August 23, 2021 • 40 mins
After a five-year investigation, a Honduran court will deliver its verdict in the trial of David Castillo, the hydroelectric executive accused of plotting the brutal 2016 murder of environmental activist Berta Cáceres.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's day in the trial of David Castillo, the CEO
is accused of planning the murder of environmental activists Berta Cassaris.
On this day, the judge calls a witness for the
prosecution to the stand. Daniel Atala is part of the
(00:21):
Atala Zabla family. They sunk millions of dollars into David
Castillo's company Dessa. For Berta's family and her supporters, Atala
is a very important witness. He wasn't just an investor Indessa.
He was also the CFO, the man who kept track
(00:42):
of the company's money. He was in regular contact with
David before and after the murder. Even more important for
the prosecution the Atala Zabla family is David's connection to
the powers that run Honduras. For them, just getting Danniel
Atala on the stand carries a lot of symbolic weight.
(01:04):
Bear To herself often complained that wealthy and politically connected
business leaders are untouchable by the Honduran justice system. She
and her backers have always alleged that a handful of
rich families, the Atala Zablas among them, dominate the country's
power structures. They contend that these families use their influence
(01:27):
to buy protection from the government, from police and from judges.
The notion that the Atala Zabla family might somehow be
able to influence the outcome of this case has clung
to it from the moment David Castillo was arrested as
a suspect. It's an idea that the Atala Zablas dismiss
(01:50):
as ridiculous and paranoid, not not the wealthiest family in
the country. By by farm we have, you know, a
strong and us win group. But it's we. We don't
have the loving capacity, we don't have the fund capacity.
We don't have the funding capacity. That's Daniel Atala when
(02:12):
we spoke to him last year. It's a extremely limited
and we and the investment that we have lost, as
you know, made of big dent in in our in
our finances. There are two kinds of prosecutors in this case,
the state prosecutors and the private prosecutors who represent Berta's family.
(02:36):
The private prosecutors big fear is that no matter how
much evidence they present in court, David Castillo will still
get off. That the Itala Zablas somehow will be able
to shield David and themselves from punishment. So for them
forcing a member of the Itala Zabla family to be
(02:58):
grilled in the witness box is a test of the
court's integrity and independence. The defense has repeatedly appealed to
the court to not make Daniel Latala testify, So this
is a very big moment in the trial. But when
Daniel Latala's name is called, he's not in the courtroom.
(03:19):
The witness box is empty. To Bart's family, this is
an ominous sign. A moment that seemed like a victory
becomes a reminder that there are no guarantees in the
trial of David Castillo. In our final episode will take
(03:47):
you all the way to the end of this trial,
the judges will decide David Castillo's faith and not guilty.
Verdict would allow him to reclaim a life that he
says has been stolen from him. For Bart's family, a
conviction would prove that justice in Honduras, five long years
(04:08):
after they began searching for it, can still be found.
I'm monte Reel and this is blood River. Danielle Atala
is not in the courtroom when it comes time for
him to testify. His image pops up on a video screen.
(04:37):
That's the judge asking if he can hear her. Okay,
other witnesses in Europe, in Mexico, in the United States
have testified remotely, but the prosecutors wanted to question a
Tala face to face. So the judge asks, where are
you when those things didn't He's into Goosey, Galpa, just
(05:07):
minutes away from this courtroom, So why didn't he come in?
And when he says he didn't want to unnecessarily expose
himself to COVID nineteen, he says his wife and his
mother suffer from respiratory problems. He says he stayed home
(05:29):
for them. But there are only a handful of people
in the courtroom. Witnesses keep their distance from them. Everyone's
wearing masks. The judge orders him to come into court
as soon as possible. This seems like a resounding symbolic
victory for the private prosecutors, and a few hours later
(05:50):
he's there in the witness box, getting a microphone clip
to his shirt, getting sworn in, and almost immediately he
addresses the much. He tells the judge that, on the
advice of his lawyers, he's decided not to testify. He
(06:13):
informs the judge that he Danielle is himself under investigation
for this murder. That being the case, he can't be
forced to talk about it in court. The mood immediately
changes in the room, particularly among the team of private prosecutors.
(06:34):
They don't seem ready for this revelation. They huddled together,
whispering among themselves at their tables. They say they're not
aware that an official investigation of Danielle has been opened.
The judge says she isn't either, but the public prosecutors
the state's attorneys, say yes, it's true, Danielle is being investigated,
(07:00):
and because of that, it's his constitutional right to remain silent.
The private prosecutors say, if he's ever been interrogated about
this crime, it's news to them. They argue that to
let him off the hook would be a violation, an
abuse of the rights of the victims. It's an awkward situation.
(07:23):
Both sets of prosecutors, the state and the private teams,
are supposed to be working toward a common goal, a conviction,
But even from the very first days after the murder,
Bart's family has occasionally been critical of the state's handling
of the investigation, and now the private prosecutors seem to
(07:45):
be arguing with the public prosecutors. This goes on for
about a half an hour, and finally the judge delivers
the decision. The court won't force him to testify. The
judge just have sided with the defense and the public prosecutors.
Danielle A Tala is free to go. Danielle unclips the
(08:14):
microphone from his shirt, steps out of the witness box,
and walks out of the courtroom. For those watching the trial,
(08:35):
it's hard to make sense of what just happened. Joseph
Barra is a law professor at U c l A
who's monitoring the trial for numerous human rights organizations. He says,
there are a couple of ways of looking at Atala's
abrupt exit. It did kind of lead to some suspicions.
I guess in the worst view or more cynical view,
(08:58):
was there some kind of confabulation and to protect him
by saying giving him that argument and said, yeah, you're
under investigation, so you can avoid this testimony. This raises
the possibility that the state prosecutors actually might be protecting Atala,
and if that's true, they're undermining the case against David.
