What Happened Today
- Fabio Lobo finished testifying
- Geovany Rodríguez (a pseudonym), a former Honduran police officer, confessed drug trafficker and cooperating witness began to testify.
Key Details That Surfaced
- Testimony of Fabio Lobo
- Fabio Lobo revealed that military Colonel Mario Amaya and Julian Pacheco Tinoco, Chief of Intelligence provided him with intelligence information for his drug trafficking operations.
- Fabio testified that the Valles told him that “Tony Hernández was the face of the drug trafficking operation and his brother JOH was in the shadows.”
- When Fabio spoke in front of the judge that sentenced him, he said that he had lied about his father’s [Porfirio Lobo] involvement in his drug trafficking to not implicate his father in his “personal affairs.” When asked what his “personal affairs” were, Fabio responded that he was referring to his drug trafficking operations. When asked about his current relationship with his father, Fabio characterized their relationship as estranged.
- Fabio Lobo met with JOH and [Colombian] drug trafficker ‘El Cinco’ in the El Patio restaurant in Tegucigalpa in 2009. JOH invited him to the dinner to discuss ‘merchandise’ and informed Fabio that someone would be in touch with Fabio. Two days after the El Patio meeting, ‘El Sentado’ [a drug trafficker and DEA informant, Carlos Amilcar Leva Cabrera] called Fabio and later, they met in Siguatepeque to discuss a King 200 plane that had been seized in the Roatan airport. El Sentado wanted Fabio’s help to recover the plane that was filled with 1200 kilograms of cocaine. The drugs belonged to a partnership of drug traffickers, including the Hernández brothers, the Valles, and a Colombian. Fabio admitted that he was unable to recover the plane despite contacting police, military, and judges because his father, Porfirio Lobo was running for President at the time and he was concerned that others would wonder why the son of a Presidential candidate was asking for such favors. JOH later told Fabio to be discreet about the issue.
- Fabio Lobo paid a $200,000 to JOH and delivered it with Javier Rivera to JOH’s sister, Hilda Hernández on a heliport in Tegucigalpa. The bribe was for political and personal favors. After receiving the money, Hilda phoned JOH to confirm she had received the money.
- At one point in approximately 2013, Fabio went with Tony Hernández to a Shell gas station located on the road leaving Tegucigalpa for San Pedro Sula. Both were armed. After arriving to the gas station, Tony met with ‘Wilson’ [Magdaleno Meza] who arrived in a pick-up truck and gave Tony a large blue duffel bag. After they left the station, Tony showed Fabio the money that was inside the bag, claiming it was $4 million gift from his friends, the Valle Valles in support of JOH’s campaign.
- JOH spoke to Fabio at least a few times about getting support from ‘friends’ for his political campaign. Fabio testified that JOH mentioned receiving support from his ‘friends in Mexico’ which Fabio understood to be Cesar Gastelum and the Sinaloa cartel.
- When Fabio asked JOH for support for his drug trafficking operations, JOH told him to contact Julian Pacheco Tinoco, the Chief of Intelligence of Honduras. Fabio reached out to Tinoco in three occasions. The first two meetings took place in Tinoco’s office in Tegucigalpa. Fabio asked him for logistical support and information for his drug trafficking activities. The third time, Fabio brought with him two members of the Sinaloa cartel that he had met through Devis Rivera Maradiaga (of the Cachiros). They were DEA informants. In the meeting, Tinoco abruptly walked out of the meeting saying that the meeting was a trap. JOH later spoke to Fabio saying that Tinoco had told JOH what had happened. JOH seemed annoyed and told Fabio that before taking people to talk to anyone, he should ask them for their identification indicating that such instances could cause problems for JOH, Tinoco, and Fabio.
- Fabio testified that Humberto Palacios Moya, the former director of OABI [the Honduran institution responsible for seized properties and assets], had given Fabio names of properties and accounts that were going to be seized from the Cachiros.
- Fabio testified that he had helped traffic cocaine through Puerto Cortés. He said that he did not pay Miguel Pastor personally to do this, but knew that Cesar Gastelum had paid bribes to Pastor.
- Fabio began cooperating with the DEA in approximately 2022.
- Testimony of Geovany Rodríguez, former Honduran police officer and cooperating witness.
- After Rodríguez was convicted for two crimes — abuse of authority and violation of public officials’ duties — after stealing 143 kilograms of cocaine during a fake staged police operation in La Mosquitia, former police officer and JOH’s co-conspirator Mauricio Hernández Pineda (MHP) helped him get out of prison. After leaving prison in approximately 2011, Rodríguez was promoted to the position of Director of Operations and Training in the Honduran National Police. In that position, Rodríguez had access to information about national police operations. He would then give this information to MHP, who he had known since the 1990s. MHP paid Rodríguez in cash for this information.
- Rodríguez described the relationship between MHP and Tony Hernández. He testified that he had gone to Tony Hernández’s house in the Colonia Modelo in Tegucigalpa several times. While there, Rodríguez said he saw a bag of money.
- In his conversations with MHP, MHP would tell Rodríguez that they were supported by Tony Hernández and JOH and that JOH had total power and absolute control. Because of that support, they did not have to worry because if anything happened, JOH and Tony would back them up.
What Will Happen on Monday
- Geovany Rodríguez will continue to be cross-examined by JOH’s defense attorney.
- The prosecution will call more witnesses. On Friday, the judge informed the jury, before Geovany Rodríguez took the stand, that the prosecution has 1-2 cooperating witnesses and 1-2 non-cooperating witnesses left in their case. The prosecution estimated that they may rest its case by the end of the day on Monday, but this seems too optimistic at this point.