Central America Narco News - Noticias Narco de America Central

As the global war on drugs fades away, only the drug traffickers benefit  3/10/2020 Alternet: "Loewenstein opens that chapter with the murder of environmental activist Berta Caceres, which was not directly related to the drug war, but which illustrates the thuggish nature of the Honduran regime—a regime that emerged after a 2009 coup overthrew the leftist president, a coup justified by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and which has received millions in U.S. anti-drug assistance, mainly in the form of weapons and military equipment. Honduras doesn’t produce any drugs; it’s only an accident of geography and the American war on drugs that we even mention the country in the context of global drug prohibition. Back in the 1980s, the administration of Bush the Elder cracked down on cocaine smuggling in the Caribbean, and as traffickers sought to evade that threat, Honduras was perfectly placed to act as a trampoline for cocaine shipments taking an alternative route through Mexico, which incidentally fueled the rise of today’s deadly and uber-wealthy Mexican drug cartels." [The intellectual author of the Caceres hit is the nephew of Fito Irias, an architect of the narco state. Did Bush senior, who ran US drug trafficking, want to move trafficking to Honduras where his people were in charge?]

US probing claims that CIA operative, DEA official betrayal led to murder of agent: report  2/28/2020 Fox News: "The U.S. Justice Department is investigating explosive new allegations that a Central Intelligence Agency operative and Drug Enforcement Administration official played a role in the 1985 abduction, torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a report claims. The renewed focus into the grisly killing of Camarena – who is featured in the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico” – is based on recent statements witnesses provided to U.S. agents and prosecutors, according to USA Today. The Justice Department reportedly started re-examining the case in 2019, two years after a federal court tossed convictions against two suspects."

Inhabilitan la quinta área clandestina de aterrizaje en Honduras  2/26/2020 Proceso Digital: "La Fuerza de Seguridad Interinstitucional Nacional (Fusina) en el marco de la Operación Morazán II, inhabilitó este miércoles un área clandestina de aterrizaje (narcopista) en la comunidad de Vallecillo, Limón departamento de Colón, Caribe de Honduras."

Two Years of Narco-Dictatorship in Honduras  1/28/2020 Global Exchange: "The U.S. and Canada have continued business as usual with Honduras while Hernandez and his ruling National Party use the Honduran Congress and courts to perpetuate impunity for crimes committed by government officials and economic oligarchs who benefit from both the drug trade and transnational mega projects like dams."

Honduras pedirá en extradición a Ramón Matta Waldurraga  12/31/2019 La Prensa: "Después de dar cumplimiento a una orden de captura en el aeropuerto internacional El Dorado, en Bogotá, autoridades de la Policía Nacional de Colombia mantienen detenido a Ramón Matta Waldurraga, quien será pedido en extradición por la justicia hondureña. Marlon Duarte, representante legal de Matta en Honduras, expresó a LA PRENSA que en ningún momento su defendido ha evadido la justicia hondureña, ya que él se presentó de forma voluntaria en 2017 a Nueva York procedente de Colombia, por lo cual después del proceso judicial regresó a ese país."

Requieren en Colombia a Ramón Matta Waldurraga  12/30/2019 La Prensa: "Después de recibir una condena de tiempo servido, cumpliendo 26 meses de reclusión, Matta recobró su libertad en EUA el pasado mes de octubre. “Le han dictado una sentencia de tiempo servido, es decir, Estados Unidos se siente satisfecho por los años que pasó en este proceso Ramón Matta, por eso prácticamente lo dejan libre”, dijo su abogado en Honduras, Marlon Duarte."

Matriarcado Garífuna: Ancestralidad, Espiritualidad y Lucha - Garífuna Matriarchate: Ancestrality, Spirituality and Struggle  12/19/2019 CAMJOL: "El pueblo garífuna es una cultura ancestral que tiene su origen en la unión de tres culturas; la africana, arawak y caribes. Este nuevo grupo étnico tiene su propia lengua, sistema de creencias, alimentos y practicas ancestrales de la agricultura, danzas y cantos que se unen a su espiritualidad. Actualmente habitan en 48 comunidades hondureñas, desde Masca, departamento de Cortés, hasta Plaplaya, departamento de Gracias a Dios. También se ubican en seis centros urbanos de Belice, en dos comunidades de Nicaragua y en una de Guatemala. Se estima que hay unos 250 mil garífunas en Honduras y más de 100 mil que emigraron hacia Estados Unidos. La cultura garífuna es ancestralmente matrifocal, las mujeres ancianas son herederas de los conocimientos ancestrales espirituales que les permiten comunicarse con las ancestras y ancestros a quienes presentan ofrendas y piden ayuda en sus luchas para conservar sus territorios que para ellos representan la vida, la cultura, la existencia misma del pueblo originario garífuna. Su lucha es tan antigua como su origen, a pesar que son grandes guerreros que han sabido dar batalla a todos los invasores, desde los francés e ingleses que les expulsaron de la Isla San Vicente, hasta el Estado de Honduras que a lo largo de la historia ha buscado la manera de expropiar los territorios que legítimamente les fueron otorgados desde hace más de doscientos años."

Landmark US Drug Trial Leaves Bloody Trail in Honduras  12/19/2019 Insight Crime: "Shortly after López’s jailhouse murder, Honduran authorities arrested Seth and Roberto Paisano Wood, two brothers from a powerful political family thought to be the most prominent drug traffickers on the country’s Atlantic Coast. The following month, authorities in neighboring Guatemala arrested Haroldo Lorenzana, a staple of the drug trafficking world along the Guatemala-Honduras border that US authorities have had in their sights since 2010. All three individuals were close associates of López and are thought to have intimate links to the Honduran government, suggesting that the “possible case against President Hernández keeps building,” according to Univision. The killings also come as the mandate of the Organization of American States-backed (OAS) Support Mission Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (Misión de Apoyo contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad en Honduras — MACCIH) is set to expire. The OAS judicial body is also investigating corruption cases that could implicate the president. An OAS team that recently evaluated its work recommended that it continue, and President Hernández will decide whether to renew the MACCIH’s mandate in the next month."

