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Summary
On July 5, a Sentencing court in Tegucigalpa convicted Roberto David Castillo Mejía for the murder of indigenous activist and environmentalist, Berta Cáceres. Castillo is a US-trained military intelligence officer and the former President of the dam company, DESA, that tried to build the Agua Zarca dam on the Gualcarque river. Berta Cáceres, along with COPINH and the communities of Rio Blanco, opposed the project and led a national and international campaign to stop it.
This episode highlights the key points from the trial including the ways in which the criminal structure surrounding the Agua Zarca project was exposed in court. Testimony, Whatsapp chat messages, phone calls, and telephone antenna information were used to build the case against Castillo, and also revealed the involvement of DESA’s executives and investors in plotting the murder as well.
#JusticiaParaBerta #FaltaLosAtalas
For a complete, day-to-day summary of the trial in English, see: aquiabajo.com/blog
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Transcript
Karen Spring:
On July 5, Roberto David Castillo Mejía was convicted for the murder of well-known Honduran Indigenous activist Berta Cáceres.
Welcome to the Honduras Now podcast. This podcast shares human rights stories from Honduras and connects them with global issues and North American policy. I’m your host, Karen Spring, a longtime human rights activist that has lived in Honduras for over a decade. Thanks so much for listening.
Judge (interpreted):
In summary, in the opinion of this court, the motive of the murder of Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores by individuals associated with the company DESA, in consequence for the actions she led as a COPINH leader against the construction of the Agua Zarca dam, in defense of the natural resources, and the water source of the Gualcarque River. For these reasons, the National Jurisdiction Sentencing Court is fully convinced that there is sufficient evidence that gives certainty that Roberto David Castillo participated in this crime, as co-author in Berta Cáceres’s murder.
Karen Spring:
David Castillo is a US-trained military intelligence officer. He’s the former president of the internationally-financed dam company, Desarrollos Energéticos, or DESA. Starting in 2013, DESA tried to build a dam on the Gualcarque River in western Honduras. The dam project was opposed by the Lenca Indigenous communities, the Lenca organization COPINH, and COPINH’s coordinator Berta Cáceres. For months the community of Rio Blanco blocked DESA’s access to the river, forcing DESA to change its construction plans. Berta fought to stop the dam, arguing that the Lenca communities had not been consulted.
After a grueling 49-day trial, the National Jurisdiction Sentencing Court in Tegucigalpa ruled that Castillo’s role in Berta’s murder was as a co-author or a co-perpetrator, that he had worked with others to carry out the crime. The motive was to stop Berta and COPINH’s opposition to the dam. During the reading of the verdict, the court allowed observers to enter the courtroom. For over 90 days during the duration of the trial, Afro-Indigenous Garífuna, Lenca, and other Indigenous communities and allies camped outside the supreme court. For 24 hours a day, rain or shine, the feminist encampment maintained a permanent presence. They set up a camp, pitched several tents in a green space in front of the Supreme Court. Their meals were cooked at the camp. Protest, solidarity, and artistic events were held almost every single day, all while the trial took place in a courtroom close by. On the day of the verdict, all of the participants of the encampment and so many others arrived to support COPINH and the Cáceres family. They gathered outside the courtroom. As they listened to the guilty verdict on the loudspeaker, they celebrated the important news.
To achieve this conviction, the Cáceres family worked tirelessly. COPINH worked around the clock, together with the legal and advisory teams, to make this verdict happen. It’s a victory for COPINH, Indigenous communities in Honduras, the Honduran social movement, and for the country. Some people might ask how was the conviction possible in Honduras, with the current state of the justice system, the high levels of impunity, the corruption and the power of David Castillo, and especially the power of the Atala Zablah family who worked with Castillo as DESA’s owners. Well, pressure, and tons and tons of it, national and international pressure.
Berta’s family and close Honduran organizations have gone all over the world talking about the case. US and European Congressional representatives wrote letters and made public statements demanding a fair application of the law and justice for Berta. National and international solidarity campaigns in the form of letter writing, phone calls, meetings, protests, artistic events, and the list goes on, all added to the pressure and to let the court know that everybody was watching. All of these actions were led by COPINH, the Cáceres family, and several Honduran community-based organizations and leaders.
This is Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, COPINH’s General Coordinator and Berta’s daughter’s reaction to the verdict as she stands with everyone outside of the court listening to the verdict, as a celebration unfolds moments after Castillo is declared guilty.
