Celerino Castillo III person
also: Castillo
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Related entities (most co-mentioned)
DEAintelligence service · 9Ilopango Air Baseplace · 8Guatemalacountry · 7San Salvadorplace · 7Arpaccio Marinoperson · 4Contrasorganization · 4Julio Roberto Alparezperson · 3Mergaperson · 3Michael Devineperson · 2Romero Guerreraperson · 2National Republican Allianceorganization · 1Panama Canalplace · 1Salvadoran Armed Forcesorganization · 1Robert Stiaperson · 1Socrates Sophie Perezperson · 1Juan Rafael Bustilloperson · 1Francisco Garola Baseliperson · 1Bobby Juarezperson · 1President's Foreign Intelligence Oversight Boardorganization · 1
Claims (4)
Celerino Castillo III appointed
Guatemala documented
“So it says it didn't take him very long to discover what was going on at the airbase. Two days into his new job as the DEA's regional office in Guatemala City in October 1985, Castillo said the agent in charge, Robert Stia, took him aside a…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 14 @ 4:35
Celerino Castillo III member_of
DEA documented
“There was a DEA agent. His name is Celerino Castillo III. He got assigned to the Costa Rica area. And we talked a little bit about him already. And he starts snooping around. And it didn't take him, you know, more than a few months down the…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 14 @ 3:02
Robert Stia ordered_assassination_of
Celerino Castillo III book_quoted
“So it says it didn't take him very long to discover what was going on at the airbase. Two days into his new job as the DEA's regional office in Guatemala City in October 1985, Castillo said the agent in charge, Robert Stia, took him aside a…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 14 @ 4:35
Celerino Castillo III recruited
Merga book_quoted
“So Castillo improvised. He recruited a Salvadorian named Merga, who wrote the flight plans for private planes on the civilian side of the base. Merga had excellent contacts on the military side and could come and go at will. He became Casti…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 14 @ 30:34
Mentions (19)
▶ 3:02
There was a DEA agent. His name is Celerino Castillo III. He got assigned to the Costa Rica area. And we talked a little bit about him already. And he starts snooping around. And it didn't take him, you know, more than a few months down the…
▶ 4:35
So it says it didn't take him very long to discover what was going on at the airbase. Two days into his new job as the DEA's regional office in Guatemala City in October 1985, Castillo said the agent in charge, Robert Stia, took him aside a…
▶ 5:04
should be careful not to interfere with it. It struck him, a former Texas policeman, as very odd advice. Why would a DEA agent need to be warned about interfering with a legitimate government operation? Castillo was there to fight drug deal…
▶ 5:32
Whatever they were doing at the military airfield outside of San Salvador couldn't possibly concern him. At any rate, it wasn't as if he was going to be spending a lot of time in El Salvador, though he was the country's only DEA agent. Cast…
▶ 7:32
Castillo put his boss warning about Ilopango down to bureaucratic caution and went about his job, which was to train and recruit Guatemalan and Salvadorian policemen to become soldiers in America's worldwide war on drugs. Since the DEA coul…
▶ 8:03
squads that the DEA could trust enough to work with and allow them to make the arrest and also to provide them intelligence from other countries. But no matter where he went, it seemed like the air base kept getting mentioned by all of the …
▶ 9:37
The Contras were also dealing in cocaine, he told Castillo. He said they were using a small air force to do it that was based at Ilopango, and they were ferrying war materials for the cause. He justified the trafficking by blaming the U.S. …
▶ 10:06
was trying to impress him or just pull his leg. The idea of the U.S. government sponsoring an operation dabbling in drugs struck the six-year DEA veteran as absurd. The next time he was in El Salvador, Castillo said that, let's see, he boun…
▶ 11:14
that wanted him in jail back in the United States. He had also insinuated himself into the death squads in El Salvador Arena Party and had risen to very high ranks in the party structure there. To Castillo's surprise, Guerrero told him that…
▶ 29:07
Though allegations of contra drug trafficking was swirling around the El Salvador base, DEA agent Castillo was having difficulty getting firsthand evidence of it. For one thing, the air base was very protective. It sat high atop a plateau s…
▶ 29:37
tightly guarded by San Salvadorian military. If he was ever going to find out the truth, he figured he needed to get on that side of the base. He went to the Salvadoran Air Force commander, Bastillo, and asked for permission, but was given …
▶ 30:34
So Castillo improvised. He recruited a Salvadorian named Merga, who wrote the flight plans for private planes on the civilian side of the base. Merga had excellent contacts on the military side and could come and go at will. He became Casti…
▶ 31:05
Mergen knew all about the Contra's drug running, Castillo said, because he was filling out the flight plans and inspecting their aircraft. The pilots were so brazen that they told him they were flying dope to the United States and money to …
▶ 32:04
being limited to $10,000 out of the U.S. Anytime any of the resupply people went up to the U.S. for any reason, whether it was personal or otherwise, they were all used as mules to carry money back. The drugs often arrived in private planes…
▶ 32:29
And on other occasions, they came in on military aircraft from Panama. When Castillo typed the names of the Contra pilots Murga was giving to him into the DEA computers, nearly all of them came back as documented narcotic traffickers. Among…
▶ 24:53
to people with CIA connections. Records showed that the DEA agent Solerino Castillo III ran across Moreno's trail in Guatemala in 1988 while investigating allegations of drug trafficking by a Guatemalan CIA agent by the name of Julio Robert…
▶ 25:20
in the Guatemalan military and a fixture on the CIA's payroll. Colonel Alparez was accused by the President's Foreign Intelligence Oversight Board in 1996 of covering up the murder of an American innkeeper in Guatemala by the name of Michae…
▶ 25:50
with cocaine and selling drugs for Al Perez that had been seized by the Guatemalan military. Castillo believes that Dabin was killed by the Guatemalan soldiers after he discovered that the military was moving cocaine. DEA files obtained und…
▶ 26:18
but the agency censored all of the information in his reports. From the records, it appears Marino was also working as a DEA informant in addition to his other activities. So remember, in all of these instances, the CIA protects their drug …