(09:19):
On social media, Some of Berta's backers point out that
the government has known about the connections between David and
Danielle Atala, since they wonder why the state waited until
now to reveal that Atala is under investigation. Was it
only to protect him from testifying, But Barris says there's
(09:42):
another way of looking at this. Maybe Danielle Atala isn't
being protected by the state. Maybe he's being pursued more
aggressively than anyone suspected. Now, I guess the positive is
that if he is under investigation, there's potential so that
they could take the information that the family has been
(10:03):
pointing at for a long time now that there is
a network and a structure that was involved in this
crime that goes beyond the vie Castillo. After daniel Atala
has dismissed, the private prosecutors call several other witnesses. Their
(10:26):
testimony takes weeks, and then it's finally the defense's turn.
Their strategy is pretty straightforward. David has been framed. Maybe
it was malice or maybe just in competence. Either way,
his lawyers argue that the police botched everything. Here's one
illustration that they highlight in court. It has to do
(10:49):
with Mariano Diaz. Diaz, remember, was a middleman. He's already
been convicted for helping to arrange the logistics of Bart's murder.
The day of his arrest, Diaz gave a statement to
the police. He said that Dess's former head of security
had offered him about twenty thou dollars to help plan
(11:10):
the murder, and DS says the money came from Dess's manager.
Prosecutors say he was referring to David. The statement was
read in court, but Diaz never actually signed it and
it wasn't dated. The defense attorneys say this renders the
statement worthless. The defense says another example of police incompetence
(11:36):
centers on Brenda Barajona. She's the telephone expert who extracted
most of the text, messages and calls that implicated David.
His lawyers have questioned her qualifications, her training, her technological expertise,
and they've done this inside and outside of the courtroom.
(11:57):
They say they've uncovered one and thirty errors of fact
in her analysis. They say she quote hid messages that
proved David and Verta were friends. They say she ignored
messages suggesting other groups not Dessa also clashed with Berta,
and Barahona didn't investigate them. That's from a video clip
(12:24):
disparaging Barahona's work. David's team distributed it via social media.
The defense team says their own experts dugout text that
Barrajona ignored, and one of them is related to a
key exchange between David and Douglas Bustillo. It's an exchange
(12:45):
we've talked about several times in this series. The Mission
Aborted texts. Bustillo, if you recalled, was the former head
of security for Dessa at the Damn site. Barajona says
he acted as the point man between David and the
lower level hit men who carried out the killing. Remember
that Barrijonah suggests that David and Boustillo originally planned the
(13:09):
murder for February, about a month before Berta was actually killed.
She says that plan fell through because Barta's family was
with her when the hitman went to her house, and
this was when Boustillo and David exchanged messages referring to
a Mission Aborted. Before the trial, David had explained to
(13:31):
me that bar Ijona completely misinterpreted this text. David says,
when Boustillo messaged him in early February saying mission aborted.
He was talking about a trip he'd planned to take
to Choluteca. That's a town where Dessa was developing a
solar project. David says he wanted Bostio to check it
(13:52):
out because they'd been having problems with local gangs near
the solar project. He couldn't not travel to the part
that a specific date he was going to travel at
a later date. David's team argues that they know of
texts that specifically referenced this aborted trip to cho Luteca,
and in court they asked an expert to read one
(14:15):
such exchange that was extracted from Bustillo's phone. In this
chat string, Bustillo references a job that he's doing. He's
asked where it's located, and his response is read aloud
in court that he had. He answers that it's at
(14:37):
an energy plant in the South. He says, Castillo called
me yesterday. In another message ten days later, Bustillo is
asked where he's at there it is Luca. However, the
prosecutors seem ready for this. They point out the dates
(15:00):
of those texts. March eight, in March eighteenth. Berta was
killed on March three, so the references to this trip
to Choluteca come after Berta's murder, after police began investigating
the crime, and after members of Barta's family urged the
(15:22):
police to investigate Dessa as a suspect. The prosecutors suggest
this is just another example of David's deception, that these
after the fact references to Choluteca our attempts to establish
an alibi, that he was just trying to cover his tracks.
(15:46):
The defense isn't done trying to use text messages to
undermine the prosecution's case. One exchange they highlight is between
Berta and someone identified as Heronimo. The defense says Heronimo
is Oreleano Molina, an ex boyfriend of Berta's. The exchange
was from June three, less than a year before the murder.
(16:10):
It's extremely cryptic, but in it, Berta and Areliano discuss
a piece of land a. Reliano suggests to her the
land might be used to quote let a bird land
bear to respond if there's no impact in the process.
(16:31):
He replies, there could be an impact, you can't be sure.
A bit later, bert To send him another message she
writes one time, no more. David's defense leaves the meaning
of this open to interpretation. There's no other evidence presented
to elaborate on it, but their suggestion is clear to
(16:54):
the court that Berta was involved in something shady. On Twitter,
an account dedicated to David's defense suggests that the bird
was an airplane. The Twitter post states that the exchange
quote alludes to narco trafficking and what could have been
another line of investigation. Remember that this trial is being
(17:18):
live streamed and that spectators are commenting in real time
in the comments section next to the video feed. David's
supporters pounce on this accusation. They suggest Berta was a
drug dealer and that Brenda Barahona protected her by not
revealing these text messages earlier. To Bert's supporters, this feels
(17:41):
like an outrage, but it's one they say they've come
to expect. Karen Spring is a Canadian activist in Honduras.
She was a friend of Berta's and worked with her
on several campaigns. She says this strategy of personal attack
felt familiar to her. That's something that um they try,
(18:02):
government or companies try. Wealthy companies, wealthy families try and
do to sort of say these people are bad people,
they're involved in drug trafficking, and therefore they get whatever
comes to them. She says these smears are particularly common
against women. It was obviously alarming, you know, because you
if people are watching and they don't understand those themes
(18:24):
and those sort of um patterns, then it's easy to
fall into sort of question, well, maybe she was involved
with some bad guys, or maybe she was involved in
drug trafficking. But it's such a common pattern that it
wasn't surprising to me at all. The private prosecutors have
insisted that gender and sexism are integral parts of this case,
(18:47):
and Berta's daughters Bertita, Isabel, and Laura routinely refer to
their mother's murder as a femicide. They say there's a
machismo embedded in the Honduran political, economic, and justice systems.
