[[DEA]] agent Celerino Castillo III was assigned to the DEA's regional office in [[Guatemala City]] in October 1985, covering both [[Guatemala]] and [[El Salvador]]. Two days into his new job, agent-in-charge Robert Stia warned him that the U.S. government was running a covert operation at [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]] and Castillo should not interfere with it. At the time, El Salvador produced no drugs and had no major drug rings; the DEA had never opened an office in the country.[^1] Through informants including a Cuban named [[Socrates Sofi-Perez]], Castillo discovered that [[Contras|Contra]] pilots based at Ilopango were brazenly flying drugs to the United States and money to [[Panama]], sometimes leaving kilos in plain view or arriving with boxloads of cash. When Castillo ran the pilots' names through DEA computers, nearly all came back as documented narcotics traffickers. Among the busiest was [[Francisco Guirola Beeche]], who was observed zooming in and out of Ilopango hauling drugs in and carrying cash to the Bahamas. His key informant, known as Murga, wrote flight plans for private planes on the civilian side of the base and could move freely on the military side.[^1] ### Hangar No. 4 and CIA Obstruction In March 1986, a cable from the [[Costa Rica|Costa Rican]] DEA office reported that pilot [[Carlos Amador]] intended to fly into Ilopango, pick up cocaine at Hangar No. 4, and transport it to [[Miami]]. The CIA had used Hangar No. 4 for covert Contra operations until turning it over to the [[National Security Council]] and [[Oliver North]]'s "Enterprise" in 1985. The adjoining Hangar No. 5 was still CIA-run. [[Alan Fiers]] acknowledged the CIA "had a capability and indeed a responsibility for reporting what had been happening at Ilopango." When Castillo began investigating, the CIA sent a cable asking the Costa Rica station to persuade the DEA to back off: "El Salvador Station would appreciate Costa Rica Station advising DEA not to make any inquiries into anyone re: Hangar No. 4 at Ilopango since only legitimate CIA supported operations were conducted from this facility."[^1] ### Investigation Shut Down U.S. Ambassador [[Edwin Corr]], to whom Castillo reported, sent a secret "back channel" cable to the [[State Department]] requesting an internal DEA review. The DEA informed Corr that Castillo's information was "totally inaccurate" and he was told to close his investigation. When Castillo continued investigating, Corr personally ordered him to "stop the witch hunt." Three years later, when Castillo opened a new investigation into drug trafficking at Hangar No. 5, the CIA refused to allow him on the base and assured him there was no drug activity. Castillo was subsequently investigated by the DEA for administrative violations and forced into disability retirement. The DEA later claimed under FOIA it had no reports from Castillo about drug trafficking at Ilopango - a claim the Justice Department Inspector General exposed as false.[^1] ### Grasheim Raid and CIA Infiltration Denied access to Ilopango, Castillo targeted weapons dealer [[Walter Grasheim|Walter "Wally" Grasheim]], whose home was raided on September 1, 1986. The raid uncovered automatic weapons, M-16s, hand grenades, C-4 explosives, and U.S. Embassy license plates and IDs. Grasheim claimed Castillo's informant was working for the CIA and had been used to divert attention from Ilopango. The Justice Department Inspector General confirmed the informant, Murga, was indeed a CIA asset, and the CIA demanded the DEA stop using him.[^1] ### Chretien's Role in Internal Investigation After returning to Sacramento, [[Gary Webb|Webb]] phoned Castillo and told him about [[Craig Chretien|Chretien]]'s claim that there was no proof the Contras were involved in drugs. Castillo said Chretien had been one of the DEA officials sent to Guatemala to conduct the internal investigation of him. Castillo said Chretien ordered him to use the word "alleged" in his reports to Washington about Contra drug shipments from Ilopango. "They said, 'You cannot actually come out and say this shit is going on.' And I told them, 'I'm watching the fucking things fly out of here with my own eyes! Why would I have to say alleged?'" Castillo said of Chretien's denial: "Aw, bullshit. Of all people, he knows perfectly well what was going on. He was reading all my reports, looking for grammatical errors."[^2] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends" [^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 25: "Things are moving all around us"