In Honduras, the U.S. War on Drugs Is Empowering Corrupt Elites  12/11/2019 Foreign Policy: "In nearby Tocoa, it was indigenous leaders and peasants who felt the wrath of the state. Vitalino Álvarez, 53 years old with seven children, was a high-profile member of the United Peasant Movement and a campesino leader. His name appeared on a military hit list, alongside that of Berta Cáceres and dozens of other environmental and social activists, used by United States-trained special forces to eliminate enemies. Having survived at least four assassination attempts since 2010, Álvarez was named by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2014 as needing urgent protection. He never received it. “When Berta was killed, I became top of the list,” Álvarez said. “Seventeen days after Berta’s murder, they tried to kill me. I had participated in protests and supported her. Men on motorcycles came to my landlord and wanted to know where I was, but I wasn’t home. They were angry. I left the area with my two kids immediately by taxi. I gave them money in case I was killed or injured.”"

Miriam Miranda pide protección para el pueblo Garífuna  11/27/2019 DW: "Usted dice que se trata de un plan selectivo de exterminio, ¿por parte de quien? Hay una gran presencia del crimen organizado. El Estado hondureño lo sabe. Y responsabilizamos al Estado porque no brinda seguridad a nuestras comunidades. El gobierno sabe quienes están alrededor de los territorios del pueblo Garífuna. Nuestras comunidades, por vivir en la costa, desde el 2010 y fuertemente en los últimos años, es el corredor del paso del narcotráfico. Si el Estado no genera protección y seguridad para esos territorios deja a las comunidades en una total indefensión, y por eso es que los líderes y mucha gente está saliendo. Algo que nunca había pasado. Justo antes de venir a Berlín tuvimos que sacar a dos compañeros que están en riesgo y eso jamás creímos que fuera a pasar en nuestras comunidades. Hay un plan de exterminio y el Estado es coresponsable de lo que está pasando."

El territorio libre de Vallecito  11/20/2019 ContraCorriente: "La comunidad de Vallecito, considerada el último santuario garífuna, es también pensada como el primer territorio libre de un pueblo que debe enfrentarse todos los días a las amenazas que implica coexistir en una zona fértil para el monocultivo de palma aceitera y el narcotráfico. Ubicada en el municipio de Limón, este territorio ancestral garífuna fue ocupado durante un tiempo por Reinaldo Villalobos, un terrateniente que había construido la finca «El Dorado» donde una pista de aterrizaje, que según pobladores de la zona, era usada para el narcotráfico. Hoy, esa pista es la plantación de cocos y yuca de la comunidad. Villalobos, —cuenta Miriam Miranda, coordinadora de la Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (OFRANEH)— murió mientras iba a recoger un cargamento de droga a mar abierto, su embarcación naufragó y del susto murió de un paro cardíaco, y no fue hasta después de su muerte que llegaron los militares a dinamitar la pista del narco."

Video confirma colusión de Policía Militar para que verdugos liquidaran a Magdaleno  10/26/2019 Libertad Digital: "En un nuevo video publicado esta tarde por Policías Penitenciarios con acceso a las cámaras de seguridad de la prisión de Máxima Seguridad “El Pozo” confirma los nexos del poder ejecutivo con el deceso de Magdaleno Meza."

Director de Cáritas afirma que muchos políticos están vinculado al narcotráfico  10/15/2019 Confidencia: "El director de la Pastoral Social Cáritas, German Cálix, señaló este martes que muchos políticos en Honduras se han vinculado con el narcotráfico para mantenerse en el poder, lo que le deja en deshonra al país."

History of Activism Helps Mexico’s Indigenous Resist Organized Crime: Report  10/15/2019 Insight Crime: "In eastern Guerrero, indigenous communities are governed through democratic assemblies, which select leaders based on their history of voluntary service. Positions of authority are unpaid and answer directly to the community through the assemblies. This creates an honor-based governance system which, the authors argue, makes leaders less susceptible to corruption. These communities have also participated in indigenous activist movements since the 1980s, fostering cooperation and enabling the creation of an autonomous judicial and policing system known as the CRAC-PC."

Juicio de Tony Hernández: Interrogatorio completo del líder de Los Cachiros  10/12/2019 El Heraldo 

Juicio de Tony Hernández: Interrogatorio completo del líder de Los Cachiros  10/12/2019 El Heraldo: "El narcotraficante sostuvo que el expresidente hondureño Porfirio Lobo Sosa le prometió protección a él y a su familia, contribuyó a proteger cargamentos de droga e inclusive ayudó a lavar activos provenientes del narcotráfico. Los actuales diputados nacionalistas Reynaldo Ekónomo y Óscar Nájera también fueron mencionados en su declaración. Por otra parte, también el actual ministro de Seguridad de Honduras, Julián Pacheco Tinoco. "Invertimos en otras propiedades, invertimos en vehículos, en casas, en sobornar al acusado, en sobornar a Juan Orlando, en sobornar a políticos, en sobornar a miembros del Ejército hondureño, incluso Julián Pacheco Tinoco fue sobornado, señor, y miembros de la Policía Nacional ", confesó el líder del cartel de Los Cachiros."

How Elites and Narcos Do Business, Politics in Honduras  10/9/2019 Insight Crime: "But then the relationship deepened much more than Jaime had explained in the interview. In 2009, the prosecutor says, Jaime transferred a parcel of land to CW-1 (Confidential Witness One.) CW-1 was presumably either the oldest brother, Javier, the middle brother, Devis, or their younger brother, Santos Isidro. The three made up the core of the Cachiros. By then, all three had turned themselves in to US authorities and had become cooperating witnesses in numerous cases, including the one against the Rosenthals. In return for the land, Jaime expected to get “below-market rate” prices for the cows the Rivera Maradiaga family were selling to them, the US prosecutor says in the exhibit. This was not a small deal — the Rosenthal family were one of the largest meat and dairy providers in Honduras during this time period."

El asesinato de Bertha Cáceres: El gerente de la empresa acusado de ser el autor intelectual  10/4/2019 Dick Emanuelsson: "El señor Castillo es egresado de Westpoint, la misma universidad donde los agentes de la CIA, Inteligencia Militar y los diplomáticos estadounidenses son preparados para sus misiones en el mundo. Ha creado o ha participado en la creación de diez empresas en Honduras, además dos en Panamá. Incluso tiene a través de ellas nexos con el narcotráfico, denuncia Fernández."