Barretta's daughters say that mindset is at the root of
the harassment, bear to endure it as an activist. They
(19:10):
argue that it hasn't gone away, that Berta is still
a victim of it right here in this trial. One
of the final witnesses for the defense is a telephone
(19:31):
expert who is hired by David's lawyers. He scoured Berta's
phones and came up with additional messages and recordings that
the prosecutors didn't include in the evidence they entered. Yet
in the end, the prosecutors become interested in some of
the messages he's extracted from her phone. They asked him
(19:52):
to play one in the courtroom. A voice that's been
silent throughout all these weeks of testimony rings out. It's
Bear too. Thank you, colleagues. We are urgently denouncing that
we are being harassed and illegally detained by employees of DESSA,
(20:14):
the company Dessa of the Aguasarka Project Depreto Electric Sarca.
The message was recorded about three months before her murder.
On the day of the recording, her organization Copeine was
holding a protest against Desasaguasarca Damn and the protesters ran
into resistance. Bear To recorded this message to let other
(20:38):
backers of her cause know what's going on. Those employees
are being supported by the military police. They have a
private security company, and they are blocking the Copenen buses
and threatening to damage them. They're insulting and offending us,
and these slurs are full of racism, of discrimination, and
(21:00):
sexism in the understands offense. For those who Knubert to
this moment is powerful to them. It's as if she's
there in court testifying against David and his company. After
(21:33):
nearly three months of testimony, it's time for the closing arguments.
The state prosecutors lay out the bones of their case.
They review the key text messages and witness statements, and
they sketch a portrait of David as a killer, an
executive driven by the simple desire to protect his interests
and to undermine anyone who threatened them. The private prosecutors
(21:57):
representing the victims try to put the case ace in
a broader context. They say, David needs to be in prison,
but this trial is bigger than him, and it's bigger
than bear to The private prosecutors tell the judges they
(22:18):
have a historic opportunity to break a cycle of impunity
for the powerful and Honduras. They point out that David
comes from a life of privilege and that he doesn't
fit the stereotype of a cold blooded killer. But the
prosecutors warn that appearances can deceive. To meet David Castillo
(22:42):
judging by his appearance, his background, nobody would think he's
capable of committing a crime like this one because he
doesn't have the appearance of a classic criminal. But this
is the profile, these behaviors at this level that have
shaped the history of this country. It's from these positions
(23:02):
of power, and not just through this act, but many acts,
that they've destroyed the social fabric, that they've destroyed the
institutions of this country. It is this observation that David
wasn't a typical murder suspect resonated with me. I'd met David,
(23:27):
He'd looked me in the eye, repeatedly insisting that he
was innocent. That he too, mourned Bear to his death.
He said, he admired her. Berta was my friend. It
could not bring my mind to do any harm, not
only to Berta, to any human being. I'd met his mother,
his oldest friends. I'd spoken with his former classmates at
(23:50):
West Point. All of them were certain of his innocence.
They couldn't imagine that he could be even tangentially involved
in a murder, much less planed one. I'm convinced their
faith and trust in him was sincere. They had no
hesitancy in vouching for him. They believe he's a good man.
(24:12):
They love him. Try to imagine, just for a moment,
that David deserves their trust, that he's been falsely accused.
If that's the case, those friends and family members have
been deeply wronged. And then, of course there's the other possibility.
(24:33):
What if David didn't deserve that trust. In that case,
the suffering they've endured over the past three years seems
even worse. It seems cruel. Berta and her family and
everyone who loved her there obviously the primary victims, but
no matter the outcome of this trial, they're not going
(24:55):
to be the only ones. Murders like this are insidious.
The stims multiply before the judges reached their verdict. There's
(25:24):
one more step in this trial. The judges want to
give the people directly affected by this case a chance
to address the court. First, the judges here from Bart's family,
her children, Yes, very sorry. His daughter, Bartita Isabel tells
(25:48):
the judges that her mother raised her and all of
her siblings to recognize injustice, to always fight on behalf
of people whose rights had been trampled. But she says
she never thought they'd have to apply those lessons to
their own mother. Barrett's youngest daughter, Laura, tells the judges
(26:08):
that by fighting for her now, they're fighting for all
the women and mothers who have been victims of violence,
But she says it's a fight that won't bring back
all the hugs and the knights with her that they've lost.
Next is Berta's son Salvador. He's kept a much lower
profile than his sisters in the years following his mother's murder.
(26:30):
He addresses the court from a remote video feed. He
tells the judges that this is a unique opportunity to
punish not just low level hitmen the poor who are
paid to kill, but to punish those who pay them,
the economic powers that support a culture of murder. Together,
(26:55):
the Cassarus family issues a unified plea deliver a ulty
verdict and set a precedent that might protect future victims
and prevent similar crimes. Then, for the first time during
this trial, David Castillo speaks. He greets everyone in the courtroom,
(27:19):
including Barton's daughters, but they're not interested in listening to him.
Both gather their things, rise and walk out of the courtroom.