Bertita Zúñiga Cáceres (interpreted):
We just heard the guilty verdict against David Castillo. This means that the people in our struggle have defeated the impunity pact that exists in this case and in so many crimes. We are happy that our struggle has produced results, even with all the adversities, even against all the obstacles that exist, we have defeated them. This is a victory for the people. As we have said, the struggle doesn’t end with this verdict. It continues until all the people that were involved in this crime are brought to justice
Karen Spring:
COPINH and the Cáceres family’s fight to get to this point has taken over five years. Berta was murdered over five years ago on March 2, 2016, in the context of her three-to-four-year struggle to stop the construction of the Agua Zarca dam. Close to midnight on March 2, 2016, a group of four hitmen went into Berta’s home and shot her in her bedroom. During the attack, Mexican activist and human rights defender Gustavo Castro, who was also in the house, was injured.
In 2018, seven people, including the four hitmen, were convicted of murder and attempted murder. Also in the same trial, three intermediaries were convicted of murder. These include DESA’s environmental and social manager, Sergio Rodríguez, Honduran military major Mariano Díaz Chávez, and Douglas Bustillo, the guy that communicated frequently with David Castillo and hired the hitmen. Bustillo is a retired Honduran military lieutenant and the former head of security for DESA.
COPINH has insisted that David Castillo is a co-author or co-perpetrator of the murder, but not the intellectual author. Why is this distinction important? Because COPINH believes that the intellectual authors or masterminds have not been investigated and much less accused. They argue that Castillo is a co-perpetrator of the murder, because he worked alongside others to carry it out. But he was under the direction of DESA shareholders, and defends his own but also other people’s economic interests. Despite the prosecutors accusing David Castillo as an intellectual author, the court sided with the Cáceres family’s lawyers, ruling that Castillo is a co-perpetrator, not a mastermind.
In this trial against Castillo, lots of information surfaced. For a deep dive into all the details, evidence, expert witnesses, check out my blog, AquiAbajo.com, for 49 days’ worth of notes, but here are some highlights.
The first, just as a trial got underway, the attorneys representing the Cáceres family presented a document outlining a $1.2 million bank transfer. The bank transfer was authorized by DESA’s Chief Financial Officer Daniel Atala Midence, in representation of another company. The money was sent to David Castillo’s company PEMSA in Honduras. This $1.2 million bank transfer was sent to Castillo on February 29, 2016, two days before Berta’s murder. The court didn’t accept this documentation as evidence, but the fact that it was revealed, the money transfer, was explosive, as Castillo discussed giving loans and providing logistics in the operation to kill Berta, as phone data showed. This money landed in the bank account of a company with shares in DESA, days before the murder. The bank transfer also shows the financial role of Daniel Atala, a member of a powerful and wealthy Honduran family.
The second highlight I want to mention is that throughout the trial, Castillo’s involvement in the murder was demonstrated in two ways. The first way is how Castillo and DESA’s executives monitored, harassed, and followed Berta Cáceres and COPINH leaders. Castillo did this by maintaining personal communication with Berta. He had meetings, phone calls, and chats with Berta.
In the trial, Castillo and his defense team argued that he was in touch with Berta because they were friends and that he cared about her. But this is not true. The prosecution and the Cáceres family lawyers argued that this was Castillo’s way of using his intelligence training to monitor Berta, to pretend to be friendly to gain her trust, while asking her whereabouts.
At one point, Castillo wrote to Berta and said, “I will do everything to make sure this dam is built.” Four women that were close to Berta, including Bertita Zúñiga, testified at the trial. All four of them said that Berta had told them that Castillo was dangerous. Rosalina Domínguez, a leader from Rio Blanco, testified that Berta told her that if anything ever happened to her that it was David Castillo’s fault.
DESA also paid informants in Rio Blanco to monitor Berta and COPINH’s actions. This information was shared on two WhatsApp chat groups that were both extracted from cell phones of the convicted men. The Atala Zablah family were also part of these WhatsApp chats where Berta and COPINH and their opposition to the dam were the major point of discussion.
The second point related to how Castillo’s role in the murder was demonstrated. And probably the most damning evidence against Castillo that was exposed throughout the trial was his communication with DESA’s former head of security, retired military lieutenant Douglas Bustillo. Through Bustillo, Castillo supervised and provided the logistics and support for the murder. While Bustillo coordinated the team of hitmen, found a murder weapon, surveilled Berta’s house, along with the other hitmen, Bustillo reported back to Castillo. Castillo used his military training to compartmentalize the information between himself and Bustillo. This was a form of protection. Castillo never had to speak directly or have any communication whatsoever with the hitmen. That way he protected himself and DESA’s executives, but his plan to keep a distance was not foolproof.
