Rebuttal to Pedro Meri

Around the year 2000, I created a personal website which I called Mis Estampillas (My Stamps), located at the address MyStamps[.]net. Unfortunately, I could not find a record of it, but by November 2002, Archive.org began indexing it and today it can be visited from there.

It was at that time that I began visiting the then Club Filatélico de Caracas (Caracas Philatelic Club). I joined with great enthusiasm. At my then 25 years of age, I had never had so much philatelic information at my disposal: their magazines (which I immediately bought and still keep), their library, and some of its people, particularly Alberto Moratti, who was clearly the backbone, and several of the extremities as well, of that club. By January 2003, the Caracas Philatelic Club changed its name and became the Asociación Filatélica de Caracas, ASOFILCA. The editorial of the club’s magazine 157 can be read for more information on this matter.

Coincidentally, I published my first philatelic article in this same issue. I always loved research, so I absorbed the almost 50 years of magazines very quickly. Also, I have always liked to write and I am one of those who thinks that information must be disclosed. All those ingredients came together here for me to start writing philatelic articles.

The club was basically supported on the shoulders of four people: Alberto Moratti, as general administrator and head of the magazine, Michel Leider as head of the auction, Pedro Meri as international liaison, and the secretary in logistical and operational tasks. There were other people who helped a little here and there, but what I quickly felt was that the vast majority of those who frequented the club were more interested in selling their pieces in the auction than in delving into philatelic topics.

Anyway, ever since then I insisted that the club should have its own website. Until now, my personal page was the one hosting their auction information. In fact, up until magazine number 161, the club’s email address was asofilca[@]mystamps.net. For some reason, they never listened to me. They were always absolutely opposed to following that recommendation and doing what they considered an expense. At the end of April 2004, I decided, motu proprio and without consulting anyone, to buy both the domain and the hosting for what would become asofilca[.]com with my own money. I set up a first website, and on June 4, 2004, archive.org began indexing it. That first version can be viewed today from that site.

With this, I stopped writing in the club’s magazine, to place my articles on the web. Basically, I was in charge of the website and was the one who published articles on it. Alberto Moratti was the only one interested in learning how it worked and, with that, he also eventually published articles of philatelic interest: The new series that were released in the country as well as other articles on various topics. At the time, I created accounts for Michel Leider, Carlos Romero, and Pedro Meri so that they could also enter the web and write on it. They never even activated their accounts. I believe Carlos did activate his, but never really used it.

In 2004, my first son was born, which led me to stop attending the club consistently, although I continued to maintain contact with Alberto Moratti. By 2007, with the birth of my second daughter, I told Alberto that I needed the club to start paying for its page’s hosting. That was done. I continued to pay for the domain. By the end of 2010, my plans to emigrate from Venezuela were already very advanced; I already had a firm job offer and my departure was scheduled for July 2011. I don’t remember the events well during this period because I was focused on my family’s and my own emigration process, but by May 2011, there was a need to solve a problem with the club’s auctions, basically automating the taking of bids, because that part of the system was entirely manual. As a personal favor to Alberto Moratti, on the nights of the following four weekends, I rushed to develop a very basic auction system for the web, where users could place their bids and this would synchronize with their internal system. It was basic but effective, and almost everyone was very happy with it. In a board meeting, I commented on the features I had added to the system and clearly remember Pedro Meri’s vehement opposition to a functionality I had added to the system which notified the higher bidder when their bid had been surpassed. A normal feature of an auction system to maximize what users bid for their lots and for the house to earn more. I did not understand his opposition. I implemented what was clearly a benefit for the club anyway.

I emigrated and dedicated myself to creating my new reality and that of my family. I dedicated less and less time to the page and the club, although I never stopped publishing an article about a discovery or something interesting I found. Between 2016 and 2018, I requested a meeting with Alberto Moratti and the rest of the board to decide what should be done with the auction system and the website. I did not want to have any responsibility for it, and, even more importantly, no relationship with ASOFILCA.

I prepared the agenda and a presentation to explain the situation and the alternatives. This meeting never took place. Two years of insisting and nothing. They never scheduled it. They never gave me a reason. Seeing that the interest of those who should have been most interested was simply zero, starting in 2018, that became my own level of interest. The last contact was when the last triennium of hosting had to be paid in July 2021 (valid until July 2024).

