Former Air Force chief, retired General Virgilio Sierra Perez stated in a document delivered to the National District prosecutors that former army captain Quirino Paulino Castillo did not intervene in the construction of the Elias Pina landing field. Quirino Paulino was extradited to the US where he awaits trial for drug smuggling. In a document presented to the prosecutors by his lawyers Eddy Olivares Ortega and Manuel Mota, Sierra Perez said that he is available for questioning. The former officer delivered an inventory of documents to prosecutor Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero, including a list of materials for the construction of the military station at the airport and the hardware store bills for materials.
The retired officer, who admitted to being a childhood friend of Quirino Paulino, said that the construction of the El Pino airport in Elias Pina was only motivated by the interest of the armed forces, the Dominican government and productive sectors of the zone. “At no time did Quirino Paulino Castillo intervene. I have not had another relation with him other than having known him from childhood days,” he explained. As reported in Diario Libre, the retired military officer said that the project had permanent military service stationed there and thus only those with the manifest desire of causing damage to the reputation of others could believe that the project was to be given illegal use.
In contradiction with statements by Sierra Perez, yesterday in court, lawyer Marino Vinicio Castillo’s defense team presented documentation from former chief of the Armed Forces, retired Major General Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez, certifying that the Elias Pina landing field was not constructed with funds from the military. The documentation was presented as part of the libel suit by Hernani Salazar, the former Presidential Public Works Supervisor, vs. the lawyer for defamation and statements linking Salazar to drug trafficking.
Former army captain Paulino Castillo is standing trial in New York for alleged responsibility for a shipment of 1,387 kilos of cocaine confiscated on 18 December on Duarte Highway.