What really highlighted this coordination between Castillo and Douglas Bustillo was a failed attempt to murder Berta on February 5, 2016, almost a month before the successful murder plan would be carried out. On February 5, Douglas Bustillo, with head hitman Henry Hernández, were in La Esperanza, Berta’s hometown. According to phone data, Bustillo did an internet search on his phone looking for pictures of Berta. The plan was to carry out the murder that day. In the court’s verdict, the judge describes Bustillo’s role and his communication with Castillo that day.
Judge (interpreted):
David Castillo, using the phone number 99900946 wrote to Douglas Bustillo at 9:49pm on February 5, 2016, “Remember accidents at the scene.” After the following day, Bustillo wrote to Castillo, “Mission aborted today. Yesterday it was not possible. I will wait for what you say because I don’t have logistics. I’m at zero.” Bustillo wrote, “Leader, I don’t need information. I need to know what you will budget for the work, the appropriate means, and logistics.” Then David Castillo responds the same day on February 6, “Copied. Mission aborted.” With this spontaneous conversation between both Douglas Bustillo and David Castillo Mejía, it’s notable that they are speaking about a planned event for February 5. This is coherent with the actions that were later carried out against Berta Cáceres.
Karen Spring:
And finally, although I’m definitely leaving out so many important and relevant details, a major theme throughout the trial was the criminal structure that DESA used to operate. This doesn’t just include working with a team of hitmen to murder Berta. But it showed criminal activities that began as early as 2010. Encouraged by the context of the 2009 military coup, Castillo and DESA’s executives, in collusion with Honduran government institutions, carried out a series of irregular acts characterized as crimes of corruption, influence trafficking, falsifying documents, and criminally conspiring to obtain the illegal concession and energy contract for the Agua Zarca dam.
There is a corruption case unfolding in Honduran courts that links to Castillo’s conviction of Berta’s murder. The case is called “Fraud on the Gualcarque,” originally presented by the MACCIH, the country’s anti-corruption body. This case describes all the crimes carried out by DESA and Honduran officials in order to grant DESA the Agua Zarca concession. Once you understand all of the things that DESA’s executives and Castillo had to do in order to get a hold of that contract, you really start to understand what Berta Cáceres and COPINH were up against. This criminal network is expansive and involves many types of illegal activities, and really displays just how much energy contracts in Honduras involve criminal alliances between the country’s wealthy oligarchs, the international financial banks that fund and support these projects, all the way down to the military and the group of hitmen.
WhatsApp chats, from chat groups extracted from the seized cell phones of DESA’s executives and the hitmen, were read out loud in the court. In fact, telephone antenna locations and data extracted from cell phones made up the largest and most important part of the evidence. WhatsApp chat messages between DESA’s owners and executives, including José Eduardo Atala and his son Daniel Atala Mindence, Jacobo Atala, Pedro Atala, and David Castillo were on display throughout the trial.
The Atala Zablah family are powerful actors in Honduras. Let me give you a taste of the extent of their investments and powers. José Eduardo Atala, who is Daniel Atala’s father, is a DESA board member. José Eduardo is the president and one of the owners of the soccer team Motagua, part of the Honduran national soccer league. He’s also a major shareholder in an important and large bank in Honduras, called the Central American Bank, or BAC by its acronym. He, along with others in his family are the official distributors of the John Deere brand in Honduras that is owned together with Pedro Atala, another DESA board member. Both Pedro and José Eduardo are cousins with Camilo Atala, the founder and owner and president of one of Honduras’s largest banks, FICOHSA.
Now I should mention that FICOHSA gets a lot of public money via loans from international financial institutions like the World Bank. As of May 2021, right as the Castillo trial was gearing up, FICOHSA hired a US lobby firm called Polsinelli PC, led by former Missouri Congress Rep. Alan Wheat, to lobby against the legislative bills in the US Congress, like the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act.
Okay, so that’s a lot of names and a bit of a digression. But I wanted to give a sense of the economic, political, and financial power of the Atala Zablah family who are DESA’s executives.
