August 31, 2020 • 41 mins
The deadline to put Honduran CEO David Castillo on trial looms, while international organizations seeking justice for Berta Cáceres target the government and its foreign lenders.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's now been four and a half years since the
night of March second, when Berta Cassarus was shot dead
in the bedroom of her house. Four and a half
years of frustrations, secrets, and revelations. First there was the survivor,
the witness that the assassins failed to kill in Berta's
(00:24):
guest bedroom. Then there were the false leads, allegations of
a cover up, and surprise raids. After all of that,
investigators piece together a murder plot that pointed the finger
at the hydro electric company that Berta had opposed. This
led to seven murder convictions, but a critical piece of
(00:48):
this story remains unresolved. David Castillo, the CEO of Dessa,
was arrested in eighteen for plotting Berta's death, and since
then his case has been in limbo. All the while
a clock has been ticking. Under Honduran law, a person
(01:10):
can be held in custody without going to trial for
only two and a half years, and David's time in
prison expires on September two. It's now late August, with
just two weeks to go before that day arrives, and
Bart's family is growing very worried. They say David's legal
(01:35):
team is trying to run out that clock. Bart's older
brother Gustavo, tells a Honduran television show that if David
goes free, the family's hopes of finding some measure of
justice will slip away too. We're asking the court, let's
(01:58):
go immediately with the the trial. They can try and
show his innocence and show that he didn't participate, and
show that he didn't threaten b That's fine again, they
can make whatever case they want, but we are prepared
to show that David Castillo is guilty after all the
evidence that's been submitted to the public Ministry and submitted
(02:19):
to the court. That same day, the Honduran Supreme Court
makes a startling announcement. After more than a year of
appeals and postponements, it decides to remove the judge who
had overseen the case from the beginning. Barton's family is shocked.
(02:41):
They see this change as a last minute delay at tactic,
something to make sure no trial could be said before
time runs out. They fear the Supreme Court itself is
sabotaging the case. The court doesn't give a reason for
the change, and both sides seem a little baffled by it,
(03:03):
The dismiss judge had allowed the case to drag on
with little action. Some of David's supporters worry the court
has bowed to pressure to schedule a trial no matter what.
Barrett's family fears that it's a delay tactic, something to
make sure no trial can be said before time runs out.
(03:23):
They worry that the justice system has been fixed, and
they plead for action. But at least, does you know
today the court has to demonstrate that no longer will
people be set free because of their connections or because
of the influence of powerful people in this country put
(03:43):
invage of the hint. This idea that powerful, well connected
people might be intervening on David's behalf has become a
theme throughout this case. As David has waited for a
trial to be set, researchers with several nonprofit organizations, as
(04:04):
well as an international anti corruption panel, have dug into
his COMPANYSA. They say they've unearthed a history of corruption,
the kind made possible by connections deep into Honduran government agencies.
And lawyers representing Berta's family argue that it was this
(04:26):
system of corruption that had her killed. This is another
reason they want David's murder case to go to trial.
They hope to present some of this evidence in court.
Victor Fernandez is a lawyer representing Berta's family. This is
from an August radio interview. You can see there's a
(04:50):
criminal structure that's linked to the highest levels of executive power.
He says, putting David on trial would be an unprecedented
blow against the culture of impunity that has reigned in
Honduras for years. Impunity that he says, originates with an
(05:11):
elite group of politically and economically powerful people. He says,
they want to protect David because that's how they can
protect themselves. It's a group economical. This group of economic
powers was able to be a part of this whole
(05:34):
criminal dynamic, and it started with the creation of the
Aguasaka project and extended all the way through Berta's assassination
and the other crimes committed along the way. So the
tentacles go up to this levelogy and in Sabertas supporters,
(05:54):
simply setting a trial date has become a critical test
of a country and of its entire system of justice.
Honduras has never tackled a murder case like this one.
Most homicide investigations are never closed and few result in arrests.
Maybe the gunmen might go to jail, but those who
(06:16):
might have given the orders almost never do. Berta's family
and their lawyers want to face David in court because
there they hope to expose and dismantle a way of
doing business that they describe as murderers. My name is
(06:43):
montereyrel for Bloomberg Green and this is blood River in
(07:20):
hon During President Juan Orlando Hernandez faced calls for his resignation,
more than three hundred and fifty five million dollars had
been embezzled from the country's social security program, and some
of that money had ended up in the president's campaign chest.
Under pressure, President Hernandez agreed to let an international anti
(07:43):
corruption panel come to Honduras. It would be overseen by
the Organization of American States. It's sort of like the
United Nations for the Western Hemisphere. That anti corruption panel
backed numerous investigations that uncovered dents of rampant government led
graft and lawlessness. One investigation charged a former First Lady
(08:07):
of Honduras with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars. She
was convicted and sentenced to fifty eight years in prison.
But now she's no longer in custody for the same
reason that Berta's family fears David could be released. This summer,
her conviction was annulled because of procedural problems. Her new
(08:29):
trial date hasn't yet been set, but she's already been
in custody longer than Honduran authorities can hold her, so
she's free for now. But that's not the most important
connection between David and that anti corruption panel. Last year
in Tegucigalpa, the panel's members gathered to announce some newss
(08:55):
I think I was that is. The members of the
panel revealed that its most recent investigation was called Fraud
on the Gualcrate. It centered on Dessa and the Awa
Zarka dam Anna Maria Calderon, a former prosecutor from Peru,
(09:17):
said the group had looked into the business dealings behind
the hydro electric project and had uncovered a wide range
of crimes. They accused David Castillo and fifteen others, including
government officials, of launching a project that was rotten from
the very start. The alleged crimes included fraud, abuse of authority,
(09:42):
and falsification of documents. La Calderon said Dessa was founded
in two thousand nine by two brothers who seemingly weren't
involved in the company's daily operations. At that time, David
(10:06):
Castillo was working for the Honduran government run electrical utility.
