The recent radio interviews with Quirino Ernesto Castillo are the talk of the town. Castillo was caught with a major drug cargo in 2004 and extradited to the United States where he was tried and where he now lives after making a deal with US judicial authorities, which led to a reduced sentence and his release from jail in January 2014. Yesterday, Thursday 12 February 2015, Castillo called in to Z101.3 FM El Gobierno de la manana program live on air.
He commented on the contributions or “investments” made to politicians, including former President Leonel Fernandez of the ruling PLD. Castillo has also given interviews to Salvador Holguin.
Castillo claimed to have sent letters to Leonel Fernandez, and to Margarita Gomez and her husband, former Armed Forces Minister General Manuel Florentino Florentino during the Fernandez administration. Castillo decided to publish the letters after the recipients ignored them in an attempt to distance themselves from him, as he is known to be a major drug dealer. Castillo was collecting on a RD$200 million “investment.”
Castillo confirmed that he gave funds to Leonel Fernandez and the Fundacion Global, mentioning the 600-kilowatt power generator in service at the think-tank/university. He said he had gone shopping and paid for the power plant with senator Felix Bautista. He called the recipients of the donations “ungrateful.”
He said in the interview: “We were very good friends in the four years, we were close”. He said he always brought a briefcase with money when meeting with the former President. He said the money was not a donation, but an “investment”. He said that investments needed to be repaid with earnings.
Quirino Ernesto Castillo said that he was planning to return to the Dominican Republic and that his family in the Dominican Republic is going through a difficult situation because of the judicial process in the US following his arrest in 2004 with a shipment of 1,387 kilos of cocaine. When asked when he would return he said “soon.”
He said in the interview that Fernandez knew who he was when accepting money from him. He said Luis Gutierrez had introduced him to Fernandez after Fernandez asked for the introduction.
The former Army chief, retired Major General Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez affirmed the authenticity of the Z101.3FM radio interview. In a radio interview, Soto Jimenez said that Quirino Ernesto Castillo had joined the army before the Hipolito Mejia government.
Meanwhile, legislators of the PLD blamed political sectors with ties to drug trafficking and former President Hipolito Mejia for running a smear campaign to discredit former President Leonel Fernandez. Polls have shown Fernandez to be the strongest candidate for the PLD presidential nomination for the 2016 election.
Legislator Ruben Maldonado of the PLD said that alleged links between Mejia and Quirino Ernesto Castillo should be investigated. As reported in El Dia, Maldonado asked:
“For example, who was Hipolito Mejia’s campaign chief in Elias Pina in 2004? Quirino Ernesto. Who promoted Quirino to captain of the army? Hipolito Mejia. Who gave him importance and rank in his government? Hipolito Mejia. Who arrested, convicted him and deported him to the United States? The government of Leonel Fernandez.”
Meanwhile, in a related interview, former Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, in her role as Education Minister during the Hipolito Mejia government, said she rejected the RD$2 million cash contribution offered to the Ministry during her administration by then PRD senator Ramirez Perez from a well known businessman to be used to build a fence for a school in Quirino Ernesto Castillo’s hometown of Elias Pina. At the time she referred the donors to the National Treasury, which she says is the only government department authorized to accept check donations.
Likewise, Castillo said that he did not make cash donations outside of that offer during the Hipolito Mejia PRD administration.
On the program, he said that former Air Force General Virgilio Sierra Perez authorized the airstrip in Elias Pina during the last two years of the Hipolito Mejia government. The airstrip would be used for emergency public health operations, said Castillo in the radio interview. Nevertheless, in the interview, Castillo said that Sierra Perez was not aware of his drug dealing operations.
On the radio program, Castillo said human beings are ready to die at any moment.
http://z101digital.com/app/pod_cast_play_destacados.aspx?id=6133&p=0&t=1&n=Entrevista%20de%20Quirino%20en%20la%20Z101.%20?Completo!%2012-02-2015&s=1
http://z101digital.com/app/pod_cast_play_destacados.aspx?id=6135&p=0&t=1&n=Sot%20Jimenez%20aclara%20acusaciones%20de%20Quirino%2012-02-2015&s=1
Diputados PLD culpan a narcos y Hipólito Mejía de estar detrás de campaña contra Leonel
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2015/02/13/i1011511_interior-polica-investiga-las-acusaciones-contra-leonel-fernndez.html
http://acento.com.do/2015/politica/8221495-declaraciones-de-narcotraficante-quirino-a-la-z-causan-revuelo/
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quirino_Ernesto_Paulino_Castillo