I saw too many things, basically acts of dishonesty, that I did not agree with and was not going to endorse with my presence. I always gave my opinion on them and was clear about it. But the power dynamics were very clear, and I was always «the newcomer». Furthermore, and more importantly, I was clear that these situations did not hold enough value for me to dedicate so much worry and thought to them. I did not live off philately; philately was not what put bread on my table, as was the case with several of those there, mainly Pedro Meri, who is a philatelic merchant. I stepped aside.

Meanwhile, starting in 2019, I began participating vigorously in a Facebook group called Filatelia Venezuela, but since the rules allowed buying and selling, I did not like the dynamic much. I later decided to create my own, Conversaciones sobre la Venezuela Postal – Filatelia y Cartofilia (Conversations about Postal Venezuela – Philately and Cartophily), which still exists today. During the pandemic, I set up my own philatelic website willcastillo.com. It is in these groups and on my website, as well as in my lectures at Mi Oficina Philatelic Society, where I have been sharing my discoveries about the Postal Stationery of Venezuela as I found them, that is, where one can see how my research, hypotheses, and results have evolved over the years.

On June 22, 2024, I received notification from the hosting company that it would renew on July 7, 2024. It was going to be 720 dollars.

Two days later, I sent two emails to Alberto Moratti asking who would take charge from that moment on. I did not want those accounts in my name.

Receiving no response, a few days later I sent him a message via WhatsApp:

I also did not get a response. And of course I would not receive one. I did not know that Alberto was sadly going through his last weeks of life, something I found out eight months later, upon seeing a message from his daughter on Facebook. They never informed me.

In short, ignorant of that situation, I decided to wait and time ran out.

On July 5, 2024, 48 hours before the website expired, I wrote the following to Michel Leider.

I took a deep breath… and replied Perfect. The website would be lost. Years of articles would be lost. What Alberto Moratti rightly called the club’s cultural heritage would be lost.

Seeing this situation, I rescued each and every one of the articles I authored, and added them to my own website. The next day, July 7, 2024, after 20 years online, the ASOFILCA website disappeared. And Michel, as if nothing happened, continued sending me his Excel sheets a few days later with the extraordinary lots of the next auction, 80% of which were rehashed lots from at least the last 12 months.

Anyway!. Months later, people started asking, and since ASOFILCA had no spokesperson, they asked me. On October 5, Michel writes to me saying:

A good Samaritan who had recently begun participating in Venezuelan philately (I don’t know exactly, 6-7 years? It might be more, I don’t know), had volunteered to rescue the website…. I omitted his name because I don’t think it’s worth mentioning him in all this mess. The fact is that the damage was already done, and the content was no longer recoverable. I communicated to him that the best backup was on archive.org.

However, the good Samaritan, with very little context and unaware of everything behind this, quickly took a position. I don’t blame him; it’s a complex situation where it’s easy to jump to easy conclusions. Here is the conversation:

And the conversation continued:

And that is how things stood until this moment.

And what happened now?

Well, I have to make all this public because Pedro Meri, being every bit the Pedro Meri that he is, has sent communications to several people, behind my back, where he slanders and vilifies me with a string of lies that, in reality, leave him looking worse than me. Under normal circumstances, I would let him dissolve in his own bile, but since many of those receiving his message do not know me, I prefer to give a response.

Here is my right to reply. I will deny each of his lies by citing his own words.

I want to state in writing as president of the recently founded Venezuelan Philatelic Federation.

As far as I know, such a federation does not exist. If it does exist, my sincere congratulations!. I have always believed that Venezuela needs a philatelic federation where all local associations are represented. Now, if it truly exists, where are the founding documents? Which clubs make it up? How many members does it have?.

You received correspondence from the Vice President Mr. Carlos Romero of ASOFILCA, where it was communicated to you that Mr. Will Castillo, former member of ASOFILCA, was expelled from the club (only 2 in 75 years), and has been named persona non grata to Venezuelan philately,.