He wouldn't join Dessa until but the investigators said David
was pulling the strings at Dessa from day one. They
said the two brothers behind Dessa were actually low level
(10:26):
employees who worked for David at a computer company he
founded a couple of years earlier. They said one brother
had worked as a driver there. So the investigators alleged
that David was the de facto head of Deessa while
he was working for the State Electrical Utility, and this,
(10:48):
they said, was the same time when the state utility
signed its agreement with Dessa to purchase electricity from the
proposed Ahwa Zarka damn. In other words, the investigators say
David was playing both sides when the Awa Zarka projects
approvals and contracts were drawn up. They say he effectively
(11:12):
rigged the process, making sure Dessa could sell electricity to
the government at inflated prices. In addition to David, several
senior officials with the Honduran Environmental Agency faced charges. When
announcing the case last year, the anti corruption panel suggested
(11:33):
a comprehensive review of the electrical utilities contracts called their own.
Further warned that all government agreements tied to renewable energy
sources might have been compromised. But in early President Hernandez
effectively shut down the anti corruption group. The president's critics
(11:56):
suspect that was because anti corruption investigations have not been
kind to the president in recent months. Last October, Tony Hernandez,
the President's brother, was put on trial in a New
York courtman Us prosecutors accused her Nandez of helping smuggle
almost tons of cocaine into the United States while enjoying
(12:19):
the protection of his brother, President Juang Orlando Hernandez. Tony
Hernandez was found guilty, and the President was named as
an indicted co conspirator. He's denied involved. Prosecutors alleged the
drug profits were funneled into the President's campaign, that the
(12:40):
president helped secure drug routes and the cooperation of the
Honduran police and its military. The court essentially ruled that
Honduras is a narco state. But even though the Anti
Corruption Panel was dissolved this year, its case against David
and the others didn't die. It was passed on to
(13:02):
another group of prosecutors inside Honduras. David is fighting the charges.
He says they're baseless, another attempt to smear him and
his card. Several of the former public officials named in
the case filed appeals for dismissal this month. Those requests
(13:22):
were denied, but it remains uncertain whether any of the
information from that corruption probe will actually surface in the
separate murder case against David. The only way that would
(13:51):
happen is if prosecutors charged David with something called illicit association.
This is a legal term used to describe a group
of people who have come together for one underlying reason
to commit crimes. Annie Bird is a Washington, d c.
Based human rights activist who's been investigating the awah's ark
(14:14):
A project since. She says that in this case, the
criminal group would be the Dessa executives, and she says
the crimes would include all of the violations the Anti
corruption Panel highlighted as the company pursued the dam essentially
they're breaking so many laws in the process of trying
(14:35):
to get it implemented that it's a it's a criminal enterprise.
She and others have been trying to convince Honduran prosecutors
to include illicit association charges in David's murder case. Those
efforts haven't worked, and she believes that's because the state
is afraid to go after those at the very top
(14:57):
of Dessa's corporate pyramid, its investors. From the beginning, what
we've seen is the tendency to protect the hires up
from prosecution. While David Castillo has awaited trial, Verta's family
(15:19):
and Copaine have very publicly been going after Death's investors
in court and out of it. The Ahwazarka project cost
about sixty four million dollars and its funding came from
two principal sources. First was international development banks, second was
(15:40):
a family of private investors inside Honduras. Roughly forty million
dollars for the project came from three different development banks.
They included one from Honduras, one from Finland, and one
from the Netherlands named f M. O. Berta had publicly
(16:01):
criticized all of those banks, and she fought to get
them to withdraw funds from the project. She believed that
Dessa violated the human rights of the community members near
the Gualcrt River, and she thought the banks were complicit
by giving money to the company. Berta and others in
(16:21):
Copeine reached out to Hannah sam Caldon, a Dutch human
rights lawyer. They wanted to force AMO to stop their
involvement in the Aguasara project. Berta wasn't able to follow through,
but after she was murdered, her colleagues in Copeine called
sam Caldon again and in they filed suit against f
(16:46):
m O. That case alleges that the bank had ignored
the reports of human rights violations that bear to herself
had filed. The idea of the lawsuit has been to
establish that FAMO shouldn't have govern involved in the project
in the first place, and when they made the decision
(17:09):
to support the project and they did get involved, after all,
they should have properly monitored and tried to use their
influence to prevent further human rights violations locally. In other words,
they're arguing that FMO was negligent. She says, if the
(17:30):
bank had seriously investigated the complaints of human rights violations
by Dessa, then they certainly wouldn't have backed the project.
She says. The bank's negligence was a contributing factor to
Berta's death. It's been a particular issue. Indeed that had
(17:50):
Amo taken adequate action timely, then her death probably would
not have occurred. FMO denies wrongdoing. A spokesperson for the
bank declined to comment on the suit, but directed me
to nearly two dozen documents the bank has released related
(18:10):
to the case. These include summaries of the fact finding
trips where the bank sent delegations to Rio Blanco. These
were thorough reviews, the bank says, and they didn't reveal
a history of abuses. The Dutch bank, along with those
from Finland and Honduras, pulled out of the AWA's Arka
(18:31):
project after Barts's murder. David Castillo says FMO and the
other banks forgave Dessa and its shareholders all of their
debt to them loans from the show two the shareholders
and to the Osaka project. We're raised they don't have
to be paid back because the financial institutions behind it.
(18:54):
They know that there was no wrongdoing from the shareholders
maybe the banks had forgiven the shareholders, but Barton's family
and their lawyers have not. We met David Castillo around
(19:26):
the maybe two thousand and ten, and uh he was
looking for investors in his project. This is Danielle Atala.
He and his family own a number of businesses throughout
Honduras and provide financial backing for even more. As as
(19:47):
an investor group, we saw the potential in an individual
like David Castillo. We really liked his his curriculum, his
his profile. We thought that who is going to be
a good investment. At that moment, Danielle would become Death's
chief financial officer. His father, Jose Eduardo Atala Zabla, is
(20:10):
a board member and also a shareholder, as are two
of Danielle's uncles. In Honduras, some people like to say
that a small number of wealthy families really control the country.
It's impossible to prove, but a lot of people believe it.
