One of the leaders of Honduras's Cachiros drug cartel testifying at the trial of Fabio Lobo told a Federal judge yesterday that he paid enormous bribes for protection to both Porfirio Lobo Sosa, ex-President of Honduras, and to his son, Fabio.
Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, one of two brothers identified by the US Treasury as the leaders of the Los Cachiros drug cartel in Honduras spent over 3 hours on the stand in the trial of Fabio Lobo for drug trafficking in the US. Los Cachiros operated as a cartel in Honduras from 2008 to 2013.
During his testimony, Rivera Maradiaga was asked if he had received assistance from Porfirio Lobo Sosa, to which he replied "Yes" indicating that the first time was in 2009 when Lobo Sosa was still a Presidential candidate for the National Party. Rivera Maradiaga testified that he paid Lobo Sosa $250,000 - $300,000 for that initial protection as a campaign contribution. Rivera Maradiaga also mentioned a second meeting with Lobo Sosa where he gave him a packet of 500 lempira bills "eight or twelve inches high". Rivera Maradiaga also testified that he was present at a third meeting, post election, with Lobo Sosa in which Lobo Sosa promised not to extradite him to the United States and said he would give them government contracts to pay back the bribe they gave him during the campaign. It was at this third meeting that Lobo Sosa designated his son, Fabio Lobo, as his intermediary for Los Cachiros and made him their contract for security.
Rivera Maradiaga testified that Fabio Lobo helped him with security arrangements on two occasions. In 2012 Fabio helped Los Cachiros with a 400 kilogram shipment of cocaine that arrived by plane. The second time, in 2013, it was a ton of cocaine. Fabio Lobo received a payment of $30,000 for the first shipment, along with several vehicles and an AR-15. Rivera Maradiaga says Fabio Lobo "asked for a bit more for the second shipment because he had to pay the Chief, that is General Tinoco."
Monday, March 6, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
Police Corruption Abounds in Honduras
A criminal gang of Police in Honduras have continued to serve since 2003 when they're names became known in an investigation about a group running guns to the FARC in Colombia. Several are now or have been high ranking Police executives.
On July 6, 2003, then Congress person Armando Avila Panchamé was arrested while fleeing the crash of a drug trafficking airplane in Olancho. The plane had landed on the ranch of Ramon Matta, son of the Honduran drug lord with the same name who was arrested and extradited illegally to the US in 1998. Panchamé was arrested along with 10 others. The vehicle he was driving had attracted police interest because it had been seen a few months earlier near Arenal, Yoro, at the scene of another drug plane crash. After his arrest, Panchamé waived his immunity, and was tried and convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was shot to death by another prisoner in prison less than a year later.
Panchamé was the second National Party Congressperson in a month to be arrested for drug trafficking that year.
Also in 2003, Police officer Exequial Antonio Estrada Izaguirre sent a report to the head of the Police Investigative unit, Coralia Rivera de Coca, detailing the misbehavior of a number of his fellow officers in Monjaras, Choluteca. It seems Inspector Leonel Enrique Matute Chavez was stopped along the road there and his vehicle was found to contain more than a hundred weapons of various calibers to be sent to Rodrigo José Londono, in Colombia, to pass into the control of the FARC. The arms were being sent by Panchamé to a drug plane that was to land in Choluteca to exchange them for money.
This report listed their high level contacts in the police used by Panchamé: Ramirez del Cid, Napoleon Nazar, somebody Sauceda, somebody Sabillon, all of whom were present when the drug plane landed in Choluteca, so that nothing would go wrong if the Honduran police or DEA found out. These names should be familiar to you from previous posts about police involved in crime organizations. All of them have multiple accusations of criminal involvement in known cases in Honduras, yet all of them have continued to rise in the Police ranks.
A confidential US State Department memo at the time concludes that Avila Panchamé was "offered up" as a sacrificial lamb "in an effort to demonstrate to the US the GOH's commitment to combating drug trafficking and corruption at the highest levels" much as the Valle Valle and Rivera Maradiaga were for the current government.