Several things. 1) No one has expelled me. I left that group, as described above, because of the deceitful actions (marramucias) I saw them doing, mainly, but not exclusively, by Pedro Meri. 2) In any case, that expulsion has never been communicated to me, and I maintain some contact with Carlos Romero through Facebook groups. He hasn’t said anything to me. and 3) «Persona non grata of Venezuelan philately» hehehe. Pedro, how pathetic and what secondhand embarrassment for me from those who read you. Venezuelan philately is a concept. Persona non grata is given to someone with respect to a physical or legal entity such as a country or company or something similar, not to an ethereal concept like «Venezuelan philately». Let’s see, how can you or how can you ensure that I am not in «Venezuelan philately»? Good luck with that!.

And the icing on the cake: Just two weeks before AMIFIL, the related expo, I received this message from Carlos Romero on Facebook about the books:

And a few weeks earlier, he also left a message to a buyer of the albums accompanying the book when this buyer expressed his liking for the albums. Pedro, your lies don’t add up!

(screenshots taken on 11/4/2025, at 10:30 am EST).

I want to make it very clear that he has been reported to the police in Caracas, Venezuela, as the person who STOLE-TOOK POSSESSION of the asofilca website with all its content, as well as its domain (although it is judicially true) that there are no updated laws in Venezuela that condemn these facts, as we were informed by the technical judicial police of Caracas and they cannot do anything.

Truthfully, this is the only reason I take the trouble to make this entire denial. For decades, Pedro Meri has been accustomed to saying nonsense, which he does with great eloquence (he certainly has that talent), and he expects people to believe him just because he is saying it. And he has been very effective with that. Many even believe he is a philatelic expert! Part of the introduction to my book very quickly ended up being prophetic.

Answering his points: 1) Regarding the theft of the hosting and domain, I already explained it extensively above, so you just have to read the above to know what happened, how, and when. 2) He says they reported me to the technical judicial police. I have neither been reported, nor can they report me because Chavez dissolved that police force in 2001. Perhaps he meant another police force? Maybe. Where is the formalization of the report? Oh, perhaps he will say they didn’t give it to him because «there are no updated laws,» which leads to 3) That is the same nonsense (paja) he talks about in his Postal Stationery collection. For him, Venezuela never operates as it should, there was never any control over anything, etc., etc.. It’s just chaos. When there is chaos, there is no way to corroborate anything. And that is what he needs—that nothing can be corroborated—so that nothing he says can be denied. BUT, my book on Postal Stationery debunks that for the 19th and 20th centuries based on laws and resolutions. As for today, please, nowadays any country, even a third-world one, has laws against cybercrime. Of course, Venezuela has laws regarding this. Here is the SPECIAL LAW ON COMPUTER CRIMES from CONATEL (hosted on their own servers). The supposed crimes that his dirty and putrid mouth tries to attribute to me are clearly defined and typified in this law from October 30, 2001 (24 years ago), official gazette 37.313. I leave it here for him so he can return to the police station to report me.

In the Final Words section of the book that hurt Meri so much, I mention this type of action on Meri’s part. Unintentionally, another part of my book that he confirms as true, without even knowing it:

but it is a reality that a Venezuelan citizen, expelled from a philatelic club, who never resided in Peru and has no connection with Peru and that you do not have affiliated clubs abroad, as the new Venezuelan federation does (which has 2 migrant clubs abroad).

Venezuelan citizen, yes, I am. Expelled from a philatelic club? Never so far; I expelled a philatelic club from my support as part of Venezuelan philately. Never resided in Peru (how does he know?), without any connection to Peru (again, how does he know?), they do not have affiliated clubs abroad (how the hell does he know?), «as the Venezuelan federation does (which has 2 migrant clubs abroad)». Of course, here another «how does he know?» is applicable, but not only that. I ask: How many people do those two clubs have? One in Spain and one in Miami? Is that a club? Having one member abroad? If so, I believe Peru has migrant clubs in every corner of the planet, since the seriousness of its philately has made it one of the most popular destinations for collectors in Latin America worldwide. Not so in Venezuela’s case, unfortunately… and mainly because of this type of situation.

Aaaand in any case… since when do you need to have X nationality to belong to a philatelic club in country X? What an obtuse mind, brother!

they allow a PAMPHLET to be exhibited, which has no real appearance of a book and which in my very personal opinion, being an FIP judge and a collector of Venezuelan postal stationery for more than 30 years with highly awarded collections on the subject and which lead me to understand the quantity of unrealities in this book.