Many of Berta's supporters think that the Atala Zablas are
(20:33):
one of those families. I met them in the offices
of a John Dear dealership they own in Tegusagalpa. The
room was full of trophies, from the soccer club Motagua,
one of the country's most popular teams. Jo Say Eduardo
is the executive president of that team. He also served
(20:53):
as the president of the Honduran American Chamber of Commerce,
and he was a past board member of that same
Honduras based development bank that partly financed the Ahazarka project.
He had left that position years before Dessa was formed,
but both he and Danielle bristle at the idea that
(21:13):
the family enjoys any political influence, much less runs the country.
We don't have private jets, we don't have helicopters, we
don't have nothing. I have the same car during the
last eight years. Not not the wealthiest family in the
country by by farm. We have, you know, a strong
(21:34):
investment group, but it's we don't have the love being capacity.
We don't have the fund capacity. We don't have the
funding capacity we were. It's a extremely limited and we
and the investment that we have lost, as you know,
made a big dent in in our in our finances.
(21:58):
But they say they risk losing even more their good name.
These days, if you drive around La Speranza, you don't
have to look too hard to find the Itala name.
It's spray painted on walls all over town, often next
to words like assassins. At Copeine rallies now there are
(22:19):
almost always banners that say the members of the family
should be in jail. One reason behind that anger has
to do with the text messages that are being used
against David Castillo. The Atala Zablas participated in some of
those message strings. When the conflict with Copine started in
(22:42):
Danielle used racial slurs to describe the protesters and question
the legitimacy of their indigenous identity. In another text exchange
from Danielle references Berta and two other Copeine activists who
were charged by police for inciting unrest in Rio Blanco.
(23:03):
He wrote, quote, it cost a lot of money and
political capital to get these three arrest warrants. Danielle says
he was talking about spending money on lawyers to pursue
legal action against Copaine. We don't really have any political
capital to spend. We just hadn't. It was it wasn't.
(23:25):
It was like a base comments and it didn't really
mean a lot. What I really wanted to emphasize was
that we were spending a lot of money on it,
and we were not sure it was gonna work, and
it really wasn't in the budget, and I had to
do a lot of convincing with within the board too
(23:49):
to acquire the funds for for that, for that, you know,
legal legal expenditure. There are other messages in October. There
was one from Daniel's uncle that seemed to be referencing
(24:10):
protesters from Copeine. He wrote, let's send a message that
nothing will be easy for those s O b s.
And then there was another sent after Berta's murder where
Danielle wrote that the Honduran security minister had reported that
the murder was being pursued as a Leo de Faldi's
(24:33):
or a skirt problem, that is that it was a
crime related to a love affair. Copeine's lawyers say this
is evidence that the Itala Zabla family was in close
contact with senior Honduran authorities. Danielle and Jose Eduardo say
this isn't true. So well, that was bullick. I mean
(24:57):
that that's noth That wasn't you know, privileged information that
that was that was public and that's why everybody was
saying that was like the initial theory in the news
and everything. These and other messages have put a target
on the backs of the Atala Zablas. That was Bart's
(25:25):
oldest daughter, Olivia, leading a chant at a press conference
in She was calling out the Atala Zabla family by name,
labeling them assassins. She said they were the hidden force
behind her mother's death. The Atala Zablas say these claims
(25:46):
are baseless and dangerous. They generally have the same view
of the situation that David has, that Dessa had nothing
to do with the murder, that the AWA's ark A
project was accepted the community, and that the texts have
been misinterpreted and mishandled. They emphasize that the courts and
(26:09):
other proceedings related to Berta's murder have explicitly stated that
they've seen no evidence suggesting Dessa desas employees or its
shareholders financed Berta's murder. The family members suggest they've been
the victims of a smear campaign, and they say the
international activist groups aligned with Berta have made things worse.
(26:36):
Is amazing how they can coordinate all the informations, all
the round, informations just to make feel like we are
the the empire in the are the rebels in the
Star Wars saga. But Jose Eduardo says, if anyone represents
(26:58):
Darth Vader's empire in Star Wars, it's those leading the
international campaign against the family. Danielle agrees that is the
story that sells, you know, that's the story that people
want to hear. They want to hear about how the
you know, poor indigenous communities, uh, you know stood up
to the bad businessmen. They read about, for example, the
(27:23):
bear Ta Casserous Human Rights and Honduras Act. It's appending
bill in the U. S. Congress. The references barts murder
and would withhold military and security aid to Honduras until
quote perpetrators are brought to justice. And they see images
of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meeting with the Cassarus family
(27:44):
in Washington and during a trip to Honduras. The Atala
Zablas say, when it comes to political capital and influence,
they're the underdogs. This is a message that Dessa has
consistently tried to exp us that the international activists, not
the business interests behind the dam hold the power. They
(28:07):
say international activists and NGOs have more money than they do,
and they argue that those interest groups have used Barton's
murder to enrich themselves, to exploit a tragedy to raise funds.
The activists working for those NGOs shake their heads in
(28:28):
disbelief when they hear this. Annie Bird has been one
of the most persistent of Death's opponents from that community.
I spoke to her in the office of her human
rights nonprofit in Washington, d C. It's in a cramped
room on the second floor of an old house. The
(28:48):
stairs are creaky, the furniture is worn, and there's a
malfunctioning burglar alarm that likes to go off at random intervals.
If she's well funded, it doesn't really show. That's the
discourse in hunderus that they referred to Berta and Copeine
as extortionists. It's almost as if they're unable to believe
(29:13):
that people could operate for any other motivation than financial
and you know, obviously it's it's it's a ridiculous assertion.
All of us who have been involved in this work,
including Berta, have chosen paths that compensate us in other ways.
(29:40):
The quest by the Cassara's family's lawyers to go after
the money has gone beyond the private investigators and the banks.
They're also trying to uncover information about David Castillo's personal finances.