The police investigation has remained open and there are entries in the file through 2016, but it remained buried in police files until this year, along with evidence that someone tried to have the files expunged during the last few years. Three of them became the Police Commissioners before retiring. Ten have been either removed through the Police cleanup process or suspended. Two more were caught in criminal situations and removed. But 15 of them remain active in the police.
On July 6, 2003, then Congress person Armando Avila Panchamé was arrested while fleeing the crash of a drug trafficking airplane in Olancho. The plane had landed on the ranch of Ramon Matta, son of the Honduran drug lord with the same name who was arrested and extradited illegally to the US in 1998. Panchamé was arrested along with 10 others. The vehicle he was driving had attracted police interest because it had been seen a few months earlier near Arenal, Yoro, at the scene of another drug plane crash. After his arrest, Panchamé waived his immunity, and was tried and convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was shot to death by another prisoner in prison less than a year later.
Panchamé was the second National Party Congressperson in a month to be arrested for drug trafficking that year.
Also in 2003, Police officer Exequial Antonio Estrada Izaguirre sent a report to the head of the Police Investigative unit, Coralia Rivera de Coca, detailing the misbehavior of a number of his fellow officers in Monjaras, Choluteca. It seems Inspector Leonel Enrique Matute Chavez was stopped along the road there and his vehicle was found to contain more than a hundred weapons of various calibers to be sent to Rodrigo José Londono, in Colombia, to pass into the control of the FARC. The arms were being sent by Panchamé to a drug plane that was to land in Choluteca to exchange them for money.
This report listed their high level contacts in the police used by Panchamé: Ramirez del Cid, Napoleon Nazar, somebody Sauceda, somebody Sabillon, all of whom were present when the drug plane landed in Choluteca, so that nothing would go wrong if the Honduran police or DEA found out. These names should be familiar to you from previous posts about police involved in crime organizations. All of them have multiple accusations of criminal involvement in known cases in Honduras, yet all of them have continued to rise in the Police ranks.
A confidential US State Department memo at the time concludes that Avila Panchamé was "offered up" as a sacrificial lamb "in an effort to demonstrate to the US the GOH's commitment to combating drug trafficking and corruption at the highest levels" much as the Valle Valle and Rivera Maradiaga were for the current government.
The police investigation has remained open and there are entries in the file through 2016, but it remained buried in police files until this year, along with evidence that someone tried to have the files expunged during the last few years. Three of them became the Police Commissioners before retiring. Ten have been either removed through the Police cleanup process or suspended. Two more were caught in criminal situations and removed. But 15 of them remain active in the police.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
UN Concerned New Criminal Code Violates Human Rights
President Juan Hernandez is urging the Honduran Congress to pass his package of reforms to the penal code, saying that opposition to them is just politics. Among those are changes to the law so that the Police and Military have immunity from being prosecuted for the use of force, and another change that criminalizes protests as terrorism. Needless to say the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) has grave concerns about three of the changes.
First the OHCHR is concerned about changes to the definition of terrorism in Article 335 of the Codigo Penal. The changes adds to the paragraph on terrorism:
For those who haven't been paying attention, every Honduran government since the coup has asserted that protests such as the Torchlight Marches were violating the fundamental rights of the population because protesters blocked the streets. The change in the law criminalizes as terrorism protests against the government. The OHCHR agrees, and suggests that the law make a more narrow definition of terrorism:
The OHCHR also has concerns about the changes to Article 222 of the Penal Code referring to extortion. They point out the new law, as written, strengthens the penalty to 20 years to life in prison. This ignores the Honduran Supreme Court guidance that calls for a penalty that is proportional to the harm caused called for in their review of the proposed law. The Honduran Supreme Court also indicated in their review of this proposed change that it felt that increasing the penalty would not significantly serve as a deterrent to lower the incidence of extortion. Furthermore, the law defines extortion as terrorism, which for the OHCHR is just wrong. Extortion is never, per se, automatically an act of terrorism. Such an equation breaks the spirit and international norms in the struggle against terrorism. It significantly restricts the processual and penal guarantees violating the principles of necessity and proportionality through the way it restricts the rights of the accused and prisoners, the OHCHR concluded.