Juicio de Tony Hernández: exnarco relata más sobornos a políticos  10/4/2019 France 24: "El narco Víctor Hugo Díaz Morales, más conocido como "el Rojo", contó que tras el pago de esos 100.000 dólares volvió a ofrecer más sobornos para Juan Orlando Hernández, que quería presidir el Congreso. "El acusado Tony Hernández me dijo que si fuese necesario él me lo hacía saber, ya que le estaban colaborando en estos sobornos Alex Ardón, 'Chande', exalcalde de El Paraíso; Leonel Rivera y su hermano Javier Rivera y también el diputado Rodolfo Irias Navas", dijo el Rojo al jurado. Los hermanos Rivera Madariaga fueron líderes del violento cartel Los Cachiros y colaboran con la fiscalía estadounidense en este juicio, igual que el exalcalde Ardón, acusado de narcotráfico. Irias Navas es diputado del Partido Nacional de los hermanos Hernández y el expresidente Lobo desde 1986."

Dejan libre a Ramón Matta Waldurraga tras dos años detenido en EEUU  10/4/2019 La Prensa: "Al momento de declararse culpable, Matta Waldurraga declaró ante el juez: “Yo viví en colombia. Tengo doble nacionalidad con Honduras. Algunas personas de Honduras se pusieron en contacto conmigo en 2005. Estas personas recibirían drogas porque tenían la infraestructura para recibir botes de motor rápido y avionetas, para que yo los pusiera en contacto con personas que tenían drogas y para que tuvieran las infraestructuras para llevar las drogas de Colombia a Honduras”. En su declaración, Matta Waldurraga agregó: “Y lo hice varias veces, de hecho. Siempre fui el intermediario entre los dos puntos. Participé en conversaciones para que la droga fuera de Colombia a Honduras y finalmente, la gente hondureña continuaría la ruta de México a Estados Unidos”, especificó el hondureño."

Diputado Rodolfo Irias Navas señalado por El Rojo en juicio contra Tony Hernández  10/4/2019 La Prensa: "El narco Víctor Hugo Díaz Morales, más conocido como "El Rojo", contó que tras el pago de esos 100.000 dólares volvió a ofrecer más sobornos para Juan Orlando Hernández, que quería presidir el Congreso. "El acusado Tony Hernández me dijo que si fuese necesario él me lo hacía saber, ya que le estaban colaborando en estos sobornos Alex Ardón, 'Chande', exalcalde de El Paraíso; Leonel Rivera y su hermano Javier Rivera y también el diputado Rodolfo Irias Navas", dijo el Rojo al jurado."

Munición de las Fuerzas Armadas fue vendida a narcos, revelan en juicio de TH  10/4/2019 Noticias Honduras: "El sindicado también mencionó a oficiales de la Policía de Honduras involucrados en tráfico de drogas con Tony Hernández: Normando Rafael Lozano, Geovany Rodríguez, Mauro Flores Santos y Mauricio Hernández Pineda, primo de Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH). El Rojo también afirmó que aportó $100 mil a la campaña de Pepe Lobo para presidente y para lograr la elección de JOH como presidente del Congreso Nacional."

US vs Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado  10/4/2019 US District Court, Southern District: "Defendant Tony Hernandez told me that he would let me know if he needed me to do that, because at the time he already had helped with bribes by the Mayor of El Paraiso. :Alexander Ardon Chandler, and also through Javier and Leonel Rivera and also through Congressman Rodolfo Irias Navas on the Atlantic Coast of Honduras."

The US Drug Trial Evidence That Could Topple the President of Honduras  10/2/2019 Insight Crime: "Tony Hernández and Hernández Pineda, according to prosecutors, conspired to leverage drug trafficking for the purpose of “maintaining and enhancing … the power of the National Party in Honduras,” of which their family member, President Hernández, was a rising star before he became the face of the party as head of state."

Univision: Las montañas de Honduras desde donde los narcos presuntamente ayudaron al presidente Hernández  9/30/2019 Radio America: "Según documentos judiciales, Ardón, de 43 años, confesó haber ayudado a Tony Hernández a recaudar $2 millones en dinero ilícito procedente del narcotráfico para el candidato presidencial del Partido Nacional Porfirio Lobo en 2009 a cambio de protección. Lobo ha negado esa acusación, aunque reconoció que se conocían a través de la política. En 2010, Ardón presuntamente también accedió a ayudar a Juan Orlando Hernández a sobornar a sus legisladores con dinero procedente de drogas ílicitas para obtener los votos necesarios para llegar a la presidencia del Congreso Nacional. Luego, en 2013, también presuntamente donó $1.5 millones en ganancias procedentes del narcotráfico a la campaña presidencial de Hernández en el oeste de Honduras, donde Ardón era coordinador de campaña del Partido Nacional."

U.S. announces asylum deal with Honduras, could send migrants to one of world’s most violent nations  9/25/2019 WaPo: "Department of Homeland Security officials reached the accord with the government of President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is embroiled in allegations of government corruption and charges that he and others have been operating the nation as a criminal enterprise — Hernández has been named as a co-conspirator in a major U.S. drug trafficking case. The deal paves the way for the United States to take asylum seekers from the U.S. border and ship them to a nation with one of the highest murder rates in the world, a country with gang wars that have fueled waves of mass migration and multiple “caravans” to the United States that became a major irritant to President Trump."

The Downfall of Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández  9/18/2019 Insight Crime: "Amilcar Alexander Ardón went from cattle rustler to milk farmer to drug capo to mayor of El Paraíso, a small town along a key trafficking route on Honduras’ border with Guatemala. There, he formed a business relationship with Tony Hernández, whereby Ardón provided drug proceeds to the political campaigns of Juan Orlando Hernández in exchange for protection. This criminal partnership allegedly lasted for years, and it now may end Hernández’s political career."

Wild West of Honduras: Home to Narcos and Their Politicians  9/10/2019 Insight Crime: "Highways extend from both of these runways toward the mountains straddling Guatemala. Few formal customs points, which rarely subject cargo trucks to exhaustive revisions, are present along the border, InSight Crime found during field research. Massive blind spots also provide easy passage."