Last year, those lawyers filed paper hers to subpoena bank
(30:01):
records so David and his wife Tanya. The matter is
with a court in Mississippi because that's where the bank
that holds the mortgage is based. The lawyers wanted to
find out how the couple paid for their one point
six million dollar house in Houston. They bought it months
after Barta's murder. Court records say Barta's family wants to
(30:24):
present that financial information to the court in Honduras to
quote helped secure Castillo's conviction. David describes those efforts as
a fishing expedition, just one more way Copine is harassing
him and his family. Tanya, David's wife, filed an affidavit
(30:44):
last year related to that Mississippi case. She says the
money came from companies that David owned, and she stated
David is a loving husband and a good father. He
worked hard to be a good provider and take care
of our family. David this year told me he believes
that all of these accusations against him will come to nothing.
(31:07):
That he'll be able to walk free and pick up
the pieces of the life he was forced to abandon
two and a half years ago when he was arrested.
I have faith that the day will come in which
I will be able to rejoin with my family, and
I will be able to hug my wife, hug my
(31:29):
three beautiful daughters, and my mother, and and I will
be able to join them. But after the first episodes
of this podcast air, Tanya independently reached out to me,
and she painted a picture that was very different from
what David told me. In November, Tanya filed for divorce.
(31:53):
Her petition sites discord or conflict of personalities. David has
resisted her filing. He countered in court, denying Tanya's accusations
of discord and demanding proof. He says he and his
wife are still working on reconciliation. Tanya says that's not true.
(32:15):
She says she's cut all ties to David. She and
I never spoke directly, but she sent me a recorded statement.
She says she was glad to hear we were making
this show and investigating Bart's murder case. She deserves justice.
Cases of violence against women and hunters occur far too often,
(32:36):
and I, as a hunter and woman, pray that justice
is served for all those involved in this case. As
for my relationship with Vi Castillo, I fouled for divorce
over eight months ago on November two, and I've had
no involvement with this defense since before that filing. It
is important to me that people know this divorce is
not a legal strategy of any kind. I left David.
(32:59):
We are not in a really sationship anymore and will
never be again. It's now Wednesday, August, exactly a week
before David could be released if no trial is set
(33:22):
for procedural reasons. The newly appointed judge must make a
decision today on whether or not the case will go forward.
It's a tense day on social media. Both sides worry
that the system is working against them, but the court
is silent. Then, minutes before five o'clock in the afternoon,
(33:48):
the word comes down David's case will go to trial.
Barton's supporters cheer. Her daughter, Bartita Isabel writes on Twitter,
we did it. Barta's mother, Austra, is with Barta's brother
(34:11):
Gustavo at home in Lasperanza. They break into tears when
they hear the news. I reached them the following morning
on a zoom call. An sadly also, Barta's mother describes
the past four and a half years as a tireless fight,
(34:33):
one that takes aim against the economic powers that be
in Honduras, powers that she says, can no longer resist
the will of the people. David's side has condemned to
(35:00):
the courts actions. They vowed to keep fighting and say
that all of the eleventh hour flurry of activity in
the past weeks seemed to develop under quote mysterious circumstances.
David's lawyer issued a statement suggesting that US politicians have
pressured Honduras for a conviction against David for years. He
(35:22):
says those foreign officials have mounted an irresponsible intervention in
Honduran judicial affairs and due process. He says isn't under
pressure just from an outside government. He says that more
than five hundred NGOs have been harassing the country's courts.
(35:43):
It's not hard to imagine why they feel besieged and outnumbered.
The groups that have aligned themselves against Dessa in this
murder case represent a variety of causes, and they're not
always unified ones. They include self described opponents of the
Honduran government, as well as prosecutors from inside that government itself.
(36:08):
There are groups that campaign against what they label the
imperial influence of the United States, and they've been joined
by members of the U. S government. There are church
based organizations and others that rail against the influence of
religious groups in Latin America. In all sorts of matters,
these groups might not get along, but in this case
(36:32):
they've been unified by one thing. Barretton Her campaign started
as a struggle alongside a small river in western Honduras
against a relatively small hydro electric dam. Now her brother
says it has become something much larger than that. La
(36:55):
was the struggle our sister undertook cross the borders of Honduras,
through Europe the United States, and for that reason, there's
a lot of people in the US who view all
of this with concern. It can't be the case that
you can get away with killing people for defending natural
resources and nature. This gets at an idea that Berta's
(37:22):
supporters have embraced, that Berta's message did not die with her,
but instead has been amplified and the small band of
protesters it fought alongside her by the river has grown
into an international movement. They've turned it into a rally thought.
You hear it at demonstrations outside of court buildings in
(37:45):
Honduras and even on the radio. They seeing Berta didn't die,
she became millions. You're the gas Lavandola poly sea. If
(38:22):
you go to the Gualcarque River near Rio Blanco today,
you'll find a swift stream twisting through the mountains. You
won't see any boat traffic here. Rapids boiled over huge boulders.
It's very hard to walk along the banks for any
length of time. They're too steep. In some places, you
(38:45):
might find a suspension bridge dangling from one side to
the other. There are gaps in the splintery boards where
water shines through underfoot. A short walk from the river
through a small grassy pasture, you'll find DESA's old work site.
Once there was a dormitory complex here for the workers.
(39:09):
Now cinder blocks crumble in the sun, weeds push through
wide cracks and cement foundations. Nature seems to be reclaiming
the site. The exact date of the trial will likely
(39:38):
be set in the coming days. The trial itself might
last a couple of weeks as all of this unfolds
in the courtroom. This case will no doubt evolve, and
so will this podcast. We'll follow any new turns that arise.
Blood River, We'll be back, m M. Blood River is
(40:20):
written and reported by me Monte Reel Top Foreheads is
our senior producer. Maya Cueva is our associate producer. Our
theme was composed and performed by Senia Rubinos. Thanks to
Laura Carlson, Magnus Hendrickson, Carlos Rodriguez, Bob Blow, Katie Boyce,
(40:45):
Aaron Rutcoff, Jackie Kessler, Cynthia Hoffman, Randy Shapiro, Jed Sandberg,
and apple Gate Maps. Francesco Levy is the head of
Bloomberg Podcasts. This is a last episode in our season,
but be sure to stay subscribed. We'll be back for
more episodes as the trial proceeds. If you like our show,
(41:10):
please leave us a review. It helps others find us.