Finally the OHCHR suggests that changing the law to create impunity for law enforcement officials who use use their weapon in the line of duty need to be reconciled with a respect for human rights. As article 25 is modified to read, law enforcement officials would have immunity from prosecution any time they fired their weapon in the line of duty. The OHCHR points out that this creates a situation of impunity for officials who resort to the arbitrary excessive use of force, perform extrajudicial killings, torture, forced disappearance, and so on. The OHCHR goes on to point out that if they approve this reform, they will be in violation of international treaties and norms to which the government of Honduras is signatory.
So naturally, the National Party is all for said reforms. PAC, PINU and Libre have come out opposing the reforms, and elements of the Liberal Party are split on supporting the package of reforms, with a final vote set for Tuesday.
First the OHCHR is concerned about changes to the definition of terrorism in Article 335 of the Codigo Penal. The changes adds to the paragraph on terrorism:
"Apply the penalties from the preceding article to those who as individuals or as part of a criminal organization of any type, that seeks to assume the powers that belong to the State such as taking territorial control, the monopoly on the legitimate exercise of the use of force by the different institutions of criminal justice, causing fear, putting in grave risk, or systematically and indiscriminately affecting the fundamental rights of the population, or any part of it, the internal security of the State or the economic stability of the country."
For those who haven't been paying attention, every Honduran government since the coup has asserted that protests such as the Torchlight Marches were violating the fundamental rights of the population because protesters blocked the streets. The change in the law criminalizes as terrorism protests against the government. The OHCHR agrees, and suggests that the law make a more narrow definition of terrorism:
"The UN has shown over and over the necessity for the States to limit the application of anti-terrorism measures to the field of acts of authentic terrorism, as specified in the Doctrine, comparing practices in laws, and the Special Relator of the UN for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental liberties in the struggle against terrorism in 2010."
The OHCHR also has concerns about the changes to Article 222 of the Penal Code referring to extortion. They point out the new law, as written, strengthens the penalty to 20 years to life in prison. This ignores the Honduran Supreme Court guidance that calls for a penalty that is proportional to the harm caused called for in their review of the proposed law. The Honduran Supreme Court also indicated in their review of this proposed change that it felt that increasing the penalty would not significantly serve as a deterrent to lower the incidence of extortion. Furthermore, the law defines extortion as terrorism, which for the OHCHR is just wrong. Extortion is never, per se, automatically an act of terrorism. Such an equation breaks the spirit and international norms in the struggle against terrorism. It significantly restricts the processual and penal guarantees violating the principles of necessity and proportionality through the way it restricts the rights of the accused and prisoners, the OHCHR concluded.
Finally the OHCHR suggests that changing the law to create impunity for law enforcement officials who use use their weapon in the line of duty need to be reconciled with a respect for human rights. As article 25 is modified to read, law enforcement officials would have immunity from prosecution any time they fired their weapon in the line of duty. The OHCHR points out that this creates a situation of impunity for officials who resort to the arbitrary excessive use of force, perform extrajudicial killings, torture, forced disappearance, and so on. The OHCHR goes on to point out that if they approve this reform, they will be in violation of international treaties and norms to which the government of Honduras is signatory.
So naturally, the National Party is all for said reforms. PAC, PINU and Libre have come out opposing the reforms, and elements of the Liberal Party are split on supporting the package of reforms, with a final vote set for Tuesday.
Indigenous Leader Murdered
An Indigenous leader and pre-school teacher of the Tolupan in Honduras was murdered yesterday by five unnamed attackers in his home in the Montaña de la Flor community of La Ceiba. José de los Santos Sevilla was a son of recently deceased leader Tomas Sevilla.
