Santo Domingo.- Senator Wilton Guerrero on Friday reiterated his assertion that ex president Hipolito Mejia has supporters “linked” to drug cartels, and announced he prepares a defense on the slander charges the ex chief executive filed Thursday.

“I challenge Mejia, as a responsible senator, to explain to the country about the mysterious trip because of its interest to Dominican Republic, and the infiltration of people linked to drugs including Ezequiel Rodriguez Cruz, and the hired killer Julio Céspedes Martínez of the Sinaloa cartel in Santiago, who headed support groups for his candidacy,” the lawmaker said in reference to the suspect -also known as El Indio- in the execution of four South Americans, killed by agents in La Vega.

“And above all, we should remember that this ruthless assassin headed a support group for Hipolito Mejía’s candidacy in the city of Santiago, the so called the Movimiento Comunitario de Apoyo a Papá,” he said.

Guerrero said when he first questioned Mejia’s trip to Sinaloa, the then candidate “kept totally silent before those facts,”

He said even though he has yet to be subpoenaed, he’s preparing his defense with witnesses including the DEA agents involved in the case, Drugs Control Agency director Rolando Rosado, and Presidency Antinarcotics adviser Marino Vinicio Castillo,” who publicly confirmed the information.”

“Mejia now wants to pass off as a serious man with honor but he isn’t serious and if he has honor it's in his foot,” he said, adding that including the newspaper El Caribe in the lawsuit “is a petty move on Mejia’s part.