Thanks for listening.
It's now been four and a half years since the
night of March second, when Berta Cassarus was shot dead
in the bedroom of her house. Four and a half
years of frustrations, secrets, and revelations. First there was the survivor,
the witness that the assassins failed to kill in Berta's
(00:24):
guest bedroom. Then there were the false leads, allegations of
a cover up, and surprise raids. After all of that,
investigators piece together a murder plot that pointed the finger
at the hydro electric company that Berta had opposed. This
led to seven murder convictions, but a critical piece of
(00:48):
this story remains unresolved. David Castillo, the CEO of Dessa,
was arrested in eighteen for plotting Berta's death, and since
then his case has been in limbo. All the while
a clock has been ticking. Under Honduran law, a person
(01:10):
can be held in custody without going to trial for
only two and a half years, and David's time in
prison expires on September two. It's now late August, with
just two weeks to go before that day arrives, and
Bart's family is growing very worried. They say David's legal
(01:35):
team is trying to run out that clock. Bart's older
brother Gustavo, tells a Honduran television show that if David
goes free, the family's hopes of finding some measure of
justice will slip away too. We're asking the court, let's
(01:58):
go immediately with the the trial. They can try and
show his innocence and show that he didn't participate, and
show that he didn't threaten b That's fine again, they
can make whatever case they want, but we are prepared
to show that David Castillo is guilty after all the
evidence that's been submitted to the public Ministry and submitted
(02:19):
to the court. That same day, the Honduran Supreme Court
makes a startling announcement. After more than a year of
appeals and postponements, it decides to remove the judge who
had overseen the case from the beginning. Barton's family is shocked.
(02:41):
They see this change as a last minute delay at tactic,
something to make sure no trial could be said before
time runs out. They fear the Supreme Court itself is
sabotaging the case. The court doesn't give a reason for
the change, and both sides seem a little baffled by it,
(03:03):
The dismiss judge had allowed the case to drag on
with little action. Some of David's supporters worry the court
has bowed to pressure to schedule a trial no matter what.
Barrett's family fears that it's a delay tactic, something to
make sure no trial can be said before time runs out.
(03:23):
They worry that the justice system has been fixed, and
they plead for action. But at least, does you know
today the court has to demonstrate that no longer will
people be set free because of their connections or because
of the influence of powerful people in this country put
(03:43):
invage of the hint. This idea that powerful, well connected
people might be intervening on David's behalf has become a
theme throughout this case. As David has waited for a
trial to be set, researchers with several nonprofit organizations, as
(04:04):
well as an international anti corruption panel, have dug into
his COMPANYSA. They say they've unearthed a history of corruption,
the kind made possible by connections deep into Honduran government agencies.
And lawyers representing Berta's family argue that it was this
(04:26):
system of corruption that had her killed. This is another
reason they want David's murder case to go to trial.
They hope to present some of this evidence in court.
Victor Fernandez is a lawyer representing Berta's family. This is
from an August radio interview. You can see there's a
(04:50):
criminal structure that's linked to the highest levels of executive power.
He says, putting David on trial would be an unprecedented
blow against the culture of impunity that has reigned in
Honduras for years. Impunity that he says, originates with an
(05:11):
elite group of politically and economically powerful people. He says,
they want to protect David because that's how they can
protect themselves. It's a group economical. This group of economic
powers was able to be a part of this whole
(05:34):
criminal dynamic, and it started with the creation of the
Aguasaka project and extended all the way through Berta's assassination
and the other crimes committed along the way. So the
tentacles go up to this levelogy and in Sabertas supporters,
(05:54):
simply setting a trial date has become a critical test
of a country and of its entire system of justice.
Honduras has never tackled a murder case like this one.
Most homicide investigations are never closed and few result in arrests.
Maybe the gunmen might go to jail, but those who
(06:16):
might have given the orders almost never do. Berta's family
and their lawyers want to face David in court because
there they hope to expose and dismantle a way of
doing business that they describe as murderers. My name is
(06:43):
montereyrel for Bloomberg Green and this is blood River in
(07:20):
hon During President Juan Orlando Hernandez faced calls for his resignation,
more than three hundred and fifty five million dollars had
been embezzled from the country's social security program, and some
of that money had ended up in the president's campaign chest.
Under pressure, President Hernandez agreed to let an international anti
(07:43):
corruption panel come to Honduras. It would be overseen by
the Organization of American States. It's sort of like the
United Nations for the Western Hemisphere. That anti corruption panel
backed numerous investigations that uncovered dents of rampant government led
graft and lawlessness. One investigation charged a former First Lady
(08:07):
of Honduras with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars. She
was convicted and sentenced to fifty eight years in prison.
But now she's no longer in custody for the same
reason that Berta's family fears David could be released. This summer,
her conviction was annulled because of procedural problems. Her new
(08:29):
trial date hasn't yet been set, but she's already been
in custody longer than Honduran authorities can hold her, so
she's free for now. But that's not the most important
connection between David and that anti corruption panel. Last year
in Tegucigalpa, the panel's members gathered to announce some newss
(08:55):
I think I was that is. The members of the
panel revealed that its most recent investigation was called Fraud
on the Gualcrate. It centered on Dessa and the Awa
Zarka dam Anna Maria Calderon, a former prosecutor from Peru,
(09:17):
said the group had looked into the business dealings behind
the hydro electric project and had uncovered a wide range
of crimes. They accused David Castillo and fifteen others, including
government officials, of launching a project that was rotten from
the very start. The alleged crimes included fraud, abuse of authority,
(09:42):
and falsification of documents. La Calderon said Dessa was founded
in two thousand nine by two brothers who seemingly weren't
involved in the company's daily operations. At that time, David
(10:06):
Castillo was working for the Honduran government run electrical utility.