Sevilla was active in the community in bringing electricity and a hospital to Orica, and in maintaining the Tolupan beliefs. The Mayor of Orica, Rosy Alexander Rodgrigues, said that the La Ceiba band was the most advanced [modernized] of the Tolupan bands of the Montaña de la Flor.
Jose de los Santos Sevilla is the first Tolupan leader from Montaña de la Flor to be murdered according Rodriguez.
The Public Prosecutor's office dispatched a team to investigate the murder.
Sevilla was active in the community in bringing electricity and a hospital to Orica, and in maintaining the Tolupan beliefs. The Mayor of Orica, Rosy Alexander Rodgrigues, said that the La Ceiba band was the most advanced [modernized] of the Tolupan bands of the Montaña de la Flor.
Jose de los Santos Sevilla is the first Tolupan leader from Montaña de la Flor to be murdered according Rodriguez.
The Public Prosecutor's office dispatched a team to investigate the murder.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Drug Runners Vouch for the Corrupt in Honduras
Its a case of those linked to the drug trade vouching for those linked to corruption. Today Security Minister Julian Pacheco Tinoco said that he would keep Police Commander Felix Villanueva in his post as head of the Honduran civilian police force.
Pacheco Tinoco has been linked by a DEA informant's testimony in a trial of Colombian drug runners to the drug trade. The informant identified Pacheco Tinoco as the person he talked to to assure the safe transhipment of a cargo of narcotics ultimately headed to the United States. Speaking about keeping Villanueva in his post as Police Commissioner, Pacheco Tinoco said:
"This was never in doubt. He's always been at 100 percent. We have 100 percent confidence in him; we believe in him."
This is not completely a surprise however. When Villanueva presented his personnel file for review, he used three lawyers who advise the Minister of Security as his personal references.
Felix Villanueva, on the other hand, based on an investigation by the Direccion de Investigación y Evaluación de la Carrera Policial (DIECP), has an amassed wealth that he cannot explain. They accuse him of illegal enrichment in a report. In fact, they accuse 29 police officers of having amassed wealth they cannot account for. Three of the high level officials alone, including Villanueva, amassed 27.7 million lempiras ( about $1.35 million ) that they cannot account for. The report, DECC-EP-92-2012, states that Villanueva alone has 2.3 million lempiras ( about $115,000 ) that he cannot account for. That report dates from 2012, five years ago. This report was submitted to the Tribunal Superior de Cuentas, which has never acted on it.
Several of the officers identified as having amassed wealth they could not account for have been fired from the Police, but not Villanueva, who was allowed to continue as Police Commissioner even after it was revealed that Villanueva himself ordered that police personnel files be cleansed of all accusations of abuse or corruption, including his own personnel file. This came to light because though he filed paperwork stating he had no complaints, the Public Minister's Investigation Police force (DPI in Spanish) still had records of such complaints and produced them. This is another case that languishes in the Public Prosecutor's office. It has not been investigated. Villanueva has not been asked to make a statement.
So the drug runners are now vouching for the corrupt in the Honduran government of Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Pacheco Tinoco has been linked by a DEA informant's testimony in a trial of Colombian drug runners to the drug trade. The informant identified Pacheco Tinoco as the person he talked to to assure the safe transhipment of a cargo of narcotics ultimately headed to the United States. Speaking about keeping Villanueva in his post as Police Commissioner, Pacheco Tinoco said:
"This was never in doubt. He's always been at 100 percent. We have 100 percent confidence in him; we believe in him."
This is not completely a surprise however. When Villanueva presented his personnel file for review, he used three lawyers who advise the Minister of Security as his personal references.
Felix Villanueva, on the other hand, based on an investigation by the Direccion de Investigación y Evaluación de la Carrera Policial (DIECP), has an amassed wealth that he cannot explain. They accuse him of illegal enrichment in a report. In fact, they accuse 29 police officers of having amassed wealth they cannot account for. Three of the high level officials alone, including Villanueva, amassed 27.7 million lempiras ( about $1.35 million ) that they cannot account for. The report, DECC-EP-92-2012, states that Villanueva alone has 2.3 million lempiras ( about $115,000 ) that he cannot account for. That report dates from 2012, five years ago. This report was submitted to the Tribunal Superior de Cuentas, which has never acted on it.
