The former Air Force chief during the Mejia administration, retired General Virgilio Sierra Perez, admitted yesterday in court that Army Captain Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo was his childhood friend. He told prosecutor Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero that they grew up in the same barrio and would “eat mangos together,” as reported in Diario Libre.
Sierra denied, however, that his son piloted one of the helicopters of the alleged owner of the 1,387-kilo cocaine cargo seized by the authorities on 18 December 2004. He furthermore denied his own participation in drug smuggling activities and said he had nothing to do with Quirino Paulino’s readmission to the Army. He also refuted the claim that the landing field built in Elias Pina was on his property, and said that it was part of the development projects for the frontier area. The Alcantara-Matos family of Elias Pina says a phony presidential decree was used to divest them of the property for the construction of the air field. He showed the press a copy of Decree 749-03 whereby the government declared the property apt for public use.
Listin Diario reports that retired General Virgilio Sierra Perez stated in his questioning by the National District prosecutor that one of the Colibri helicopters confiscated from the collapsed Baninter bank was being used by Quirino Paulino Castillo, who was extradited to the US where he will stand trial for accusations of drug smuggling. Sierra Perez stated that the military who flew the helicopter did so because he was the only one that had received training and he confirmed it was the same Baninter helicopter.