He wouldn't join Dessa until but the investigators said David
was pulling the strings at Dessa from day one. They
said the two brothers behind Dessa were actually low level
(10:26):
employees who worked for David at a computer company he
founded a couple of years earlier. They said one brother
had worked as a driver there. So the investigators alleged
that David was the de facto head of Deessa while
he was working for the State Electrical Utility, and this,
(10:48):
they said, was the same time when the state utility
signed its agreement with Dessa to purchase electricity from the
proposed Ahwa Zarka damn. In other words, the investigators say
David was playing both sides when the Awa Zarka projects
approvals and contracts were drawn up. They say he effectively
(11:12):
rigged the process, making sure Dessa could sell electricity to
the government at inflated prices. In addition to David, several
senior officials with the Honduran Environmental Agency faced charges. When
announcing the case last year, the anti corruption panel suggested
(11:33):
a comprehensive review of the electrical utilities contracts called their own.
Further warned that all government agreements tied to renewable energy
sources might have been compromised. But in early President Hernandez
effectively shut down the anti corruption group. The president's critics
(11:56):
suspect that was because anti corruption investigations have not been
kind to the president in recent months. Last October, Tony Hernandez,
the President's brother, was put on trial in a New
York courtman Us prosecutors accused her Nandez of helping smuggle
almost tons of cocaine into the United States while enjoying
(12:19):
the protection of his brother, President Juang Orlando Hernandez. Tony
Hernandez was found guilty, and the President was named as
an indicted co conspirator. He's denied involved. Prosecutors alleged the
drug profits were funneled into the President's campaign, that the
(12:40):
president helped secure drug routes and the cooperation of the
Honduran police and its military. The court essentially ruled that
Honduras is a narco state. But even though the Anti
Corruption Panel was dissolved this year, its case against David
and the others didn't die. It was passed on to
(13:02):
another group of prosecutors inside Honduras. David is fighting the charges.
He says they're baseless, another attempt to smear him and
his card. Several of the former public officials named in
the case filed appeals for dismissal this month. Those requests
(13:22):
were denied, but it remains uncertain whether any of the
information from that corruption probe will actually surface in the
separate murder case against David. The only way that would
(13:51):
happen is if prosecutors charged David with something called illicit association.
This is a legal term used to describe a group
of people who have come together for one underlying reason
to commit crimes. Annie Bird is a Washington, d c.
Based human rights activist who's been investigating the awah's ark
(14:14):
A project since. She says that in this case, the
criminal group would be the Dessa executives, and she says
the crimes would include all of the violations the Anti
corruption Panel highlighted as the company pursued the dam essentially
they're breaking so many laws in the process of trying
(14:35):
to get it implemented that it's a it's a criminal enterprise.
She and others have been trying to convince Honduran prosecutors
to include illicit association charges in David's murder case. Those
efforts haven't worked, and she believes that's because the state
is afraid to go after those at the very top
(14:57):
of Dessa's corporate pyramid, its investors. From the beginning, what
we've seen is the tendency to protect the hires up
from prosecution. While David Castillo has awaited trial, Verta's family
(15:19):
and Copaine have very publicly been going after Death's investors
in court and out of it. The Ahwazarka project cost
about sixty four million dollars and its funding came from
two principal sources. First was international development banks, second was
(15:40):
a family of private investors inside Honduras. Roughly forty million
dollars for the project came from three different development banks.
They included one from Honduras, one from Finland, and one
from the Netherlands named f M. O. Berta had publicly
(16:01):
criticized all of those banks, and she fought to get
them to withdraw funds from the project. She believed that
Dessa violated the human rights of the community members near
the Gualcrt River, and she thought the banks were complicit
by giving money to the company. Berta and others in
(16:21):
Copeine reached out to Hannah sam Caldon, a Dutch human
rights lawyer. They wanted to force AMO to stop their
involvement in the Aguasara project. Berta wasn't able to follow through,
but after she was murdered, her colleagues in Copeine called
sam Caldon again and in they filed suit against f
(16:46):
m O. That case alleges that the bank had ignored
the reports of human rights violations that bear to herself
had filed. The idea of the lawsuit has been to
establish that FAMO shouldn't have govern involved in the project
in the first place, and when they made the decision
(17:09):
to support the project and they did get involved, after all,
they should have properly monitored and tried to use their
influence to prevent further human rights violations locally. In other words,
they're arguing that FMO was negligent. She says, if the
(17:30):
bank had seriously investigated the complaints of human rights violations
by Dessa, then they certainly wouldn't have backed the project.
She says. The bank's negligence was a contributing factor to
Berta's death. It's been a particular issue. Indeed that had
(17:50):
Amo taken adequate action timely, then her death probably would
not have occurred. FMO denies wrongdoing. A spokesperson for the
bank declined to comment on the suit, but directed me
to nearly two dozen documents the bank has released related
(18:10):
to the case. These include summaries of the fact finding
trips where the bank sent delegations to Rio Blanco. These
were thorough reviews, the bank says, and they didn't reveal
a history of abuses. The Dutch bank, along with those
from Finland and Honduras, pulled out of the AWA's Arka
(18:31):
project after Barts's murder. David Castillo says FMO and the
other banks forgave Dessa and its shareholders all of their
debt to them loans from the show two the shareholders
and to the Osaka project. We're raised they don't have
to be paid back because the financial institutions behind it.
(18:54):
They know that there was no wrongdoing from the shareholders
maybe the banks had forgiven the shareholders, but Barton's family
and their lawyers have not. We met David Castillo around
(19:26):
the maybe two thousand and ten, and uh he was
looking for investors in his project. This is Danielle Atala.
He and his family own a number of businesses throughout
Honduras and provide financial backing for even more. As as
(19:47):
an investor group, we saw the potential in an individual
like David Castillo. We really liked his his curriculum, his
his profile. We thought that who is going to be
a good investment. At that moment, Danielle would become Death's
chief financial officer. His father, Jose Eduardo Atala Zabla, is
(20:10):
a board member and also a shareholder, as are two
of Danielle's uncles. In Honduras, some people like to say
that a small number of wealthy families really control the country.
It's impossible to prove, but a lot of people believe it.