Max Blumenthal on the US legacy in Honduras: migrant crisis, political murders, narco-President  9/1/2019 The Greyzone: "Back from Honduras, The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal discusses the impact of US meddling over the last decade: a narco-President, Juan Orlando Hernández, recently named as a co-conspirator in a drug trafficking case against his brother; a massive migrant crisis; political assassinations; and devastating privatizations overseen by Joe Biden.Guest: Max Blumenthal, Senior Editor of The Grayzone and author of several books including his latest, “The Management of Savagery.”"

JOH y Pepe Lobo dirigieron relación simbiótica entre narcos y el Partido Nacional  8/29/2019 Criterio: "Los fiscales de Nueva York se refieren a «una relación simbiótica entre narcotraficantes y el Partido Nacional», que fue dirigida por los expresidentes Porfirio Lobo y Juan Orlando Hernández durante la última década, informa Univisión este jueves."

Violence Against Indigenous Hondurans Shows Us What Fuels Migration  8/28/2019 Common Dreams: "As Grassroots International’s Solidarity Program Officer for Latin America, I have accompanied and supported the Garifuna and OFRANEH in their struggles for years. Vallecito is sacred for the Garifuna. Although a chronic target for attack, it is also a symbol for reclamation and resistance among the ancestral territory that has been stolen from them. This most recent assault has come after a resurgence of narco-traffickers in the area. For years, narcos had used the Garifuna’s tree cover and easy access to the coast to run drugs — including at one point through a clandestine airstrip. Members of OFRANEH believe drug-runners are now trying to steal back the land Garifuna have been able to reclaim. The Honduran government, in bed with narcos and corporate raiders, has a deep apathy and antipathy towards the Garifuna. “Repeatedly the police have told us that they know these people and they are ‘friends with them,’” Miriam Miranda, a leader in OFRANEH, said of the response to the recent assaults."

Violence Against Indigenous Hondurans Shows Us What Fuels Migration  8/28/2019 Common Dreams: "As Grassroots International’s Solidarity Program Officer for Latin America, I have accompanied and supported the Garifuna and OFRANEH in their struggles for years. Vallecito is sacred for the Garifuna. Although a chronic target for attack, it is also a symbol for reclamation and resistance among the ancestral territory that has been stolen from them. This most recent assault has come after a resurgence of narco-traffickers in the area. For years, narcos had used the Garifuna’s tree cover and easy access to the coast to run drugs — including at one point through a clandestine airstrip. Members of OFRANEH believe drug-runners are now trying to steal back the land Garifuna have been able to reclaim."

Narcotraficante financió las campañas del Partido Nacional de Honduras: Fiscalía de NY  8/6/2019 Prensa Libre, Guatemala: "El documento planteado por la Fiscalía de Nueva York refiere que Alexander Ardón, narcotraficante y exalcalde de El Paraíso, Copán, gastó 1.5 millones de dólares en ingreso de drogas para apoyar la campaña de Juan Orlando Hernández."

President of Honduras implicated in $1.5 million drug money conspiracy by New York prosecutor  8/3/2019 Univision: "Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was identified Friday as a co-conspirator in a drug trafficking and money laundering case against his brother, according to document filed in U.S. district court. Prosecutors say $1.5 million in drug proceeds was used to help elect him in 2013. Hernández responds saying he is foe of traffickers who are out for revenge against him."

Destrucción de los viveros de coco en Vallecito  7/8/2019 OFRANEH: "A pesar de los esfuerzo realizados por el pueblo Garífuna para recuperar uno de los alimentos básicos de la gastronomía de nuestro pueblo, parece ser que existe un complot entre los vecinos de Vallecito – entre los que se encuentran los heredero de Miguel Facusse- para destruir las plántulas destinadas a repartirse entre las comunidades, las que así eventualmente tendrán viveros con los cuales se iniciaría la replantación a nivel de la costa Garífuna. El pasado viernes, en horas de la noche, parte del vivero de cocos fue destruido por el ganado de algún mal intencionado “vecino”. Cabe señalar que desde años, grupos aliados al crimen organizado han tratado de apoderarse de nuevo de Vallecito, paraje que hasta el 2014 fue utilizado como pista clandestina."

Así fue el rescate de los seis hondureños en Iriona, Colón  6/26/2019 La Prensa: "Por medio de la Operación Fénix seis hondureños, entre ellos cinco hombres y una mujer, fueron liberados luego de que una banda de narcotraficantes llamada "Los Yanes" los había privado de libertad a base de engaños."

Narco-Politics Cast Shadow on Honduran Presidents: Court Documents  6/1/2019 Insight Crime: "Prosecutors also named President Hernández as a target in a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation that started in 2013, a separate recently unsealed filing shows. Hernández, his sister Hilda, and several members of Honduras’ powerful Rosenthal family were under investigation for “large scale drug-trafficking and money laundering activities related to the importation of cocaine into the United States,” according to the 2015 filing that was unsealed this week in a New York federal court. In Honduras, meanwhile, Hernández’s predecessor, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo Sosa, has been accused of directing government funds to fraudulent business deals with a Cachiros-owned construction firm."

Autoridades encuentran un narco laboratorio en Colón  5/17/2019 Once Noticias: "Las autoridades de seguridad en Honduras localizaron un narcolaboratorio así como un nuevo plantío de coca, en la zona de Icoteas Limón."

Narcolaboratorio y 40 mil plantas de hoja de coca hallan en Colón  5/17/2019 Proceso Digital: "“En las últimas horas se han identificado un narcolaboratorio y sembradillos de hojas de coca en el sector de Iriona”, dijo Meza a la emisora radial HRN."

EEUU condena a narco hondureño Arnulfo Fagot Máximo a 33 años de prisión  5/9/2019 El Heraldo: "Para movilizar cocaína a lo largo de la costa de La Mosquitia desde Colombia, el hondureño se valió de lanchas, aviones pequeños y barcos sumergibles. Sobre la cantidad de droga movilizada en sus operaciones, los agentes indicaron que van "desde unos pocos cientos a varios miles de kilogramos por entrega". La mayor parte de esta cocaína fue entregada a la organización del narcotráfico de los Montes Bobadilla en la comunidad de Francia en Limón, Colón, costa norte de Honduras, donde, a su vez, la transferían a otros traficantes."