Several of the officers identified as having amassed wealth they could not account for have been fired from the Police, but not Villanueva, who was allowed to continue as Police Commissioner even after it was revealed that Villanueva himself ordered that police personnel files be cleansed of all accusations of abuse or corruption, including his own personnel file. This came to light because though he filed paperwork stating he had no complaints, the Public Minister's Investigation Police force (DPI in Spanish) still had records of such complaints and produced them. This is another case that languishes in the Public Prosecutor's office. It has not been investigated. Villanueva has not been asked to make a statement.
So the drug runners are now vouching for the corrupt in the Honduran government of Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Seventh Arrest in Murder of Bertha Cáceres
Honduran Police from the Agencia Técnica de Investigación Criminal (ATIC) announced that they have arrested a seventh person in connection with the murder of environmentalist Bertha Cáceres in Honduras last March. Henry Javier Hernandez Rodriguez, a former member of the Honduran military, was traced to Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, where he was working in a barber shop. We first learned his name last May, when the Public Prosecutor met with representatives of the Consejo Cívico de Organizacion Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH). At that time he was identified as having participated in the murder of Cáceres, but had not yet been located. Hernandez Rodgriguez is currently being held by Mexican police, but is expected to be sent back to Honduras as early as tomorrow.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Honduran Security Minister implicated in US Drug Trafficking Trial
Honduran Security Minister, retired General Julian Pacheco Tinoco, was implicated as being part of a Honduran government drug trafficking ring by a DEA informant according to testimony provided by US Federal Prosecutors at the trial of Efrain Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas.
Efrain Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas are the nephews of Venezuela's first lady, Cilia Flores. They have been charged in federal court with conspiring (i) "to import five or more kilograms of cocaine into the United States from a foreign country", and (ii) "to manufacture or distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine knowing and intending that it would be imported into the United States."
The two defendants who were arrested in Haiti had sought to suppress some of their post arrest statements to the DEA and prosecutors. Some of that evidence was about an October, 2015 meeting between a DEA informant, now deceased, identified as CW-1, and one of the nephews to discuss bringing planes with drugs into Honduras from Venezuela. A DEA Special Agent, Sandalio Gonzalez, testified that CW-1 was unable to record the meeting, but provided photos showing the two Venezuelan nephews meeting with CW-1 and others. Agent Gonzalez gave recording devices to two more DEA informants in Honduras, identified as CS-1 and CS-2 and urged them to travel to Venezuela to talk with the nephews and "to record all conversations, negotiations, and discussions of drug trafficking or money laundering". CS-1 and CS-2 met with the nephews in Caracas, Venezuela, 4 times during October 2015. A 3rd informant, CS-3 met with them in Honduras in November 2015 to discuss flight logistics and recorded that meeting.
Informant CW-1, known as "El Sentado" because he was confined to a wheel chair, was killed in Honduras in December 2015, shortly after the nephews were arrested. Informant CS-1, José Santos Peña, is known as "The Mexican" because he was posing as a representative of the Sinaloa Cartel. Their co-defendant, Roberto Jesus Soto Garcia, a Honduran, was recorded negotiating the logistics of handling plane loads of cocaine in Honduras.
Informant CS-1 is José Santos Peña, a Mexican drug trafficker who used to work for the Sinaloa cartel. Informant CS-2 is his son. In 2000 Santos Peña was arrested by Mexican authorities and turned over to the DEA, where he turned informant and was working from 2003 to 2016 for the DEA. During the trial of Campo Flores and Flores de Freitas, Santos Peña testified that he had received around $750,000 from the DEA, and a further $300,000 from other agencies. At one point, Informant CS-1 was asked during the trial about Julian Pacheco Tinoco:
The Prosecution presented evidence that Campo Flores had deleted a chat session and contact information on his Samsung phone with Pacheco Tinoco. Informant CS-1 also admitted on the stand to lying to the DEA, not telling them about visits to prostitutes and continuing to traffic in cocaine for himself, for which he and his son were sentenced to life imprisonment.