The bile spoke for him again. At his age and health, I sincerely believe he should take better care of himself and not be involved in such ugly antics. In any case, I would love to see the pamphlets he has published.

Anyway, without knowing my book, having never seen it, much less read it, he calls it a pamphlet, in a derogatory manner, as if writing a pamphlet were demeaning or as if a pamphlet, just by being one, could not at the same time be wonderful and highly valuable. That is how short-sighted, unintelligent, and lacking in common sense he is! Proudly, my book is a beauty, both in form and substance. It is 200 pages of solid historical and philatelic information, with discoveries brought to light for the first time from the shadows where they were buried since they were decreed in 1880+. But I will not be the one to talk about my book. I will let those who read it evaluate it. Peru already did it for the first time… and it will not be the last. In any case, what objectivity can he have about something he has never seen?. How can he say it contains unrealities if he has never read it? This is how Pedro manages all his self-proclaimed expertise. Making claims with foundations as fragile as his ego.

Pedro, the book is hardcover; it cannot be a pamphlet, pal. At least call it a small book (librito) or a crummy book (librucho) or something similar. You expose your ignorance! Furthermore, it has more than 200 A4 pages with 11pt font!. Change that in your regurgitations against me, so that at least your point seems somewhat credible. I am embarrassed by how bad you look!

And also awarded GOLD.

This was what catalyzed his anger and raised his bile level to unprecedented levels. His collections, all those he has had, including those of Venezuelan Postal Stationery, have never consistently received more than Vermeil. Recently in Asia, he was given a Large Vermeil, the first and only time so far. This author, in his first exhibition, won a Gold with 90 points, talking about nothing less than the Postal Stationery of Venezuela. Something he says he has been collecting for more than 30 years, but has never consistently exceeded Vermeil. And that is to be expected!. A few years ago, I made some suggestions for his collection, and he, as expected of a megalomaniac, dismissed them.

However, one of his responses stands out particularly for its absurdity, especially coming from someone who reminds us every two sentences that he is an «FIP judge of blablabla». Upon telling him: » I believe the exhibition ends abruptly. I think you should have a final closing episode… perhaps the latest used piece you have of all this stationery. And describe them as such. That way you would have a well-defined beginning, a development, and a well-defined end. » to which he responded: » NO, this collection is the first and is 5 frames, and you move to 8 frames when you have large Vermeil; before that you cannot, and you have to leave it open for when you exhibit with 8 frames and then there should be a definite end. » Can you believe this absurdity? Aaanyway!.

I believe that he, knowing how I research, knows the quality of the work behind my book. And he also knows that the more people read it, the more they will find out how the development of our country’s postal stationery truly occurred and, most importantly for him, they will see the number of lies told in his collection. From the introduction to the last page. It is no coincidence that my book is subtitled » Origins, Facts, and True Stories… no fables. «. The «no fables,» in lowercase, was precisely dedicated to that pamphlet of fables that is his collection, which is unfortunately the only thing that has been shown about the postal stationery of Venezuela. Until now.

Mr. Carlos communicated that although he had not read the book, the notes of Mr. Alberto Moratti, former president of the club in Caracas and who passed away about 2 years ago, were on the philatelic club’s website, along with a collection, among others, of postal stationery that obtained 2 national golds, and I attest to this because that collection which Mr. Moratti created (he has been one of my mentors in philately), he GIFTED to me in 1997 and it was the beginning of my collection.

This one is difficult to answer. The thing is that Pedro does not know how to read or write very well, so basically one has to reconstruct from what he regurgitates what he perhaps meant. As I said, I don’t understand it well, but I think he wanted to insinuate that my book was based (or something similar) on alleged notes by Alberto Moratti—who can no longer speak—that were at the club? If they exist, I would love to see those notes. I used to spend time in that library and never saw them. And I talked a lot with Alberto about postal stationery. He never mentioned such notes to me. Also, I stopped frequenting the club in 2007 and stopped living in Venezuela in 2011 (and I published the book in June of this year!).