Wilter Blanco ha llorado las 25 veces que ha hablado con su defensor  5/8/2019 La Prensa: "Rocha al final pidió que se le aplicara una pena de 180 meses, 15 años, porque durante ese tiempo el hondureño dijo que no podría ver crecer a sus seis hijos. Rocha también mencionó al juez que si alguna vez Blanco “llega a Honduras, tendrá suerte de llegar vivo a su casa”, apuntó."

Extraditado a EEUU: Wilter Blanco confiesa que envió cocaína a Corea del Sur  5/1/2019 Tiempo Digital: "Un agente de la DEA dio a conocer que “Blanco admitió, en suma y sustancia, que dos barcos incautados por la Policía de Corea del Sur bajo sospecha de transportar narcóticos pertenecían a él”, expresó el agente. También aseguró que, a principios del 2016, el narcotraficante hondureño, se comunicó con la DEA vía Blackberry para «negociar una posible rendición», dijo. Sin embargo, la negociación no dio resultados y él huyó."

Indigenous Resistance to Criminal Governance: Why Regional Ethnic Autonomy Institutions Protect Communities from Narco Rule in Mexico  4/10/2019 LARR: "This article explains why some indigenous communities in Mexico have been able to resist drug cartels’ attempts to take over their local governments, populations, and territories while others have not. While indigenous customary laws and traditions provide communal accountability mechanisms that make it harder for narcos to take control, they are insufficient. Using a paired comparison of two indigenous regions in the highlands of Guerrero and Chihuahua—both ideal zones for drug cultivation and traffic—we show that the communities most able to resist narco conquest are those that have a history of social mobilization, expanding village-level indigenous customary traditions into regional ethnic autonomy regimes. By scaling up local accountability practices regionally and developing translocal networks of cooperation, indigenous movements have been able to construct mechanisms of internal control and external protection that enable communities to deter the narcos from corrupting local authorities, recruiting young men, and establishing criminal governance regimes through force."

Indigenous Resistance to Criminal Governance: Why Regional Ethnic Autonomy Institutions Protect Communities from Narco Rule in Mexico  4/10/2019 Latin American Research Review: "This article explains why some indigenous communities in Mexico have been able to resist drug cartels’ attempts to take over their local governments, populations, and territories while others have not. While indigenous customary laws and traditions provide communal accountability mechanisms that make it harder for narcos to take control, they are insufficient. Using a paired comparison of two indigenous regions in the highlands of Guerrero and Chihuahua—both ideal zones for drug cultivation and traffic—we show that the communities most able to resist narco conquest are those that have a history of social mobilization, expanding village-level indigenous customary traditions into regional ethnic autonomy regimes. By scaling up local accountability practices regionally and developing translocal networks of cooperation, indigenous movements have been able to construct mechanisms of internal control and external protection that enable communities to deter the narcos from corrupting local authorities, recruiting young men, and establishing criminal governance regimes through force."

Luis Alonso Valle colabora con la DEA y hunde a sus compinches  4/1/2019 El Heraldo: "EL HERALDO tuvo acceso exclusivo al testimonio que ofreció el narcotraficante ante el juez de Virginia, Liam O’Grady, un jurado, y los fiscales de Estados Unidos, Thomas W. Traxler, James L. Trump y Anthony T. Aminoff. El testimonio de Luis Alonso fue breve y apenas duró unos 40 minutos y es que, según certifican los documentos oficiales, él tuvo que abandonar la sala de juicios porque los niveles de glucosa en la sangre se le subieron a 368, por lo que tuvo que inyectársele insulina. Luis Alonso dio detalles de cómo traficaron con cargamentos de cocaína desde Gracias a Dios hasta Copán."

Congresista estadounidense le recuerda a la DEA quien es Hernández  3/2/2019 NotiBomba: "La congresista estadounidense Norma Torres criticó a la administración de la DEA por recibir a Juan Orlando Hernández y por el mensaje que envió tras la reunión. Torres, congresista por el distrito de California, reaccionó indignada vía Twitter, tras la publicación de la cuenta oficial de la DEA, en la cual, anunciaron la productiva reunión que tuvieron con Hernández y que esperan seguir trabajando con el. Torres aprovechó para recordarle a la DEA quien es Hernández."

Carlos Slim, the NY Times, & the trial of El Chapo Guzman  2/11/2019 MadCow: "While Mr. Slim was expressing his touching commitment to a free press with a $250,000,000 investment in the New York Times during the global financial crisis in 2008, one person did speak up. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the United Nations’ watchdog Office on Drugs and Crime was impolitic enough to blurt out the truth about a sea change in global climate far more inconvenient than rising sea levels. “In the midst of the current world financial crisis, drug money is, in many instances, currently the only liquid investment capital,” Maria Costa told Reuters."

2018 was the year crime became an ideology in the Americas  2/1/2019 openDemocracy: "Still, two years of Donald Trump’s strange, haphazard foreign policy has had a devastating impact on foreign relations in the region and has opened the door to transnational organized crime. To begin with, Trump has largely abandoned years of anti-corruption efforts in Central America, while his administration faces near constant accusations of corruption inside his own regime. Specifically, 2018 will be remembered as the year the US government stopped supporting the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), the UN-backed adjunct prosecutor’s office in that country."

Second Former Honduran Mayor Charged With Conspiring To Import Cocaine Into The United States And Related Firearms Offenses  1/23/2019 US DOJ: "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As alleged, Amilcar Alexander Ardon Soriano and Mario Jose Calix Hernandez each conspired to import massive quantities of cocaine into the U.S. and used heavy weaponry to protect drug shipments. Ardon Soriano allegedly used his position as a Honduran mayor to facilitate his own drug trafficking, and to exact a ‘tax’ on other traffickers, making millions of dollars in the process. Thanks to the DEA, both men now face criminal charges in the U.S.”"

Segundo exalcalde hondureño acusado de conspiración para importar cocaína a Estados Unidos y delitos con armas conexos  1/23/2019 US Embassy, Honduras: "ARDÓN SORIANO fue anteriormente alcalde de El Paraíso, Copán, en Honduras. En el período comprendido entre aproximadamente los años 2000 y 2015, incluidas ocasiones en las que se desempeñaba como alcalde de El Paraíso, ARDÓN SORIANO participó en actividades de narcotráfico a gran escala con traficantes que se encontraban en Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala y México, entre otros sitios. ARDÓN SORIANO es el segundo exalcalde hondureño acusado en el Distrito Sur de Nueva York por delitos de narcotráfico. En julio de 2018, Arnaldo Urbina Soto, exalcalde de Yoro, Honduras, fue imputado en una Acusación separada de conspirar para importar cocaína a Estados Unidos y delitos con armas conexos. Ver United States v. Urbina Soto, et al., 18 Cr. 497 (DLC)."