As he talks. He says he first wants to thank
God for the life he's living, despite the challenges of
(27:40):
the past couple of years, and even though bar To
his children have left the courtroom, David addresses them. I
want to say, especially to all of the family members
of Is, that I had nothing to do with her murder,
(28:02):
neither directly or indirectly. I want to underscore that I
did not participate at all. I had no payments, I
didn't intervene at all. I had no involvement in the
logistics or in getting weapons. I want to state this
(28:22):
so that it's clear and present in your minds. Again,
he says that he and bear To were friends, friends
who held different points of view on a lot of things,
(28:43):
but friends nonetheless. While mentioning this, David refers to his mother,
to Nora, she's sitting in a chair near the rear
of the courtroom, working her hands nervously. He says his
mother always raised him to be a good Christian, to
(29:04):
respect others, and to accept those who don't share the
same beliefs. He speaks of his father, who died shortly
after he was detained in prison. He speaks of his
children who haven't seen their father in three years in
four months. This has been difficult for me too, obviously,
(29:28):
but God has a plan from my life. I don't
understand it and I don't question it. Throughout the trial,
the prosecutors have described David as a representative of a
powerful economic and political class. He addresses this, I have
(29:57):
felt at a disadvantage going against the state prosecutors and
the teams of private prosecutors, because in reality I don't
have political or economic power. However, you all you do
through your systems of communication, with all the political support
(30:19):
that your organizations received, all your David ends his statement
asking that the court evaluate all the evidence fairly impartially
so that he might soon be able to get his
life back. And that's that. The judges dismiss everyone so
(30:52):
they can spend the next several days reviewing the evidence,
and after that they'll call them all back to the
courtroom for the announcement of the verdict. Five days later,
(31:13):
the judges sent out a message they've reached a verdict.
Crowds of Bartes supporters gather outside of the court house.
For months now, they've transformed the sidewalk in the busy
street in front of the building into a sort of
shrine to Bart. They burn incense and arrange candles and
(31:37):
flowers around her portrait. Some hold signs with pictures of
her smiling. Others hold pictures of David with one word
scrawled across his face, guilty. Inside the small courtroom, the
judges have allowed ten people from David's side and ten
from Berts to sit in the back. The lead judge
(32:00):
greets them and assures them that the court has been impartial,
that the judges have not allowed themselves to be influenced
by any outside interests. She now says she'll read the
court's verdict, which was unanimous. She begins with a straightforward
(32:29):
review of the facts of the case. She outlines the
damn project, bear to opposition to it, and David's role
as CEO of Deessa. In that context, managers who oversaw
the hydroelectric project, including the director, Mr David Castillo, so
(32:49):
to take action to neutralize the movements and opposition of
Mrs Berta cass and others in the organization Copine. The
camera in the court doesn't show David or the judges.
It's pointed at the spectators in the back of the court.
Most sit motionless, listening intently. In the front row. David's
(33:12):
mother sits with her hands in her lap. Her back
is perfectly straight and her heads held high, but when
the judge flatly states that her son sought to quote
neutralize bar to his actions, her head slumps. The lead
judge says the evidence against David was circumstantial, but she
(33:36):
says it's the accumulation of numerous strands of circumstantial evidence
that has allowed them to reach a verdict. She points
out that David's lawyers suggested that there was evidence that
others besides David and Essa might have wanted Bear Too dead.
They implied that other companies that Bear to fought against,
(33:56):
or even criminals or drug traffickers my eight, have been involved. These,
in the opinion of this Court, were left as mere hypothesis,
unconfirmed and furthermore contradicted by others that are in fact
supported by the technical evidence intercepted from various communications, such
(34:20):
as extraction of information from telephones and mobile devices, including
those of Mrs Berta Cassidys, Douglas, Bustillo, Si Rodriguez, and
the defendant himself, David Castillio. David's mother sits with her
arms crossed over her chest, staring straight ahead. The judge continues,
(34:49):
due to all of the above, the Federal Court is
fully convinced that the circumstantial evidence presented, in addition to
being sufficient and consistent, establishes with certain did that Roberto
Castillo has been involved in this case as a co
author of the crime of murder against Berta Isabel Cassiris.
He took actions to carry out that objective, had control
(35:13):
and played a role in how and where the crime
would be committed. It's at this point one of the
spectators reaches out to Barton's daughter Laura and grasps her hand,
a gesture that conveys not so much celebration as a
(35:35):
simple relief. We as a result, convicted Mr David Castigio
for the crime of murder against Berta Isabel Cassidism. After
(36:13):
the verdict, Berta's daughter, Bertita Isabel leads a crowd gathered
outside in a familiar chant Berta didn't die, she multiplied
if a condat the guilty verdict issued by Discourt means
the structures of power didn't succeed in this case in
breaking the system of justice and the criminal organization of
(36:35):
the Tela Sabla family, which was instrumental in the guilt
of David Castillo, did not achieve its goals. Also hit
you with her family hasn't achieved all of its goals either.
She says, David Castillo's conviction is a monumental step in
their quest for justice, but she promises that it won't
be the last one. The judges today haven't determined David's
(37:00):
sentence that will come months from now in separate proceedings.
In Honduras, the minimum sentence for planning a murder is
twenty years. The maximum is Barrett's family promises to push
for the harshest penalty possible it is. She says, her
(37:22):
family will continue to demand that the investors behind Essa,
including Daniel Atala and the rest of his family, be
convicted as well. Bartita Isabel hands the microphone to the
lead prosecutor for the family. He says, hundreds of activists
and environmentalists have been murdered in Honduras in the past decade.
(37:44):
He hopes this may be the first conviction of many
to follow. As he speaks, bar Titza Isabel makes a
phone call. She connects with her grandmother Barts his mother.
She's eighty eight years old and she couldn't make it
to the courthouse today, But bartite Isabelle takes the microphone
back and holds it to her cell phone. Bart's mother
(38:08):
wants to thank the people who supported her daughter and
her family throughout the five long years of this legal process.
Bart's mother fights back tears. She says that the trial
has brought back painful memories she's had to relive her
(38:30):
daughter's murder, but today, with the verdict, she feels a
measure of relief. She says, now her grief brings her
just a little less pain. In a parking lot near
(38:52):
the courthouse, David Castillo is led into the back of
a large transport truck. The bed of the truck has
a canopy over it, but the sides are open. Two
armed guards stand in front of him. He sits on
a wooden bench. He's wearing jeans, tennis shoes, a clean
white jacket, and handcuffs. Photographers from the local press snap
(39:18):
pictures of him as the truck pulls away and carries
him to prison. What River is reported and written by
(39:39):
me monte reel Go for Foreheads is our senior producer.
A theme was composed and performed by Senia Rubinos. Special
thanks to Carlos Rodrigue. Francesca Levi is the head of
Bloomberg PODCAS. Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already,
and if you like what you hear, please leave us
(40:00):
a review. It helps others find out about the show.