But if he left notes on the subject, they should be made public! In any case, if they existed, I don’t think they have anything to do with my book. The two short articles he wrote in the club magazines about the Formular cards—one of them, where he mentions the size of a sheet of Formular cards, I cite as another of my more than 90 sources listed in the bibliography. In the second article he made statements based on what he could see and assume, which were corrected and expanded upon with my research and therefore was not mentioned in my book. He never wrote anything else about the stationery. It is also important to note that my book, this book that won gold, is more about general history and postal history than traditional philately. Alberto Moratti was a traditional-focused philatelist, as demonstrated by 100% of the articles he wrote over the years. I do not believe he ever had access to the documents I found.

As always… another «in any case». In any case, if Carlos hasn’t read my book either, how can he know if my book was based on those supposed notes that he supposedly had read?

I wish Moratti’s opinion about Mr. Castillo were published…

I would love that!. I would put them together with the opinions he himself gave me about my works. Because… I don’t believe Alberto Moratti was a hypocrite. Pedro Meri? Without a doubt, but Alberto was a very serious gentleman who did a lot for Venezuelan philately. His only mistake was putting friendship above the flaws of his friends. I would accept that if they were small, perhaps involuntary errors… but serious, consistent errors, and part of a person’s essence? That doesn’t work for me. If you are an unethical person, a rogue, and a scoundrel, I will be on the other side of the street. Alberto knew who everyone in the club was, what everyone did, and why… and yet he often shielded Pedro in his cunning acts. I don’t know if there was a somewhat paternal feeling involved with him, I don’t know. But I don’t have that and I cannot accept it.

I also want to leave the note that Mr. Castillo has another similar pamphlet about the schools of Venezuela similar in content, number of pages, size, covers that when exhibited only obtained Bronze or Bronze Silver, and Dr. Heister, a championship candidate with schools of Venezuela, has always expressed his opinion about the largest number of errors, lies, inventions, and blunders, about schools of Venezuela.

No, Pedrito, no. I know it’s difficult for you, but you can’t talk about something that you don’t have a clue about! because you expose your ignorance! Also, what an obsession you have with trying to cover up your devalued and discredited word by mentioning other people’s names! The name-dropping technique is already outdated!

The other book, written when I was in my twenties, is a softcover book, 9×6 size, and about 100 pages written in 12 or 13 pt font. The new one is a hardcover, A4 (larger), with 200 pages written in 11 pt font (smaller). Furthermore, I have never exhibited!. That book, published in 2016, has never been in any exhibition. You wanted me to exhibit it to fill up your FIP quota, but I didn’t want to exhibit it. And that little book brought many new collectors to that beautiful series. In fact, the Good Samaritan mentioned above was one of them… but not the only one!.

On the other hand… that is a technical book whose audience is new collectors, and where I explain my procedure for easily identifying each of the nine printings of that difficult series. That is, it is a method. How can there be lies… in a method?. Have you read the book?. I don’t think so, because you still identify all the ESCUELAS stamps in your eBay lots as being from the first printing in 1871. You should read it!. I know reading 50 pages is asking a lot of you, but come on.

I apologize, on Pedro’s behalf, to those to whom he sent this email. It was an tactless, very low, crawling email that leaves him looking very bad, sows doubts about me, and wastes your time. My sincere apologies.

Obviously, he and I are on different sides of the street… as it should be. But the great coward, instead of spilling his bile directly on me, does so through you, and especially through the organizers and jury body of AMIFIL2025, doubting their honesty and ability to properly judge a book, in addition to tarnishing such a beautiful exhibition and such a great effort by a group of true friends of philately. You will not succeed, Pedro, you will not succeed. I do want to thank AMIFIL2025 for the work they did. I don’t know who served as the literature judge at AMIFIL2025, but to him/her, my gratitude, not for my gold, but for their work. I know it is a difficult job, and these situations make it even more difficult and exhausting.

And to you, Pedro… You are a coward. A crawling coward. The world has changed; information is now easy to verify, and your words are not carried away by the wind. Your years where «light and truth» were created when you spoke are over. You better get to work on your stationery collection… if you don’t, it will be increasingly difficult for you to obtain high scores (or even the scores you obtain on average). Imagine when I exhibit my stationery collection!

Sleep well.