Strengthening the Armed Forces’ strategic areas is one of the main objectives of Lieutenant General Carlos Antonio Fernández Onofre, minister of Defense of the Dominican Republic. His decades of service, extensive trajectory in the Army, and the many positions he held within the General Staff allow Lt. Gen. Onofre to lead the men and women of the Armed Forces with conviction.
Diálogo had the opportunity to speak with Lt. Gen. Onofre during the Caribbean Nations Security Conference (CANSEC), held in Trinidad and Tobago in mid-December 2024, about his main objectives, the modernization of the Armed Forces, and other topics.
Diálogo: Lt. Gen. Onofre, you are leading the Ministry of Defense of the Dominican Republic since August 16, 2024. In your first speech to your General Staff officers, you reiterated your commitment to strengthening military institutions and to professionalizing and raising the quality of life of the Armed Forces’ service members. What are your main objectives to carry out your vision at the head of the Armed Forces?
Lieutenant General Carlos Antonio Fernández Onofre, minister of Defense of the Dominican Republic: Throughout my military career I have been a standard bearer of the institutionality of the Armed Forces in the different positions I have held within the Army. From the time I served as General Commander of the Army, during 2022-2024, I have been taking initiatives tending to that institutional strengthening, focusing on the Armed Forces’ strategic areas: personnel, training, education, and raising the quality of life of our Dominican military, with the support we have had from the central government of our supreme authority. We have been able to achieve these objectives and today the Armed Forces have grown in all these strategic areas to continue contributing to the peace, tranquility, and security of Dominican society and to support the development that the Dominican Republic is undergoing at this time.
Diálogo: How has your extensive career in the Army and your vast experience in the many positions you have held within the General Staff prepared you for this new role as Minister of Defense of the Dominican Republic?
Lt. Gen. Onofre: Experience is nothing more than the time that one has had in the institutions and occupying the various positions: from platoon commander, company commander, battalion commander, brigade commander, and the different positions on the General Staff, all these give you a solid formation for you to face the challenges that arise in drawing up the nation’s security and defense policy. It’s a great challenge; we’ve been trained in that sense to contribute to the country, to society, and to the Americas.
Diálogo: What progress is being made in the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic?
Lt. Gen. Onofre: Modernization is a never-ending path. From 2020 to the present, we have traveled a long road, but now we are strengthening all that has been done as of 2022. We have made large investments in the Armed Forces, in technology, in intelligence, in vehicles, in helicopters, in airplanes, and in everything that this modernization entails. We have strengthened education, decentralized education; we have taken education to all military units, and we have improved controls to strengthen cybersecurity. In other words, it is a broad plan for strengthening everything that is the military apparatus of the Dominican Republic.
Diálogo: What is the objective of the recently inaugurated 7th Infantry Brigade based in San Francisco de Macorís, as a security and defense strategy?
Lt. Gen. Onofre: The 7th Infantry Brigade, located in the northeastern part of the island, is a unit that comes to fill a void that existed for a long time. It was conceived within the framework of the nation’s defense security plan and the time came, when I was General Commander of the Army, when the decision was made. We had the support, the infrastructure was built to formally launch the 7th Brigade last year [2023]. This unit operates in a very rich agricultural region, where tourism is expanding in the area of Samaná and Terrenas. The military apparatus had to be reinforced to guarantee this growth and development. It is also an area that has been frequently affected by natural phenomena, and we, as the Armed Forces, have the disaster investigation unit, which are units that are in the first line of action together with the civilian authorities of the area.
Diálogo: In the first half of 2024, the Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic dismantled several transnational criminal organizations that had established parallel narco-economies throughout the national territory. With the support of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Dominican authorities dealt blows to drug trafficking organizations through Operation Cayman II, considered the largest operation carried out in the south of the country. How was this result achieved?
Lt. Gen. Onofre: Caiman II was an operation carried out on April 10, 2024. It was an extensive operation with the support of SOUTHCOM, the Dominican Republic Drug Control Directorate, the Dominican Armed Forces, and the entire intelligence agency. It was a joint effort where 37 people were arrested. This network, which had transported 28 tons of narcotics, exported, and moved billions of dollars, was dismantled. With this blow to this structure, the entire organization that operated in the southern part of the country was dismantled.
Diálogo: What is the importance of SOUTHCOM’s support and the bilateral cooperation with the United States in the fight against drug trafficking and transnational crime?
Lt. Gen. Onofre: That support is fundamental for the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force of the Dominican Republic. It’s a permanent, continuous support, with an exchange of information that gives us the vital part, the signal to be able to act in joint operations and to deal these blows to these criminal organizations.
Diálogo: How does the Dominican Republic work with Caribbean countries to confront common threats together?
Lt. Gen. Onofre: We maintain permanent communication, a continuous exchange of information, as well as permanent training. Also, every year, through the different instances of cooperation, we carry out combined exercises and maintain this strategic alliance together with all the countries of the Caribbean.
Diálogo: What are your objectives for 2025?
Lt. Gen. Onofre: To continue strengthening the Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic, to continue building a solid Armed Forces, so that they can contribute to national development, to security, so that the country can continue on the path of development and continue this vertiginous growth of our economy.