Thanks for listening.
It's day in the trial of David Castillo, the CEO
is accused of planning the murder of environmental activists Berta Cassaris.
On this day, the judge calls a witness for the
prosecution to the stand. Daniel Atala is part of the
(00:21):
Atala Zabla family. They sunk millions of dollars into David
Castillo's company Dessa. For Berta's family and her supporters, Atala
is a very important witness. He wasn't just an investor Indessa.
He was also the CFO, the man who kept track
(00:42):
of the company's money. He was in regular contact with
David before and after the murder. Even more important for
the prosecution the Atala Zabla family is David's connection to
the powers that run Honduras. For them, just getting Danniel
Atala on the stand carries a lot of symbolic weight.
(01:04):
Bear To herself often complained that wealthy and politically connected
business leaders are untouchable by the Honduran justice system. She
and her backers have always alleged that a handful of
rich families, the Atala Zablas among them, dominate the country's
power structures. They contend that these families use their influence
(01:27):
to buy protection from the government, from police and from judges.
The notion that the Atala Zabla family might somehow be
able to influence the outcome of this case has clung
to it from the moment David Castillo was arrested as
a suspect. It's an idea that the Atala Zablas dismiss
(01:50):
as ridiculous and paranoid, not not the wealthiest family in
the country. By by farm we have, you know, a
strong and us win group. But it's we. We don't
have the loving capacity, we don't have the fund capacity.
We don't have the funding capacity. That's Daniel Atala when
(02:12):
we spoke to him last year. It's a extremely limited
and we and the investment that we have lost, as
you know, made of big dent in in our in
our finances. There are two kinds of prosecutors in this case,
the state prosecutors and the private prosecutors who represent Berta's family.
(02:36):
The private prosecutors big fear is that no matter how
much evidence they present in court, David Castillo will still
get off. That the Itala Zablas somehow will be able
to shield David and themselves from punishment. So for them
forcing a member of the Itala Zabla family to be
(02:58):
grilled in the witness box is a test of the
court's integrity and independence. The defense has repeatedly appealed to
the court to not make Daniel Latala testify, So this
is a very big moment in the trial. But when
Daniel Latala's name is called, he's not in the courtroom.
(03:19):
The witness box is empty. To Bart's family, this is
an ominous sign. A moment that seemed like a victory
becomes a reminder that there are no guarantees in the
trial of David Castillo. In our final episode will take
(03:47):
you all the way to the end of this trial,
the judges will decide David Castillo's faith and not guilty.
Verdict would allow him to reclaim a life that he
says has been stolen from him. For Bart's family, a
conviction would prove that justice in Honduras, five long years
(04:08):
after they began searching for it, can still be found.
I'm monte Reel and this is blood River. Danielle Atala
is not in the courtroom when it comes time for
him to testify. His image pops up on a video screen.
(04:37):
That's the judge asking if he can hear her. Okay,
other witnesses in Europe, in Mexico, in the United States
have testified remotely, but the prosecutors wanted to question a
Tala face to face. So the judge asks, where are
you when those things didn't He's into Goosey, Galpa, just
(05:07):
minutes away from this courtroom, So why didn't he come in?
And when he says he didn't want to unnecessarily expose
himself to COVID nineteen, he says his wife and his
mother suffer from respiratory problems. He says he stayed home
(05:29):
for them. But there are only a handful of people
in the courtroom. Witnesses keep their distance from them. Everyone's
wearing masks. The judge orders him to come into court
as soon as possible. This seems like a resounding symbolic
victory for the private prosecutors, and a few hours later
(05:50):
he's there in the witness box, getting a microphone clip
to his shirt, getting sworn in, and almost immediately he
addresses the much. He tells the judge that, on the
advice of his lawyers, he's decided not to testify. He
(06:13):
informs the judge that he Danielle is himself under investigation
for this murder. That being the case, he can't be
forced to talk about it in court. The mood immediately
changes in the room, particularly among the team of private prosecutors.
(06:34):
They don't seem ready for this revelation. They huddled together,
whispering among themselves at their tables. They say they're not
aware that an official investigation of Danielle has been opened.
The judge says she isn't either, but the public prosecutors
the state's attorneys, say yes, it's true, Danielle is being investigated,
(07:00):
and because of that, it's his constitutional right to remain silent.
The private prosecutors say, if he's ever been interrogated about
this crime, it's news to them. They argue that to
let him off the hook would be a violation, an
abuse of the rights of the victims. It's an awkward situation.
(07:23):
Both sets of prosecutors, the state and the private teams,
are supposed to be working toward a common goal, a conviction,
But even from the very first days after the murder,
Bart's family has occasionally been critical of the state's handling
of the investigation, and now the private prosecutors seem to
(07:45):
be arguing with the public prosecutors. This goes on for
about a half an hour, and finally the judge delivers
the decision. The court won't force him to testify. The
judge just have sided with the defense and the public prosecutors.
Danielle A Tala is free to go. Danielle unclips the
(08:14):
microphone from his shirt, steps out of the witness box,
and walks out of the courtroom. For those watching the trial,
(08:35):
it's hard to make sense of what just happened. Joseph
Barra is a law professor at U c l A
who's monitoring the trial for numerous human rights organizations. He says,
there are a couple of ways of looking at Atala's
abrupt exit. It did kind of lead to some suspicions.
I guess in the worst view or more cynical view,
(08:58):
was there some kind of confabulation and to protect him
by saying giving him that argument and said, yeah, you're
under investigation, so you can avoid this testimony. This raises
the possibility that the state prosecutors actually might be protecting Atala,
and if that's true, they're undermining the case against David.
