Senator Wilton Guerrero (PLD-Peravia) is standing by his statement that he received reliable information about an alleged incident that took place during a trip to Mexico by former President Hipolito Mejia when he was presidential candidate. It is claimed that Mejia was flown by a man who is known to work as a pilot for the Sinaloa Cartel. Guerrero said that in response to the defamation accusation placed by the former President he would present National Drug Control Department (DNCD) president Major General Rolando Rosado Mateo and US Drug Enforcement Administration agents who took part in the pilot’s arrest here as witnesses.
Guerrero said he would also ask Presidency drugs advisor Marino Vinicio Castillo to take the stand as a witness. He said that Dr. Castillo publicly confirmed the information he released.
“I said and I maintain that I received reliable information that the man under arrest, Chavez Ramirez, who is known to be a pilot for Mexican capo Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman, head of the Sinaloa Cartel, declared to the DNCD that he had transported former President Hipolito Mejia when the latter traveled to Sinaloa State in Mexico.
“I as a responsible public figure asked the presidential candidate to explain to the country about that mysterious trip,” said Guerrero, as reported in Hoy.
He said: “There cannot be any slander because it was a matter of eminent public interest for the Dominican Republic and not about any aspect of Hipolito Mejia’s personal or private life.”
“The infiltration of people with links to drugs was a constant feature of Hipolito Mejia’s campaign,” he said, as reported in Hoy. “The case of Ezequiel Rodriguez Cruz or that of Julio Cespedes Martinez, principal hitmen for the Sinaloa Cartel in Santiago, confirm this, because they led public movements in support of the man who is now claiming to feel offended,” he said.
Last week, lawyers Julio Cury and Jesus Feliz Jimenez, representing former President Hipolito Mejia, issued a writ for defamation and slander at the Supreme Court of Justice against senator Wilton Guerrero.
Feliz Jimenez said that Mejia had the right to ask for justice for the damage caused by this accusation and hoped that the Supreme Court would act fairly.
The writ includes the head of El Caribe newspaper, Osvaldo Santana, on the grounds that it was the only newspaper to cover the story.