DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: PRESIDENT HIPOLITO MEJIA AND RELATIVES GREET RETURNING SOLDIERS WHO SERVED IN IRAQ AT A CEREMONY AT SANTO DOMINGO AIRPORT.
Record ID:
442975
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: PRESIDENT HIPOLITO MEJIA AND RELATIVES GREET RETURNING SOLDIERS WHO SERVED IN IRAQ AT A CEREMONY AT SANTO DOMINGO AIRPORT.
- Title: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: PRESIDENT HIPOLITO MEJIA AND RELATIVES GREET RETURNING SOLDIERS WHO SERVED IN IRAQ AT A CEREMONY AT SANTO DOMINGO AIRPORT.
- Date: 10th May 2004
- Summary: (W2) SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (MAY 10, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TRACK/MV/NIGHT: OF AIR EUROPA PLANE CARRYING DOMINICAN TROOPS ARRIVING AND TAXIING. (2 SHOTS) 0.18 2. CU/NIGHT: SPANISH FLAG ON THE SIDE OF THE PLANE. 0.21 3. MV/NIGHT: DOMINICAN PRESIDENT HIPOLITO MEJIA (WEARING GLASSES AND BLAZER) WAITING AT THE STEPS OF THE PLANE TO GREET THE TROOPS. 0.28 4. VARIOUS/NIGHT: OF TROOPS COMING OFF OF PLANE AND GREETING MEJIA AND OTHER OFFICIALS. (5 SHOTS) 1.21 5. WS/MLV/NIGHT: OF TROOPS IN FORMATION. (2 SHOTS) 1.30 6. TRACK/MV/NIGHT: SOLDIER GIVING FOLDED DOMINICAN FLAG TO MEJIA AND SALUTING. 1.43 7. SCU/NIGHT: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DOMINICAN PRESIDENT HIPOLITO MEJIA SAYING: "I want to express to you my gratitude. I want to express my personal satisfaction, my satisfaction as President of the Republic, and as a representative of the Dominican people. You have done a wonderful job. Your families were waiting for you. Thank God you are all here, safe and sound. Thank you." 2.17 8. VARIOUS/NIGHT: OF TROOPS MEETING THEIR RELATIVES. 2.25 9. CU/NIGHT: WOMAN HUGGING AND KISSING A SOLDIER. 2.42 10. SCU/NIGHT: RELATIVES CHEERING AROUND SOLDIER HOLDING A BABY. 2.52 11. SCU/NIGHT: SOLDIER GREETING OTHER SOLDIERS. 3.03 12. SCU/NIGHT: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED DOMINICAN SOLDIER SAYING: "We are doing well - good and happy to be back here on our own land. Thank God we all came back ok - we are happy. Thank you for everything." 3.12 13. SCU/NIGHT: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED DOMINICAN SOLDIER SAYING: "Here I am, happy, happy. Everyone is so happy!" 3.22 14. SCU/NIGHT: MAN AND WOMAN KISSING. 3.28 15. WS/NIGHT: SOLDIERS GREETING RELATIVES. (2 SHOTS) 3.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th May 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
- Country: Dominican Republic
- Reuters ID: LVASDUY1ZPO8H1ZQXK0H0XDQRDS
- Story Text: Dominican troops that were serving in Iraq under
Spanish command come home.
Close to 300 Dominican troops who had been serving
in Iraq under Spanish command returned to the Dominican
Republic on Monday (May 10) with celebrations and
jubilation.
Dominican President Hipolito Mejia waited at the plane
carrying the soldiers to greet them as they disembarked.
"I want to express to you my gratitude. I want to
express my personal satisfaction, my satisfaction as
President of the Republic, and as a representative of the
Dominican people. You have done a wonderful job. Your
families were waiting for you. Thank God you are all here,
safe and sound. Thank you," he said at a ceremony at the
airport.
Following the official ceremony, the soldiers were
reunited with their family members. Ecstatic celebrations
dominated the scene as friends and family hugged and kissed.
"We are doing well - good and happy to be back here on
our own land. Thank God we all came back ok - we are happy.
Thank you for everything," said one soldier.
"Here I am, happy, happy. Everyone is so happy!" said
another.
Mejia had announced in mid-April that he intended to
withdraw the troops quickly after Spain removed its
soldiers.
Honduras also withdrew their troops following Spain.
Spain, with 1,400 soldiers in Iraq, has been in charge of
troops from the Spanish-speaking nations the Dominican Republic,
Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
An agreement the Dominican Republic had with the United
Sates on troops in Iraq had been due to expire in June.
The Dominican decision was spurred by the announcement
by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's new prime
minister, that he had given orders for Spain's 1,400 troops
in Iraq to come home as soon as possible.
The Dominican Republic's Secretary of the Armed Forces,
Lt. Gen. Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez had said earlier that the
agreement with the United State to send troops to Iraq was
so that they could help in reconstruction, but the
situation had been getting "very worrying".
Honduras will bring home its 370 soldiers within two
months.
Nicaraguan troops came home earlier this year as part
of a normal rotation, but a new contingent has not been
sent to Iraq because the government says it is short of
cash.
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