(09:19):
On social media, Some of Berta's backers point out that
the government has known about the connections between David and
Danielle Atala, since they wonder why the state waited until
now to reveal that Atala is under investigation. Was it
only to protect him from testifying, But Barris says there's
(09:42):
another way of looking at this. Maybe Danielle Atala isn't
being protected by the state. Maybe he's being pursued more
aggressively than anyone suspected. Now, I guess the positive is
that if he is under investigation, there's potential so that
they could take the information that the family has been
(10:03):
pointing at for a long time now that there is
a network and a structure that was involved in this
crime that goes beyond the vie Castillo. After daniel Atala
has dismissed, the private prosecutors call several other witnesses. Their
(10:26):
testimony takes weeks, and then it's finally the defense's turn.
Their strategy is pretty straightforward. David has been framed. Maybe
it was malice or maybe just in competence. Either way,
his lawyers argue that the police botched everything. Here's one
illustration that they highlight in court. It has to do
(10:49):
with Mariano Diaz. Diaz, remember, was a middleman. He's already
been convicted for helping to arrange the logistics of Bart's murder.
The day of his arrest, Diaz gave a statement to
the police. He said that Dess's former head of security
had offered him about twenty thou dollars to help plan
(11:10):
the murder, and DS says the money came from Dess's manager.
Prosecutors say he was referring to David. The statement was
read in court, but Diaz never actually signed it and
it wasn't dated. The defense attorneys say this renders the
statement worthless. The defense says another example of police incompetence
(11:36):
centers on Brenda Barajona. She's the telephone expert who extracted
most of the text, messages and calls that implicated David.
His lawyers have questioned her qualifications, her training, her technological expertise,
and they've done this inside and outside of the courtroom.
(11:57):
They say they've uncovered one and thirty errors of fact
in her analysis. They say she quote hid messages that
proved David and Verta were friends. They say she ignored
messages suggesting other groups not Dessa also clashed with Berta,
and Barahona didn't investigate them. That's from a video clip
(12:24):
disparaging Barahona's work. David's team distributed it via social media.
The defense team says their own experts dugout text that
Barrajona ignored, and one of them is related to a
key exchange between David and Douglas Bustillo. It's an exchange
(12:45):
we've talked about several times in this series. The Mission
Aborted texts. Bustillo, if you recalled, was the former head
of security for Dessa at the Damn site. Barajona says
he acted as the point man between David and the
lower level hit men who carried out the killing. Remember
that Barrijonah suggests that David and Boustillo originally planned the
(13:09):
murder for February, about a month before Berta was actually killed.
She says that plan fell through because Barta's family was
with her when the hitman went to her house, and
this was when Boustillo and David exchanged messages referring to
a Mission Aborted. Before the trial, David had explained to
(13:31):
me that bar Ijona completely misinterpreted this text. David says,
when Boustillo messaged him in early February saying mission aborted.
He was talking about a trip he'd planned to take
to Choluteca. That's a town where Dessa was developing a
solar project. David says he wanted Bostio to check it
(13:52):
out because they'd been having problems with local gangs near
the solar project. He couldn't not travel to the part
that a specific date he was going to travel at
a later date. David's team argues that they know of
texts that specifically referenced this aborted trip to cho Luteca,
and in court they asked an expert to read one
(14:15):
such exchange that was extracted from Bustillo's phone. In this
chat string, Bustillo references a job that he's doing. He's
asked where it's located, and his response is read aloud
in court that he had. He answers that it's at
(14:37):
an energy plant in the South. He says, Castillo called
me yesterday. In another message ten days later, Bustillo is
asked where he's at there it is Luca. However, the
prosecutors seem ready for this. They point out the dates
(15:00):
of those texts. March eight, in March eighteenth. Berta was
killed on March three, so the references to this trip
to Choluteca come after Berta's murder, after police began investigating
the crime, and after members of Barta's family urged the
(15:22):
police to investigate Dessa as a suspect. The prosecutors suggest
this is just another example of David's deception, that these
after the fact references to Choluteca our attempts to establish
an alibi, that he was just trying to cover his tracks.
(15:46):
The defense isn't done trying to use text messages to
undermine the prosecution's case. One exchange they highlight is between
Berta and someone identified as Heronimo. The defense says Heronimo
is Oreleano Molina, an ex boyfriend of Berta's. The exchange
was from June three, less than a year before the murder.
(16:10):
It's extremely cryptic, but in it, Berta and Areliano discuss
a piece of land a. Reliano suggests to her the
land might be used to quote let a bird land
bear to respond if there's no impact in the process.
(16:31):
He replies, there could be an impact, you can't be sure.
A bit later, bert To send him another message she
writes one time, no more. David's defense leaves the meaning
of this open to interpretation. There's no other evidence presented
to elaborate on it, but their suggestion is clear to
(16:54):
the court that Berta was involved in something shady. On Twitter,
an account dedicated to David's defense suggests that the bird
was an airplane. The Twitter post states that the exchange
quote alludes to narco trafficking and what could have been
another line of investigation. Remember that this trial is being
(17:18):
live streamed and that spectators are commenting in real time
in the comments section next to the video feed. David's
supporters pounce on this accusation. They suggest Berta was a
drug dealer and that Brenda Barahona protected her by not
revealing these text messages earlier. To Bert's supporters, this feels
(17:41):
like an outrage, but it's one they say they've come
to expect. Karen Spring is a Canadian activist in Honduras.
She was a friend of Berta's and worked with her
on several campaigns. She says this strategy of personal attack
felt familiar to her. That's something that um they try,
(18:02):
government or companies try. Wealthy companies, wealthy families try and
do to sort of say these people are bad people,
they're involved in drug trafficking, and therefore they get whatever
comes to them. She says these smears are particularly common
against women. It was obviously alarming, you know, because you
if people are watching and they don't understand those themes
(18:24):
and those sort of um patterns, then it's easy to
fall into sort of question, well, maybe she was involved
with some bad guys, or maybe she was involved in
drug trafficking. But it's such a common pattern that it
wasn't surprising to me at all. The private prosecutors have
insisted that gender and sexism are integral parts of this case,
(18:47):
and Berta's daughters Bertita, Isabel, and Laura routinely refer to
their mother's murder as a femicide. They say there's a
machismo embedded in the Honduran political, economic, and justice systems.