Many of Berta's supporters think that the Atala Zablas are
(20:33):
one of those families. I met them in the offices
of a John Dear dealership they own in Tegusagalpa. The
room was full of trophies, from the soccer club Motagua,
one of the country's most popular teams. Jo Say Eduardo
is the executive president of that team. He also served
(20:53):
as the president of the Honduran American Chamber of Commerce,
and he was a past board member of that same
Honduras based development bank that partly financed the Ahazarka project.
He had left that position years before Dessa was formed,
but both he and Danielle bristle at the idea that
(21:13):
the family enjoys any political influence, much less runs the country.
We don't have private jets, we don't have helicopters, we
don't have nothing. I have the same car during the
last eight years. Not not the wealthiest family in the
country by by farm. We have, you know, a strong
(21:34):
investment group, but it's we don't have the love being capacity.
We don't have the fund capacity. We don't have the
funding capacity we were. It's a extremely limited and we
and the investment that we have lost, as you know,
made a big dent in in our in our finances.
(21:58):
But they say they risk losing even more their good name.
These days, if you drive around La Speranza, you don't
have to look too hard to find the Itala name.
It's spray painted on walls all over town, often next
to words like assassins. At Copeine rallies now there are
(22:19):
almost always banners that say the members of the family
should be in jail. One reason behind that anger has
to do with the text messages that are being used
against David Castillo. The Atala Zablas participated in some of
those message strings. When the conflict with Copine started in
(22:42):
Danielle used racial slurs to describe the protesters and question
the legitimacy of their indigenous identity. In another text exchange
from Danielle references Berta and two other Copeine activists who
were charged by police for inciting unrest in Rio Blanco.
(23:03):
He wrote, quote, it cost a lot of money and
political capital to get these three arrest warrants. Danielle says
he was talking about spending money on lawyers to pursue
legal action against Copaine. We don't really have any political
capital to spend. We just hadn't. It was it wasn't.
(23:25):
It was like a base comments and it didn't really
mean a lot. What I really wanted to emphasize was
that we were spending a lot of money on it,
and we were not sure it was gonna work, and
it really wasn't in the budget, and I had to
do a lot of convincing with within the board too
(23:49):
to acquire the funds for for that, for that, you know,
legal legal expenditure. There are other messages in October. There
was one from Daniel's uncle that seemed to be referencing
(24:10):
protesters from Copeine. He wrote, let's send a message that
nothing will be easy for those s O b s.
And then there was another sent after Berta's murder where
Danielle wrote that the Honduran security minister had reported that
the murder was being pursued as a Leo de Faldi's
(24:33):
or a skirt problem, that is that it was a
crime related to a love affair. Copeine's lawyers say this
is evidence that the Itala Zabla family was in close
contact with senior Honduran authorities. Danielle and Jose Eduardo say
this isn't true. So well, that was bullick. I mean
(24:57):
that that's noth That wasn't you know, privileged information that
that was that was public and that's why everybody was
saying that was like the initial theory in the news
and everything. These and other messages have put a target
on the backs of the Atala Zablas. That was Bart's
(25:25):
oldest daughter, Olivia, leading a chant at a press conference
in She was calling out the Atala Zabla family by name,
labeling them assassins. She said they were the hidden force
behind her mother's death. The Atala Zablas say these claims
(25:46):
are baseless and dangerous. They generally have the same view
of the situation that David has, that Dessa had nothing
to do with the murder, that the AWA's ark A
project was accepted the community, and that the texts have
been misinterpreted and mishandled. They emphasize that the courts and
(26:09):
other proceedings related to Berta's murder have explicitly stated that
they've seen no evidence suggesting Dessa desas employees or its
shareholders financed Berta's murder. The family members suggest they've been
the victims of a smear campaign, and they say the
international activist groups aligned with Berta have made things worse.
(26:36):
Is amazing how they can coordinate all the informations, all
the round, informations just to make feel like we are
the the empire in the are the rebels in the
Star Wars saga. But Jose Eduardo says, if anyone represents
(26:58):
Darth Vader's empire in Star Wars, it's those leading the
international campaign against the family. Danielle agrees that is the
story that sells, you know, that's the story that people
want to hear. They want to hear about how the
you know, poor indigenous communities, uh, you know stood up
to the bad businessmen. They read about, for example, the
(27:23):
bear Ta Casserous Human Rights and Honduras Act. It's appending
bill in the U. S. Congress. The references barts murder
and would withhold military and security aid to Honduras until
quote perpetrators are brought to justice. And they see images
of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meeting with the Cassarus family
(27:44):
in Washington and during a trip to Honduras. The Atala
Zablas say, when it comes to political capital and influence,
they're the underdogs. This is a message that Dessa has
consistently tried to exp us that the international activists, not
the business interests behind the dam hold the power. They
(28:07):
say international activists and NGOs have more money than they do,
and they argue that those interest groups have used Barton's
murder to enrich themselves, to exploit a tragedy to raise funds.
The activists working for those NGOs shake their heads in
(28:28):
disbelief when they hear this. Annie Bird has been one
of the most persistent of Death's opponents from that community.
I spoke to her in the office of her human
rights nonprofit in Washington, d C. It's in a cramped
room on the second floor of an old house. The
(28:48):
stairs are creaky, the furniture is worn, and there's a
malfunctioning burglar alarm that likes to go off at random intervals.
If she's well funded, it doesn't really show. That's the
discourse in hunderus that they referred to Berta and Copeine
as extortionists. It's almost as if they're unable to believe
(29:13):
that people could operate for any other motivation than financial
and you know, obviously it's it's it's a ridiculous assertion.
All of us who have been involved in this work,
including Berta, have chosen paths that compensate us in other ways.
(29:40):
The quest by the Cassara's family's lawyers to go after
the money has gone beyond the private investigators and the banks.
They're also trying to uncover information about David Castillo's personal finances.