On November 21, 2016, the two nephews were found guilty.
Efrain Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas are the nephews of Venezuela's first lady, Cilia Flores. They have been charged in federal court with conspiring (i) "to import five or more kilograms of cocaine into the United States from a foreign country", and (ii) "to manufacture or distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine knowing and intending that it would be imported into the United States."
The two defendants who were arrested in Haiti had sought to suppress some of their post arrest statements to the DEA and prosecutors. Some of that evidence was about an October, 2015 meeting between a DEA informant, now deceased, identified as CW-1, and one of the nephews to discuss bringing planes with drugs into Honduras from Venezuela. A DEA Special Agent, Sandalio Gonzalez, testified that CW-1 was unable to record the meeting, but provided photos showing the two Venezuelan nephews meeting with CW-1 and others. Agent Gonzalez gave recording devices to two more DEA informants in Honduras, identified as CS-1 and CS-2 and urged them to travel to Venezuela to talk with the nephews and "to record all conversations, negotiations, and discussions of drug trafficking or money laundering". CS-1 and CS-2 met with the nephews in Caracas, Venezuela, 4 times during October 2015. A 3rd informant, CS-3 met with them in Honduras in November 2015 to discuss flight logistics and recorded that meeting.
Informant CW-1, known as "El Sentado" because he was confined to a wheel chair, was killed in Honduras in December 2015, shortly after the nephews were arrested. Informant CS-1, José Santos Peña, is known as "The Mexican" because he was posing as a representative of the Sinaloa Cartel. Their co-defendant, Roberto Jesus Soto Garcia, a Honduran, was recorded negotiating the logistics of handling plane loads of cocaine in Honduras.
Informant CS-1 is José Santos Peña, a Mexican drug trafficker who used to work for the Sinaloa cartel. Informant CS-2 is his son. In 2000 Santos Peña was arrested by Mexican authorities and turned over to the DEA, where he turned informant and was working from 2003 to 2016 for the DEA. During the trial of Campo Flores and Flores de Freitas, Santos Peña testified that he had received around $750,000 from the DEA, and a further $300,000 from other agencies. At one point, Informant CS-1 was asked during the trial about Julian Pacheco Tinoco:
Prosecutor: In your work as a DEA informant did you meet with with someone called Julian Pacheco Tinoco?
CS-1: Yes sir
Prosecutor: In what country did you know Mr. Pacheco Tinoco?
CS-1: In Honduras.
Prosecutor: Do you know if he has a position in the Honduran Government?
CS-1: Yes sir
Prosecutor: What is that position?
CS-1: Minister of Defense of Honduras
Prosecutor: How did you know him?
[At this point the defense lawyer Randal Jackson objected, but the judge denied the objection]
Prosecutor: How did you know him?
CS-1: I knew him through the son of the ex president of Honduras, Fabio Lobo.
Prosecutor: Were you meeting with Mr. Lobo as part of your work as a DEA informant?
CS-1: Yes sir.
Prosecutor: What was your meeting with Mr. Pacheco about?
CS-1: It was so that he could give me help to receive shipments from Colombia to Honduras. He was in charge of a part of the security in Honduras.
Prosecutor: What type of shipments?
CS-1: Cocaine.
The Prosecution presented evidence that Campo Flores had deleted a chat session and contact information on his Samsung phone with Pacheco Tinoco. Informant CS-1 also admitted on the stand to lying to the DEA, not telling them about visits to prostitutes and continuing to traffic in cocaine for himself, for which he and his son were sentenced to life imprisonment.
On November 21, 2016, the two nephews were found guilty.
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