Barretta's daughters say that mindset is at the root of
the harassment, bear to endure it as an activist. They
(19:10):
argue that it hasn't gone away, that Berta is still
a victim of it right here in this trial. One
of the final witnesses for the defense is a telephone
(19:31):
expert who is hired by David's lawyers. He scoured Berta's
phones and came up with additional messages and recordings that
the prosecutors didn't include in the evidence they entered. Yet
in the end, the prosecutors become interested in some of
the messages he's extracted from her phone. They asked him
(19:52):
to play one in the courtroom. A voice that's been
silent throughout all these weeks of testimony rings out. It's
Bear too. Thank you, colleagues. We are urgently denouncing that
we are being harassed and illegally detained by employees of DESSA,
(20:14):
the company Dessa of the Aguasarka Project Depreto Electric Sarca.
The message was recorded about three months before her murder.
On the day of the recording, her organization Copeine was
holding a protest against Desasaguasarca Damn and the protesters ran
into resistance. Bear To recorded this message to let other
(20:38):
backers of her cause know what's going on. Those employees
are being supported by the military police. They have a
private security company, and they are blocking the Copenen buses
and threatening to damage them. They're insulting and offending us,
and these slurs are full of racism, of discrimination, and
(21:00):
sexism in the understands offense. For those who Knubert to
this moment is powerful to them. It's as if she's
there in court testifying against David and his company. After
(21:33):
nearly three months of testimony, it's time for the closing arguments.
The state prosecutors lay out the bones of their case.
They review the key text messages and witness statements, and
they sketch a portrait of David as a killer, an
executive driven by the simple desire to protect his interests
and to undermine anyone who threatened them. The private prosecutors
(21:57):
representing the victims try to put the case ace in
a broader context. They say, David needs to be in prison,
but this trial is bigger than him, and it's bigger
than bear to The private prosecutors tell the judges they
(22:18):
have a historic opportunity to break a cycle of impunity
for the powerful and Honduras. They point out that David
comes from a life of privilege and that he doesn't
fit the stereotype of a cold blooded killer. But the
prosecutors warn that appearances can deceive. To meet David Castillo
(22:42):
judging by his appearance, his background, nobody would think he's
capable of committing a crime like this one because he
doesn't have the appearance of a classic criminal. But this
is the profile, these behaviors at this level that have
shaped the history of this country. It's from these positions
(23:02):
of power, and not just through this act, but many acts,
that they've destroyed the social fabric, that they've destroyed the
institutions of this country. It is this observation that David
wasn't a typical murder suspect resonated with me. I'd met David,
(23:27):
He'd looked me in the eye, repeatedly insisting that he
was innocent. That he too, mourned Bear to his death.
He said, he admired her. Berta was my friend. It
could not bring my mind to do any harm, not
only to Berta, to any human being. I'd met his mother,
his oldest friends. I'd spoken with his former classmates at
(23:50):
West Point. All of them were certain of his innocence.
They couldn't imagine that he could be even tangentially involved
in a murder, much less planed one. I'm convinced their
faith and trust in him was sincere. They had no
hesitancy in vouching for him. They believe he's a good man.
(24:12):
They love him. Try to imagine, just for a moment,
that David deserves their trust, that he's been falsely accused.
If that's the case, those friends and family members have
been deeply wronged. And then, of course there's the other possibility.
(24:33):
What if David didn't deserve that trust. In that case,
the suffering they've endured over the past three years seems
even worse. It seems cruel. Berta and her family and
everyone who loved her there obviously the primary victims, but
no matter the outcome of this trial, they're not going
(24:55):
to be the only ones. Murders like this are insidious.
The stims multiply before the judges reached their verdict. There's
(25:24):
one more step in this trial. The judges want to
give the people directly affected by this case a chance
to address the court. First, the judges here from Bart's family,
her children, Yes, very sorry. His daughter, Bartita Isabel tells
(25:48):
the judges that her mother raised her and all of
her siblings to recognize injustice, to always fight on behalf
of people whose rights had been trampled. But she says
she never thought they'd have to apply those lessons to
their own mother. Barrett's youngest daughter, Laura, tells the judges
(26:08):
that by fighting for her now, they're fighting for all
the women and mothers who have been victims of violence,
But she says it's a fight that won't bring back
all the hugs and the knights with her that they've lost.
Next is Berta's son Salvador. He's kept a much lower
profile than his sisters in the years following his mother's murder.
(26:30):
He addresses the court from a remote video feed. He
tells the judges that this is a unique opportunity to
punish not just low level hitmen the poor who are
paid to kill, but to punish those who pay them,
the economic powers that support a culture of murder. Together,
(26:55):
the Cassarus family issues a unified plea deliver a ulty
verdict and set a precedent that might protect future victims
and prevent similar crimes. Then, for the first time during
this trial, David Castillo speaks. He greets everyone in the courtroom,
(27:19):
including Barton's daughters, but they're not interested in listening to him.
Both gather their things, rise and walk out of the courtroom.
As he talks. He says he first wants to thank
God for the life he's living, despite the challenges of
(27:40):
the past couple of years, and even though bar To
his children have left the courtroom, David addresses them. I
want to say, especially to all of the family members
of Is, that I had nothing to do with her murder,
(28:02):
neither directly or indirectly. I want to underscore that I
did not participate at all. I had no payments, I
didn't intervene at all. I had no involvement in the
logistics or in getting weapons. I want to state this
(28:22):
so that it's clear and present in your minds. Again,
he says that he and bear To were friends, friends
who held different points of view on a lot of things,
(28:43):
but friends nonetheless. While mentioning this, David refers to his mother,
to Nora, she's sitting in a chair near the rear
of the courtroom, working her hands nervously. He says his
mother always raised him to be a good Christian, to
(29:04):
respect others, and to accept those who don't share the
same beliefs. He speaks of his father, who died shortly
after he was detained in prison. He speaks of his
children who haven't seen their father in three years in
four months. This has been difficult for me too, obviously,
(29:28):
but God has a plan from my life. I don't
understand it and I don't question it. Throughout the trial,
the prosecutors have described David as a representative of a
powerful economic and political class. He addresses this, I have
(29:57):
felt at a disadvantage going against the state prosecutors and
the teams of private prosecutors, because in reality I don't
have political or economic power. However, you all you do
through your systems of communication, with all the political support
(30:19):
that your organizations received, all your David ends his statement
asking that the court evaluate all the evidence fairly impartially
so that he might soon be able to get his
life back. And that's that. The judges dismiss everyone so
(30:52):
they can spend the next several days reviewing the evidence,
and after that they'll call them all back to the
courtroom for the announcement of the verdict. Five days later,
(31:13):
the judges sent out a message they've reached a verdict.
