Santo Domingo.-The head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubioarrived on Wednesday in the Dominican Republic, the last stop of its first international tour after assuming the position. During his visit, he plans to meet with President Luis Abinader.
The official aircraft that transported Rubio, from Guatemala and with previous scales in Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, landed under strict security measures shortly after 20:00 local time (00:00 GMT on Thursday) in Las Américas International Airport, in Santo Domingo.
At the foot of the staircase was received by the Dominican Foreign Minister, Roberto Álvarez, and the business manager of the United States Embassy in the Dominican Republic, Patricia Aguilera, among others.
On Thursday the Secretary of State will be received by Abinader in the National Palace, where both will analyze different issues, with special attention to the crisis of Haiti, Migration and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), of which Rubio He has been appointed interim director and in the midst of the executive order signed by President Donald Trump to suspend for 90 days the US humanitarian aid ..
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Other issues to address will be the celebration at the end of this year in the Dominican Republic of the Américas Summit, the fight against drug trafficking and the strengthening of bilateral relations.
Marco Rubio and Abinader will offer a press conference at the National Palace, where they will also maintain a work lunch with their committees.
It is also expected that the Secretary of State Converse with Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez.
From the Dominican Republic, Rubio will return to the United States on Thursday, putting an end to a tour that has also taken him to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.
Last Monday, in a press conference, Abinader had expressed concern about the possible cuts to the programs of aid abroad and, in particular, that the freezing of funds affects the neighboring country, especially in relation to Food, not so much to the Dominican Republic because, he said, “we are not receiving the amount of help (from the US) that we could not correct.”
However, he showed his hope that, after review of the assistance programs, Washington maintains “those that are justified, as in the case of Haiti.”
On Tuesday, the UN reported that he had received an official notification of the government of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, in which they “ask to immediately stop their contribution” to the multinational mission of support for security in Haiti (MSS), what would be a consequence of that temporary freezing.