The Lie at the Heart of the Trial of El Chapo Guzman  1/5/2019 Daniel Hopsicker: "Why Hoffman kept information on the case secret has never been revealed. But knowledge of the inner workings of the drug trade is denied Americans as a matter of course. Citing‘national security,’ Andrea Hoffman and others like her obstruct, interrupt, and impede attempts to gain an understanding of who ends up with all that long green."

The Obsession With and Lies About Nicaragua  12/21/2018 Counterpunch: "The elaborate, well-planned conspiracy behind the April-July 2018 US-orchestrated coup attempt against Nicaragua, included most of the church hierarchy, many wealthy ex-Somocistas, many NGOs including the European-funded CENIDH, the NED (National Endowment for Democracy) and USAID, and a couple thousand young Nicaraguans trained over 4 years in the use of social media to blitzkrieg an agenda-loaded propaganda campaign when the right opportunity arose. It had been in the works since at least 2011 when Nicaraguan Felix Maradiaga teamed up with Colombian narco-trafficker Julio Cesar Paz Varela to develop a drug distribution network in Nicaragua, many of the proceeds of which were to be devoted to overthrow the Sandinista government."

Ramón Matta Ballesteros habla desde una cárcel de EEUU tras 31 años cumpliendo cadena perpetua por narcotráfico  12/11/2018 La Prensa: "Matta Ballesteros es un excapo vinculado con el Cartel de Medellín por medio de Griselda Blanco y Pablo Escobar y el Cartel de Guadalajara por medio de Miguel Ángel Felix Gallardo. El 5 de abril de 1988, cuando finalizaba sus ejercicios matutinos, en allanamiento a su propia casa en la ciudad de Tegucigalpa fue detenido por Alguaciles de los Estados Unidos, y enviado a ese país para ser juzgado y condenado por el secuestro y asesinato del agente de la DEA Enrique Camarena Salazar, así como por otros cargos."

Policía Nacional asesta duro golpe a estructura criminal de Atlántida  12/7/2018 Policia Nacional, Honduras: "Los detenidos para investigación son: -Armando Antonio Figueroa García. -Franklin Adalberto Canales Cruz. -Elvin Alonso Santos. -Gumersindo Alonzo Ruiz Guifarro. -Guillermo Josué Delgado Cáliz. -Oscar Alberto Ruiz Ruiz (antecedente de homicidio 2008). -Luis Humberto Ponce Ríos."

Ex-DEA chief who was best friend of agent 'Kiki' Camarena who appears in new Narcos TV show reveals how he avenged his pal's cartel murder... and how a bead of sweat could get you killed while undercover  11/13/2018 Daily Mail: "Mike continued: ‘They were doing inhuman things to him. Sticking things up him and other appalling torture. After more than 30 hours Rafael Caro Quintero came to the ranch house. Mike said: ‘According to one of the witnesses, he was high on cocaine. He walked up to Kiki and hit him on the head with a piece of pipe. That was the death blow. ‘Fonseca, older and wiser than Quintero, then showed up and saw Kiki was dying. He slapped Quintero on the face and told him, “this is your baby, you live with it”. ‘That’s because he knew killing a US federal agent was going to bring the full force of our government against them. He was smart enough to know that. Quintero was much more brazen and thought get away with anything.’ Ballesteros was conclusively tied to the horror when strands of his hair were found in a drained swimming pool at the kidnap ranch."

Crime, Drugs, and Power in Honduras: Searching for Better Measures of State Fragility  9/15/2018 GDPO: "This report argues that state ‘fragility’ metrics are inadequate. An increase in transparency and a call for new metrics are necessary to address entrenched elite corruption and organised crime in Honduras. In order to achieve these goals, donor countries must reconcile the political cost of promoting policies that address impunity and political protection against their own foreign policy agendas."

US Life Sentence for Honduras Partner of ‘El Chapo’ Sets Precedent  5/24/2018 Insight Crime: "El Compa’s extradition was requested after he came up in the testimony of Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, the leader of the Cachiros drug trafficking group, and during the trial of Fabio Lobo, the son of former Honduran President Porfirio Lobo. In 2017, Fabio Lobo was sentenced to 24 years in US prison for drug trafficking. Mejía is said to have been present at a meeting to plan the 2009 murder of then-drug czar Julián Aristídez González, who served as head of Honduras’ anti-drug trafficking agency (Dirección de Lucha contra el Narcotráfico – DLCN) until he was gunned down by a hit squad. Former Congressman Fredy Nájera, also extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges, is said to have attended the same meeting."

Capo hondureño del narcotráfico es sentenciado a cadena perpetua en Estados Unidos  5/21/2018 US Embassy, Honduras: "Mejía Duarte utilizó lanchas rápidas, helicópteros, y aeronaves para operar su ruta de transporte y, como los testigos detallaron en el juicio, la mayor parte de la cocaína fue suministrada al Cartel de Sinaloa, encabezada por Joaquín Guzmán Loera, también conocido como “Chapo” y por Ismael Zambada, conocido también como “Mayo”. En base al testimonio de testigos durante el juicio y a documentos sometidos en el caso, Mejía Duarte es responsable del tráfico de un estimado de al menos 20,000 kilogramos de cocaína."

EL ORIGEN DEL ROJO  4/18/2018 El Pulso: "El Rojo comenzó en sus actividades delictivas trabajando en las escalas mas básicas para Héctor Emilio Fernández, alias «Don H», también preso en Estados Unidos. Estaba encargado del transporte de droga de la costa atlántica hasta su zona de residencia en occidente, entre Copan y frontera de Guatemala."

