Speaking to the press after a meeting with General Prosecutor Radhames Jimenez and Peravia Governor Bienvenido Montero at the Presidential Palace, Peravia Senator Wilton Guerrero maintained his claims that the presidential commission that investigated the massacre of seven men in Peravia on 6 August did not get to the bottom of the killing. As reported in Listin Diario, Guerrero reiterated his accusations against Governor Montero for complicity with drug dealers. He said that the investigation would not be complete until the masterminds behind the crime are sent to trial, and the drug haul and money that motivated the killing recovered.
Guerrero was at the Presidential Palace yesterday for the meeting with President Leonel Fernandez, Governor Bienvenido Montero, General Prosecutor Radhames Jimenez, Secretary of the Presidency Cesar Pina Toribio and a commission appointed by the ruling PLD’s Political Committee – Radhames Segura, Radhames Camacho and Lidio Cadet.
“You all know my position on the report. I reaffirm that it was incomplete. The commission has to find those responsible for the 6 August killing in Paya. If the masterminds, or the body of evidence that is the drugs and money are not presented, then the snake is being shown by the tail, not the head,” Guerrero told the press at the end of the two-hour meeting.
He said that if the commission appointed by the President cannot come up with these answers, another one needed to be appointed.
The meeting came a day before Guerrero was scheduled for a conciliation hearing at the Supreme Court with General Hilario Gonzalez, former Police commander in Peravia. The General sued the Senator for slander after the latter accused him of complicity with drug dealers in the province. Former Peravia prosecutor Victor Cordero is also suing Senator Guerrero for publicly linking him to drug dealers.
Today’s Hoy newspaper carries a photograph of the participants in the Presidential Palace meeting and questions the political focus that the Presidential Palace has given to what Hoy says is rather a public order (security) issue. Following the two-hour meeting with the President, Secretary to the Presidency Cesar Pina Toribio announced an end to the confrontations between government officials over the Paya massacre case.
“The confrontations between these officials, who are sorry for their remarks, are now over so that from now on they can work together with the same courage and efforts to eradicate the scourge of drug trafficking in the country, and especially in Bani,” said Cesar Pina Toribio when reporting on the results of the meeting to the press.