroelectric Generation Company (Egehid), emphasized “that the Alto Bandera detachment is emblematic for the Armed Forces, being a neuralgic point of communications in the Dominican Republic, so designated by the Americans in 1916, when they determined that signals could be sent from there to all the regions”.
Today, added Salazar, “with the inauguration of a new facility, the guards who serve at the site will have a safer space, including a medical dispensary, which will increase the number of officers and, with it, the security required for the area. In addition, this renovation is the most significant since the Trujillo era and in this area it will have an impact on the security of the precinct”.
Present at the ceremony were the inspector general of the Armed Forces, Major General Miguel A. Rubio Báez, ERD; the senator for the province of La Vega, Engineer Rogelio Genao; and representing the commander general of the Army, Carlos A. Onofre Fernández, was Brigadier General Alfredo Camacho Ubiera, ERD, deputy commander general of the Army of the Dominican Republic.
Also present were Major General Rafael Vásquez Espínola, ERD, general director of the Military and Police Commission of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (Comipol), Colonel Melvin René Jiménez Bournigal, ERD, commander of the Sixth Battalion of Hunters, civilian, military and police authorities of the area.
During this administration, MIDE renovated the facilities in Alto de la Bandera, a key area for national telecommunications, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works and Communications and Egehid, the Valle Nuevo-Alto Bandera road was reconstructed, and a program of infrastructure improvements was initiated, such as housing for technical and custodial personnel of the equipment installed in Alto de la Bandera.
In addition, new vehicles, office equipment and clothing suitable for the cold climate of the area were acquired. Alto de la Bandera houses the country’s main communication center and important telecommunications antennas that serve the Armed Forces, private telecommunications companies and various state institutions, such as the Red Cross and the Emergency Operations Center, among others.
Source:presidencia.gob.do