Narcotráficante hondureño Wilter Blanco amasó mil millones de lempiras en 10 años  3/21/2018 La Prensa: [US $40 million] - "Blanco supo estructurar una red de lavado de activos en la que involucró a su esposa, padres, hijos y hasta amantes. El propósito era esconder y blanquear grandes cantidades de dinero de origen ilícito. De acuerdo a las investigaciones, Blanco logró afianzarse económicamente en el año 2005, en ese momento ya era el amo y señor del famoso corredor del Atlántico."

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report  3/1/2018 State Dept 

La Misión de la OEA en Honduras investigaba contratos hidroeléctricos antes de ser mutilada  2/5/2018 El pais: "La Misión contra la impunidad y la corrupción de Honduras (Maccih), creada por la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), ultima una investigación sobre el expresidente Porfirio Lobo (2010-2014) y ha reunido pruebas contundentes sobre sus vínculos con el cártel de Los Cachiros en la concesión de proyectos hidroeléctricos."

Accusations Land Honduras Police Reform Commission in Hot Water  2/5/2018 Insight Crime: "The recently published AP report puts the entire legitimacy of the special police commission into question. “The way in which the police commission will be perceived moving forward is dependent on how this case is resolved. I am sure that strong decisions will be made if the AP report proves to be accurate,” said Eric Olson, Deputy Director of the Latin American Program at the Wilson Center. Commission officials seem to agree. For that reason, they have begun an exhaustive process to review the background of police agents in an effort to accurately determine whether or not they are suitable for their assigned positions."

“Hernández maneja el narcotráfico desde la presidencia de Honduras”  1/30/2018 Libertad Digital: "Misión de OEA en Honduras denuncia “pacto de impunidad” entre el Congreso y la justicia Nasralla sostuvo que la búsqueda por mantenerse en el poder tiene un componente manifiestamente criminal: “Él les quitó el control del paso de la droga y lo concentró todo a través de su hermano. Usted sabe que la gente que maneja droga es vengativa. Entonces salir del poder es prácticamente la muerte, a costa de seis millones de personas en Honduras que además de ser pobres, no lo quieren”."

AP revela detalles sobre nexos del Jefe de la Policía Nacional con el narcotráfico.  1/30/2018 Libertad Digital: "Por tal razón, The Associated Press, reveló extractos de los documentos de una investigación privada, en el que el nuevo jefe de la Policía en Honduras, habría colaborado con el narcotráfico. Los documentos fueron publicados por la periodista Martha Mendoza de la AP, periodista ganadora del premio Pulitzer."

Secret report: Honduras' new top cop helped cartel move coke  1/26/2018 ABC News: "But a confidential Honduran government security report obtained by the Associated Press says Aguilar himself helped a cartel leader pull off the delivery of nearly a ton of cocaine in 2013. The clandestine haul of more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine was packed inside a tanker truck that, the report says, was being escorted by corrupt police officers to the home of Wilter Blanco, a drug trafficker recently convicted in Florida and now serving a 20-year sentence." [Wilter Blanco is head of the Atlantic Cartel.]

Informe secreto: Jefe de la Policía hondureña ayudó a narco  1/26/2018 AP: "Sin embargo, un informe confidencial del gobierno obtenido por The Associated Press dice que el propio Aguilar ayudó en 2013 al líder de un cartel de las drogas a concretar la entrega de un importante cargamento de cocaína. El cargamento de 780 kilos (1700 libras) de cocaína estaba escondido en un camión cisterna que, según el informe, era escoltado por agentes corruptos hasta la casa de Wilter Blanco, un narcotraficante que recientemente fue condenado en Florida a 20 años de prisión." [Wilter encabeza el Cartel Atlantico.]

US Authorities Charge Honduran Congressman With Drug Trafficking  1/19/2018 Insight Crime: "On January 18, US authorities unveiled an indictment against Honduran congressman Fredy Renan Najera Montoya, charging him with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, in addition to weapons charges. According to the indictment, Najera Montoya “participated in and supported” the drug trafficking activities of “large-scale” Honduran drug traffickers and “high-ranking” members of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. The congressman allegedly provided security for drug flights carrying cocaine that landed in Honduras before the drugs were then sold to the Sinaloa Cartel and later imported into the United States."

Asesino de un anciano Garifuna por guardia del Indura Hilton, finanzado por los Cachiros  12/14/2017 Mirian Herrera: "SE VE CLARAMENTE EN LAS FOTOS QUE NO HAY PRESENCIA POLICIAL EN EL LEVANTAMIENTO DEK CADAVER NO HAY CORDÓN POLICIAL SEÑAL DE QUE JAMAS HABRA UNA INVESTIGACION. JUAN ORLANDO , PEPE LOBO Y SU BANDA LO ASSESINARON Y A TODO EL MUNDO LE VALE VERGA SEÑORES."

Arnulfo Fagot Máximo se convierte en el extraditado 17 de Honduras hacia Estados Unidos  12/12/2017 El Heraldo: "La Secretaría de Seguridad vincula a “El Tío” con el clan de Montes Bobadilla y sus principales contactos serían de México, Sudamérica y de Centroamérica."

Top U.S.-Backed Honduran Security Minister Is Running Drugs, According to Court Testimony  11/26/2017 The Intercept: "Today, Pacheco remains the minister of security, in charge of the entire Honduran national police force. With hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. assistance pouring into Honduras’s security forces, Pacheco is one of the most important players in the country’s security and counternarcotics cooperation with the United States."

EEUU revela supuestos nexos entre Alcalde de Yoro, los Valle-Valle, JOH y Tony  11/22/2017 Noti Bomba: "Las pruebas que vinculan a la familia presidencial con el narcotráfico comienzan en la página 7 de este texto con fecha de Julio de 2014, en donde Fabio Lobo le advierte a Rivera Maradiaga que necesitan dinero. Rivera Maradiaga en tono sarcástico le informa a Lobo que Juan Orlando le ha quitado todo y que el quiere controlar todo el poder económico del país como los negocios, las concesiones y peajes. Luego en la página 10, Fabio Lobo menciona a un supuesto “jefe” que estaría gestionando para ayudar a Rivera Maradiaga mediar con Juan Orlando Hernández. Fabio Lobo incluso menciona que exhibió a Rivera Maradiaga como una buena persona ante este “jefe”. Rivera Maradiaga se mostro interesado en negociar con el gobierno para que no les siguieran confiscando propiedades y que dejaran a los gringos solos en su afán de afectar al Cartel."

