By Holmes Lybrand, Evan Perez
5分钟前
发布于 2026年2月13日，美国东部时间下午5:56
一名美国缉毒局特工于2025年8月21日在华盛顿特区穿着战术背心。
Jacquelyn Martin/AP/File
在美国宣布关闭其驻多米尼加共和国的关键缉毒局（DEA）办公室——该机构打击加勒比地区毒品走私的核心据点——一天后，当地一名高级特工被指控参与签证欺诈阴谋。
美国大使 Leah F. Campos 周四在社交媒体上宣布关闭DEA办公室，称“利用公职谋取私利是对公众信任的令人作呕且不光彩的侵犯。”
“我绝不容忍我领导的使馆内出现哪怕一丝腐败的迹象，” Campos 补充道。
司法部周五宣布对监督特别探员 Meliton Cordero 提起指控，该部门在新闻稿中称其在驻多米尼加共和国大使馆工作了六年。Cordero 于周四被捕。
据司法部称，Cordero 被控串谋行贿和签证欺诈。检察官未要求将其拘留，但命令他交出护照。
检察官表示，Cordero 收受数千美元，帮助外国人获取允许其临时访美的非移民签证。
“在多米尼加共和国大使馆任职期间，Cordero 至少加急处理了119份签证申请，其中至少一份被指存在欺诈，他常指导申请人准备与美国领事官员的签证面试，”司法部表示。
针对 Cordero 的指控文件尚未在法庭记录中公开。
多米尼加共和国政府允许国防部使用其军事设施，作为更广泛行动的一部分，包括对加勒比海和太平洋上所谓走私船只进行军事打击。
美国驻多米尼加共和国大使馆在 X 平台（原推特）的声明中表示：“圣多明各DEA办公室的临时关闭是为了给使馆内部调查留出时间。多米尼加共和国仍然是我们在该地区打击毒品恐怖主义工作的关键伙伴。” “在我们内部调查进行的同时，圣多明各美国大使馆与多米尼加伙伴的合作将继续以同样强劲的步伐推进。”
美国关闭该办公室的决定可能阻碍美国在该地区的反麻醉品工作，特朗普政府将其列为优先事项。该办公室是监测和切断将可卡因从南美经加勒比运往欧洲和美国的走私路线的主要行动基地。
（注：原文中“Trump administration”未在用户提供的内容中出现，此处为翻译时根据上下文补充的背景信息，实际用户原文未包含该表述。）
US shutters key DEA office in the Caribbean amid agent corruption scandal
By Holmes Lybrand, Evan Perez
5 min ago
PUBLISHED Feb 13, 2026, 5:56 PM ET
A Drug Enforcement Administration agent wears a tactical vest in Washington, DC, on August 21, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP/File
A day after the US announced it took the unusual step of shuttering it’s Drug Enforcement Administration office in the Dominican Republic — a key site in the agency’s effort to combat drug trafficking in the Caribbean — a top agent there was charged with running a visa fraud scheme.
US Ambassador Leah F. Campos announced on social media Thursday that she had closed the DEA’s office, writing “It is a disgusting and disgraceful violation of public trust to use one’s official capacity for personal gain.”
“I will not tolerate even the perception of corruption anywhere in the Embassy I lead,” Campos added.
The Justice Department announced Friday the charges against supervisory special agent Meliton Cordero, who the DOJ said in a press release was assigned to the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic for six years. Cordero was arrested Thursday.
Cordero is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and visa fraud, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors didn’t ask that he be detained, but he was ordered to surrender his passport.
Prosecutors say Cordero accepted thousands of dollars in exchange for assisting foreign nationals with securing nonimmigrant visas that would allow them to visit the US for a temporary period.
“During his assignment at the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic, Cordero expedited at least 119 visa applications, at least one of which is alleged to have been fraudulent, often coaching individuals in preparation for their visa interview with U.S. Consular Officers,” the Justice Department said.
Charging documents against Cordero have not yet been unsealed in court records.
The US ambassador made the extraordinary move to shut down the DEA’s office in the Dominican Republic in recent days, in response to the corruption probe,
The decision could hamper US anti-narcotics efforts in the region, which the Trump administration has cited as a high priority.
The office is a major base of operations for monitoring and cutting off traffickers using the Caribbean as a route to traffic cocaine from South America to Europe and the US.
The Dominican government has allowed the Defense Department to use its military facilities as part of a broader effort that includes military strikes on purported trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
“The temporary closure of the DEA office in Santo Domingo is to allow time for an investigation internal to this Embassy. The Dominican Republic remains a critical partner in our work to combat narco-terrorism throughout the region,” the US embassy in the Dominican Republic said in a statement on X. “That work will continue at the same robust pace between the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo and our Dominican partners even as our internal investigation ensues.”
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