Last year, those lawyers filed paper hers to subpoena bank
(30:01):
records so David and his wife Tanya. The matter is
with a court in Mississippi because that's where the bank
that holds the mortgage is based. The lawyers wanted to
find out how the couple paid for their one point
six million dollar house in Houston. They bought it months
after Barta's murder. Court records say Barta's family wants to
(30:24):
present that financial information to the court in Honduras to
quote helped secure Castillo's conviction. David describes those efforts as
a fishing expedition, just one more way Copine is harassing
him and his family. Tanya, David's wife, filed an affidavit
(30:44):
last year related to that Mississippi case. She says the
money came from companies that David owned, and she stated
David is a loving husband and a good father. He
worked hard to be a good provider and take care
of our family. David this year told me he believes
that all of these accusations against him will come to nothing.
(31:07):
That he'll be able to walk free and pick up
the pieces of the life he was forced to abandon
two and a half years ago when he was arrested.
I have faith that the day will come in which
I will be able to rejoin with my family, and
I will be able to hug my wife, hug my
(31:29):
three beautiful daughters, and my mother, and and I will
be able to join them. But after the first episodes
of this podcast air, Tanya independently reached out to me,
and she painted a picture that was very different from
what David told me. In November, Tanya filed for divorce.
(31:53):
Her petition sites discord or conflict of personalities. David has
resisted her filing. He countered in court, denying Tanya's accusations
of discord and demanding proof. He says he and his
wife are still working on reconciliation. Tanya says that's not true.
(32:15):
She says she's cut all ties to David. She and
I never spoke directly, but she sent me a recorded statement.
She says she was glad to hear we were making
this show and investigating Bart's murder case. She deserves justice.
Cases of violence against women and hunters occur far too often,
(32:36):
and I, as a hunter and woman, pray that justice
is served for all those involved in this case. As
for my relationship with Vi Castillo, I fouled for divorce
over eight months ago on November two, and I've had
no involvement with this defense since before that filing. It
is important to me that people know this divorce is
not a legal strategy of any kind. I left David.
(32:59):
We are not in a really sationship anymore and will
never be again. It's now Wednesday, August, exactly a week
before David could be released if no trial is set
(33:22):
for procedural reasons. The newly appointed judge must make a
decision today on whether or not the case will go forward.
It's a tense day on social media. Both sides worry
that the system is working against them, but the court
is silent. Then, minutes before five o'clock in the afternoon,
(33:48):
the word comes down David's case will go to trial.
Barton's supporters cheer. Her daughter, Bartita Isabel writes on Twitter,
we did it. Barta's mother, Austra, is with Barta's brother
(34:11):
Gustavo at home in Lasperanza. They break into tears when
they hear the news. I reached them the following morning
on a zoom call. An sadly also, Barta's mother describes
the past four and a half years as a tireless fight,
(34:33):
one that takes aim against the economic powers that be
in Honduras, powers that she says, can no longer resist
the will of the people. David's side has condemned to
(35:00):
the courts actions. They vowed to keep fighting and say
that all of the eleventh hour flurry of activity in
the past weeks seemed to develop under quote mysterious circumstances.
David's lawyer issued a statement suggesting that US politicians have
pressured Honduras for a conviction against David for years. He
(35:22):
says those foreign officials have mounted an irresponsible intervention in
Honduran judicial affairs and due process. He says isn't under
pressure just from an outside government. He says that more
than five hundred NGOs have been harassing the country's courts.
(35:43):
It's not hard to imagine why they feel besieged and outnumbered.
The groups that have aligned themselves against Dessa in this
murder case represent a variety of causes, and they're not
always unified ones. They include self described opponents of the
Honduran government, as well as prosecutors from inside that government itself.
(36:08):
There are groups that campaign against what they label the
imperial influence of the United States, and they've been joined
by members of the U. S government. There are church
based organizations and others that rail against the influence of
religious groups in Latin America. In all sorts of matters,
these groups might not get along, but in this case
(36:32):
they've been unified by one thing. Barretton Her campaign started
as a struggle alongside a small river in western Honduras
against a relatively small hydro electric dam. Now her brother
says it has become something much larger than that. La
(36:55):
was the struggle our sister undertook cross the borders of Honduras,
through Europe the United States, and for that reason, there's
a lot of people in the US who view all
of this with concern. It can't be the case that
you can get away with killing people for defending natural
resources and nature. This gets at an idea that Berta's
(37:22):
supporters have embraced, that Berta's message did not die with her,
but instead has been amplified and the small band of
protesters it fought alongside her by the river has grown
into an international movement. They've turned it into a rally thought.
You hear it at demonstrations outside of court buildings in
(37:45):
Honduras and even on the radio. They seeing Berta didn't die,
she became millions. You're the gas Lavandola poly sea. If
(38:22):
you go to the Gualcarque River near Rio Blanco today,
you'll find a swift stream twisting through the mountains. You
won't see any boat traffic here. Rapids boiled over huge boulders.
It's very hard to walk along the banks for any
length of time. They're too steep. In some places, you
(38:45):
might find a suspension bridge dangling from one side to
the other. There are gaps in the splintery boards where
water shines through underfoot. A short walk from the river
through a small grassy pasture, you'll find DESA's old work site.
Once there was a dormitory complex here for the workers.
(39:09):
Now cinder blocks crumble in the sun, weeds push through
wide cracks and cement foundations. Nature seems to be reclaiming
the site. The exact date of the trial will likely
(39:38):
be set in the coming days. The trial itself might
last a couple of weeks as all of this unfolds
in the courtroom. This case will no doubt evolve, and
so will this podcast. We'll follow any new turns that arise.
Blood River, We'll be back, m M. Blood River is
(40:20):
written and reported by me Monte Reel Top Foreheads is
our senior producer. Maya Cueva is our associate producer. Our
theme was composed and performed by Senia Rubinos. Thanks to
Laura Carlson, Magnus Hendrickson, Carlos Rodriguez, Bob Blow, Katie Boyce,
(40:45):
Aaron Rutcoff, Jackie Kessler, Cynthia Hoffman, Randy Shapiro, Jed Sandberg,
and apple Gate Maps. Francesco Levy is the head of
Bloomberg Podcasts. This is a last episode in our season,
but be sure to stay subscribed. We'll be back for
more episodes as the trial proceeds. If you like our show,
(41:10):
please leave us a review. It helps others find us.
Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.