Businessman Santino Castillo, owner and manager of Team Santino’s, which is considered probably the dominant team in Belize cycling, called Amandala late this evening to say that he has instructed his lawyer, of the firm of Pitts and Elrington, to institute legal proceedings against the president of the Belize Cycling Association, Gerald Garbutt, and cyclist Ray Cattouse for allegedly defaming him on the KREM Wake Up Belize (WUB) show.
Cattouse, said Castillo, defamed him by saying on the Wednesday and Thursday shows, December 19 and 20, that “the cyclists of Team Santino’s took EPO, a performance enhancement drug, which was imported into Belize by [Santino Castillo].”
The letter to Garbutt read, in part, that he, Garbutt, “made public allegations saying that [Santino Castillo] imported into Belize EPO, a performance enhancement drug, which he caused to be taken by members of Team Santino’s.”
“These allegations are completely untrue …and cause grave slander,” said Santino.
Gerald Garbutt, of 7202 Caesar Ridge Road, told Amandala tonight that he has not yet received the letter from Castillo’s lawyer. Briefly, he told us what happened.
He was told on Monday, he said, that a cyclist, allegedly from Team Santino’s, had gone to the Western Border and, reports to him were, sent a female to pick up a cooler that had been left at Customs by “a Guatemalan man,” for the cyclist.
A junior Customs officer opened the cooler, looked at the contents but did not take a sample. The female was given the cooler and she and the cyclist left.
It is not clear why, or how a senior Customs officer became involved, but Garbutt said that he was told that the junior officer was reprimanded for not taking a sample of what was in the cooler, which reportedly had the name of the cyclist on the package inside. The information he gave the senior officer, however, was enough to allow the officer to use a computer to learn that the reported substance was EPO, a performance enhancing drug that was off-limits to cyclists.
Garbutt said that the senior official called him about 2:30 Monday afternoon and related the incident. The senior officer told Garbutt that he had called the cyclist on Monday, and told him that the substance was EPO.
Garbutt said that he requested the substance from the cyclist, but was told that it was for his dog, and that he had thrown it in the garbage because the expiration date had passed.
According to Garbutt, at a meeting held with Castillo and his riders on Wednesday, he apologized for the error made during his call on the morning show. The team’s lawyers were present at that meeting, he said.
Gerald Garbutt told us that this morning, Thursday, he told the team that under the Cycling Association’s rules for this kind of controversy, four riders had to be tested for drugs.
He told Castillo that he did not need to test all the riders, but only four. Chosen by Garbutt were Froggy Leslie, Mateo Cruz, Greg Lovell and Marlon Castillo, and they were given the name of a doctor at the Universal Health Services. A time of 4-5 o’clock was set for the testing.
According to Garbutt, however, around 7:00 tonight he was called by the doctor, who told him that none of the riders showed up to be tested.
We were told two things: one, that according to the doctor, the EPO stays in the body for about two weeks, and two, the cyclists, if found positive for the substance, could be suspended for a minimum of two years, and the sentence could be as long as for life.
Garbutt said that he has already informed the parent cycling body, UCI, and he has already gotten back an answer as to the procedure to deal with it and the penalties. UCI, he said, asked him to keep them updated.
Because the four cyclists didn’t show up, Garbutt said, he now has to deal with that situation. The cyclists, he said, could be penalized.
Amandala could not reach Ray Cattouse, of 13 ½ Miles, Northern Highway, for comment.
Santino Castillo has given Garbutt and Cattouse three days to “make a formal, written and published withdrawal, and apology of all the statements made …and that you cease repeating these allegations.”
If not, Castillo said he would institute proceedings against them for slander.
On the matter of his cyclists’ testing, Castillo said: “We will not oppose testing, but five conditions must be met, including a recognized facility for conducting the testing …the substance for which the test will be conducted …the proper testing kits …and that an objective third party must be present when the tests are being conducted.”