Now let’s go back to Daniel Atala Midence, the main Atala that was most mentioned in the trial against David Castillo. So at one point Daniel Atala was called to testify in the trial. He originally tried to testify via Zoom, but the court wouldn’t allow it and subpoenaed him to appear in person. Looking shaken up, Daniel Atala showed up in court and pleaded the fifth, basically saying that he cannot be compelled to testify against himself. Here’s a clip from the trial. One of the judges starts by asking Daniel Atala to state his name, then asked him a question that they ask all witnesses, if he, Daniel Atala, has a personal interest in appearing before the court. This is his response.
Daniel Atala Midence (interpreted):
Yes, Your Honor. I want to make a statement with regards to that. In this current process, I am being investigated. There’s evidence of this in the pre-trial investigations and the judicial file on page one, and 169 to 190. Additionally, as you have heard over the last few weeks in the expert testimony of Brenda Barahona and David Amador, they have extensively spoken about phone communications. For this reason, and in my condition as a person under investigation, I’ve been advised by my lawyers, and based on Article 88 of the Honduran Constitution, to abstain from testifying. This court is based in the human rights of all people, the Honduran constitution that gives me this right.
Karen Spring:
After pleading the fifth, the prosecution admitted that in fact, it was true. Daniel Atala is under investigation for involvement in Berta Cáceres’s murder. Just seeing him inconvenienced and shaken up stirred a lot of delight in the many people that follow the trial. It’s an exceptionally unique day in Honduras when a member of a powerful wealthy family is forced to appear in court and then pleads the fifth.
As Berta led the resistance to Agua Zarca, DESA’s owners, the Atala Zablah family, used their economic and political power to try and stop Berta. In several conversations that were exposed in court, Jacobo Atala said that he had spoken with or would contact the Minister of Security, Julián Pacheco, for favors and inside information. In another conversation, Castillo tells Daniel Atala that he needs money to pay off the mayor of Intibucá. Messages show how Castillo told Daniel Atala that with former president Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo, to ask him to support DESA’s dam.
A bunch of names were mentioned or came out in the trial, Honduran officials that either worked with DESA or DESA used their influence or money to buy off in exchange for their support for the dam. They include the Minister of Security Julián Pacheco, who helped coordinate to send state security forces to protect DESA’s project. Pacheco also would push the investigative theory that Berta’s murder was a crime of passion, to divert the blame from DESA, in the days following the murder. Judges were also mentioned, including a judge in La Esperanza, the DESA executives asked to help them in order to jail Berta after charges were pressed against her at the height of Rio Blanco conflict. The mayors of both Intibucá and San Francisco de Ojüera were also mentioned as receiving bribes. Public prosecutors and government officials inside the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment were also mentioned as being critical and helping DESA push the project forward. All of this information was exposed to the trial process.
I’m missing so many important and relevant points, but the amount of information that came out and exposed both Castillo and the Atala Zablah family is another sign that the process for justice for Berta Cáceres, even with the recent conviction, is far from over. As the Cáceres family and lawyers argue, the criminal structure that enabled Roberto David Castillo to operate is still very much intact and active.
On a personal note, as someone who watched every minute of the trial, the most touching moments, like I mentioned, were the testimonies of Berta’s closest friends and fellow human rights defenders and feminists, and her daughter, Bertha Zúñiga. Through these testimonies the human part of the struggle, Berta’s power, her essence, her legacy, her struggle, and her impact came out for all, especially the judges, to see and to feel. As someone that saw Berta as a compañera, a mentor, and on so many occasions, my Honduran social movement advisor, I felt her fierceness and spirit in the courtroom. At one point in the trial, audio clips of Berta’s voice were played. In these clips, Berta was denouncing DESA, the damage the company was causing, and the active involvement of the Honduran state in favor of the company. It was almost like she was testifying in the trial against her own murderer.
We still have so much work to do. So many people listening to this episode have been part of the international solidarity efforts to demand justice for Berta, COPINH, and Rio Blanco. Thank you for that. Take a short break following this conviction, celebrate this victory, and get ready for the next push to demand that the Honduran government investigate the Atala Zablah family and the criminal structure that remains.
Thank you so much for listening today. Check out this episode and past episodes’ show notes at HondurasNow.org.
I’m at home in Canada for the next few weeks as I visit my family. While I’m at home I’ll be taking a break from putting out podcast episodes for about a month and a half. One listener got in touch and asked for an episode on the status of the health care system. I will be working on that and other episodes to publish later once I start up again, likely in August.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s show. This is Karen Spring, your host, signing off. Hasta pronto.