Crowds of Bartes supporters gather outside of the court house.
For months now, they've transformed the sidewalk in the busy
street in front of the building into a sort of
shrine to Bart. They burn incense and arrange candles and
(31:37):
flowers around her portrait. Some hold signs with pictures of
her smiling. Others hold pictures of David with one word
scrawled across his face, guilty. Inside the small courtroom, the
judges have allowed ten people from David's side and ten
from Berts to sit in the back. The lead judge
(32:00):
greets them and assures them that the court has been impartial,
that the judges have not allowed themselves to be influenced
by any outside interests. She now says she'll read the
court's verdict, which was unanimous. She begins with a straightforward
(32:29):
review of the facts of the case. She outlines the
damn project, bear to opposition to it, and David's role
as CEO of Deessa. In that context, managers who oversaw
the hydroelectric project, including the director, Mr David Castillo, so
(32:49):
to take action to neutralize the movements and opposition of
Mrs Berta cass and others in the organization Copine. The
camera in the court doesn't show David or the judges.
It's pointed at the spectators in the back of the court.
Most sit motionless, listening intently. In the front row. David's
(33:12):
mother sits with her hands in her lap. Her back
is perfectly straight and her heads held high, but when
the judge flatly states that her son sought to quote
neutralize bar to his actions, her head slumps. The lead
judge says the evidence against David was circumstantial, but she
(33:36):
says it's the accumulation of numerous strands of circumstantial evidence
that has allowed them to reach a verdict. She points
out that David's lawyers suggested that there was evidence that
others besides David and Essa might have wanted Bear Too dead.
They implied that other companies that Bear to fought against,
(33:56):
or even criminals or drug traffickers my eight, have been involved. These,
in the opinion of this Court, were left as mere hypothesis,
unconfirmed and furthermore contradicted by others that are in fact
supported by the technical evidence intercepted from various communications, such
(34:20):
as extraction of information from telephones and mobile devices, including
those of Mrs Berta Cassidys, Douglas, Bustillo, Si Rodriguez, and
the defendant himself, David Castillio. David's mother sits with her
arms crossed over her chest, staring straight ahead. The judge continues,
(34:49):
due to all of the above, the Federal Court is
fully convinced that the circumstantial evidence presented, in addition to
being sufficient and consistent, establishes with certain did that Roberto
Castillo has been involved in this case as a co
author of the crime of murder against Berta Isabel Cassiris.
He took actions to carry out that objective, had control
(35:13):
and played a role in how and where the crime
would be committed. It's at this point one of the
spectators reaches out to Barton's daughter Laura and grasps her hand,
a gesture that conveys not so much celebration as a
(35:35):
simple relief. We as a result, convicted Mr David Castigio
for the crime of murder against Berta Isabel Cassidism. After
(36:13):
the verdict, Berta's daughter, Bertita Isabel leads a crowd gathered
outside in a familiar chant Berta didn't die, she multiplied
if a condat the guilty verdict issued by Discourt means
the structures of power didn't succeed in this case in
breaking the system of justice and the criminal organization of
(36:35):
the Tela Sabla family, which was instrumental in the guilt
of David Castillo, did not achieve its goals. Also hit
you with her family hasn't achieved all of its goals either.
She says, David Castillo's conviction is a monumental step in
their quest for justice, but she promises that it won't
be the last one. The judges today haven't determined David's
(37:00):
sentence that will come months from now in separate proceedings.
In Honduras, the minimum sentence for planning a murder is
twenty years. The maximum is Barrett's family promises to push
for the harshest penalty possible it is. She says, her
(37:22):
family will continue to demand that the investors behind Essa,
including Daniel Atala and the rest of his family, be
convicted as well. Bartita Isabel hands the microphone to the
lead prosecutor for the family. He says, hundreds of activists
and environmentalists have been murdered in Honduras in the past decade.
(37:44):
He hopes this may be the first conviction of many
to follow. As he speaks, bar Titza Isabel makes a
phone call. She connects with her grandmother Barts his mother.
She's eighty eight years old and she couldn't make it
to the courthouse today, But bartite Isabelle takes the microphone
back and holds it to her cell phone. Bart's mother
(38:08):
wants to thank the people who supported her daughter and
her family throughout the five long years of this legal process.
Bart's mother fights back tears. She says that the trial
has brought back painful memories she's had to relive her
(38:30):
daughter's murder, but today, with the verdict, she feels a
measure of relief. She says, now her grief brings her
just a little less pain. In a parking lot near
(38:52):
the courthouse, David Castillo is led into the back of
a large transport truck. The bed of the truck has
a canopy over it, but the sides are open. Two
armed guards stand in front of him. He sits on
a wooden bench. He's wearing jeans, tennis shoes, a clean
white jacket, and handcuffs. Photographers from the local press snap
(39:18):
pictures of him as the truck pulls away and carries
him to prison. What River is reported and written by
(39:39):
me monte reel Go for Foreheads is our senior producer.
A theme was composed and performed by Senia Rubinos. Special
thanks to Carlos Rodrigue. Francesca Levi is the head of
Bloomberg PODCAS. Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already,
and if you like what you hear, please leave us
(40:00):
a review. It helps others find out about the show.
Thanks for listening.
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