Haiti - Security : Chilean navy will withdraw its battalion from Haiti
After 13 years in Haiti, Admiral David Hardy announced that the Battalion of the Chilean Navy will begin its process of gradual withdrawal from Haiti, recalling "13 years ago [...] no one could walk the streets, there were armed gangs and no control. The infrastructure was dysfunctional... Now there are paved roads, there are no more paramilitary groups and there is a political structure that runs the country [...]Our presence has helped to build, among others, hospitals a kindergartens [...]"
Currently the battalion is composed of 130 members of the Navy including 90 marines, it also includes 45 vehicles, in addition to the furniture, weapons and sanitary and logistical capacities that have to return to Chile. "At the moment we are planning for the ship [Aldea] to go to Haiti and embark the materials and vehicles. The staff will come back on commercial flights or the Chilean Air Force," said Hardy, who added that the troops should leave between April and May.
