NewsWhore
09-08-2008, 02:40 PM
Presidential advisor on drug trafficking, lawyer Marino Vinicio (Vincho) Castillo has complained about the limited support the country has received from the Bush administration. Castillo said that the opposite had been the case under the Clinton administration. Speaking on Teleradio America, Channel 45 program produced by Jose Baez Guerrero, Castillo said that from 1996-2000, the US backed the local war on drug trafficking, with General Barry McCaffrey, commander of the United States Southern Command, and director of the US Office of the National Drug Control Policy (1996-2001) himself coming to the country on several occasions. He also commended the support received from former heads of the Dominican mission Donna Jean Hrinak and Linda Watt. "But that all vanished in 2000. The Bush administration (2000-2004 removed its logistical support, there was carelessness, which was a bit dangerous," he said, as reported in El Caribe. Castillo stated that there had been blatant neglect in the case of the DR, and that the diplomatic representatives sent to the country since 2001 were "low level", coinciding with what he described in El Caribe as a dangerous and permissive government administration.
"That the doors were open to drug dealers, to the point where we are on the verge of becoming a narco-state, and operations were carried out with people tied to power," he said, alluding to former President Hipolito Mejia's administration. He said that a local purge of the Armed Forces and Police is needed.
Castillo commented that on the night when seven people were massacred in Paya, Bani, the entire DNCD staff was removed from the area and sent to Barahona. "That kind of maneuver of removing the DNCD staff to Barahona had to be linked to someone with a lot of authority," he said. When the staff returned the next day, the killing and the dispatch of the truck with 1,200 kilos of cocaine had already taken place. He said that structures are in place that favor drug trafficking.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#14)
"That the doors were open to drug dealers, to the point where we are on the verge of becoming a narco-state, and operations were carried out with people tied to power," he said, alluding to former President Hipolito Mejia's administration. He said that a local purge of the Armed Forces and Police is needed.
Castillo commented that on the night when seven people were massacred in Paya, Bani, the entire DNCD staff was removed from the area and sent to Barahona. "That kind of maneuver of removing the DNCD staff to Barahona had to be linked to someone with a lot of authority," he said. When the staff returned the next day, the killing and the dispatch of the truck with 1,200 kilos of cocaine had already taken place. He said that structures are in place that favor drug trafficking.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#14)