Bernardo Domínguez, las dudas de una fortuna  10/30/2017 Milenio: [Was a US asset in the US controlled drug trade, according to journalist Daniel Hopsicker.] - "En 1983, Domínguez Cereceres creó su primera empresa, Consultores Financieros. En 1985, tras el sismo, fue el encargado de reconstruir la Casa Blanca, en Tepito. Creó el Grupo Empresarial DSC Servicios Constructivos cuatro años después, y tuvo un papel clave en la privatización de la infraestructura ferrocarrilera mexicana en 1995. En 1992 hizo se asoció con la empresa CubanaCan para la compra del hotel Tuxpan, de Varadero, para la cual destinó 15 millones de dólares."

NYT: Dinero del narcotráfico financia a Juan Orlando Hernández  10/14/2017 Hispan TV: "The New York Times hace referencia a declaraciones hechas por miembros de una familia hondureña que conformaban una de las redes del narcotráfico más poderosas del país centroamericano. Los Rivera Maradiaga dicen haber entregado una contribución económica para la campaña política del actual mandatario, Juan Orlando Hernández."

Another Honduras Narco Negotiates Plea Deal With US  10/13/2017 Insight Crime: "After the operation, the police said that Matta Waldurraga had operated a drug trafficking operation from the San Esteban estate in the department of Olancho. Authorities allege this is where he received drugs from Colombian suppliers that he then sent to the United States. According to El Heraldo, Matta Waldurraga also had state contracts in the private security and hydroelectric generation sectors." [Hence his links with people from Group Laeisz.]

La Fábula de Juan y el feroz New York Times  10/9/2017 Criterio: "Interesante sin ser del todo sorprendente que -por fin- el New York Times publique la noticia de que los Rivera Maradiaga han implicado no solo a Porfirio Lobo, sino también, a Juan Orlando Hernández como beneficiarios del patrocinio criminal. ¿Por qué lo estuvo tapando? Ya lo habían publicado antes periódicos en El Salvador y en Guatemala. Y la tardanza podría estar programada."

After 78 Killings, a Honduran Drug Lord Partners With the U.S.  10/6/2017 NYT: "The illegal drug trade in Honduras not only infected much of its civil society, including the highest levels of government and its financial sector, but also brought frightening levels of violence on its people,” Joon H. Kim, the acting United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement."

After 78 Killings, a Honduran Drug Lord Partners With the U.S.  10/6/2017 NYT: "In all, the drug lord, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, said that, working in concert with drug traffickers and others, he had “caused” the deaths of 78 people — a number that posed a dilemma for United States officials when Mr. Rivera came to them offering to expose high-level corruption in this Central American nation of some nine million people."

Hijo de expresidente de Honduras fue condenado a casi 26 años de cárcel por tráfico de cocaína  10/4/2017 CAN: "El hijo del expresidente de Honduras, Porfirio Lobo Sosa fue condenado en un tribunal de Nueva York a 24 años de cárcel y a 5 de probatoria por haber conspirado para traficar cocaína hacia los Estados Unidos. Visiblemente impactado, Fabio Lobo Lobo pidió perdón a sus padres, esposa, hijas, a Honduras y a los EEUU por haber cometido el delito que le quitará la libertad por más de dos décadas."

“Pepe” Lobo en lista de extraditables, según Adolfo Facussé  9/27/2017 Tiempo: "De acuerdo a Adolfo Facussé, empresario hondureño, el expresidente de Honduras (2010-2014), Porfirio Lobo Sosa, está en una lista de extraditables. Pero aduce que el gobierno no lo entrega porque teme un escándalo político. En ese sentido, el exdirector de la Asociación Nacional de Industriales (ANDI), dijo que “Pepe Lobo” ha sido pedido en extradición por los Estados Unidos. Pero, el gobierno se está negando a entregarlo. Lo anterior y de forma reiterativa, porque teme un escándalo político que lo puede afectar en los resultados de las elecciones de noviembre”."

Hijo de expresidente de Honduras sentenciado a 24 años de cárcel en Estados Unidos  9/7/2017 Insight Crime: "Como él mismo lo admitió, Fabio Lobo conspiró para importar enormes cantidades de cocaína a Estados Unidos", declaró en un comunicado el fiscal en funciones de Manhattan Joon H. Kim. "Con el fin de ayudar a traficantes y enriquecerse, Lobo usó el cargo de su padre y sus propias conexiones para unir a narcotraficantes con policías y funcionarios públicos corruptos. Ahora, Fabio Lobo ha sido sentenciado al sustancial periodo en prisión que sus delitos ameritan".

Atlantic Cartel  8/28/2017 Insight Crime: "Following an attack on a group of US anti-drug agents by suspected Atlantic Cartel operatives, and reported threats against US Ambassador to Honduras James Nealon in October 2016, the United States appears to be more determined than ever to dismantle the group. The successes of previous US-backed operations against Honduran criminal organizations like the Valle Valle family suggest that the Atlantic Cartel may not be able to withstand the increasing pressure that is being brought against it. Indeed, an operation involving US, Honduran and Costa Rican authorities led to the capture of cartel leader Wilter Blanco in November 2016 in Costa Rica. After pleading guilty to drug trafficking charges July 2, 2017, Blanco agreed to cooperate with US authorities. On August 17, 2017, Blanco was sentenced by a US federal court in Miami to 20 years imprisonment."

Nubes negras alrededor de las próximas elecciones en Honduras  8/25/2017 Publico: "Desde principios del siglo XX, el sistema político hondureño se distinguió por su carácter bipartidista: por más de 100 años gobernaron alternativamente el Partido Liberal o el Partido Nacional. Durante este período, este sistema político se convirtió en uno de los más corruptos del planeta, llegando Honduras a ser calificada despectivamente como república bananera, debido al poder corruptor que las compañías bananeras extranjeras ejercían sobre ambos partidos. La llegada del dinero del narcotráfico en los años setenta, vino a corromper todavía más el ambiente político, y conllevó la consolidación de fuertes vínculos entre sectores de las élites políticas, castrenses y empresariales con los grandes cárteles de la droga a nivel nacional e internacional."

Honduran Kingpin’s Plea Agreement May Have Damning Consequences  8/23/2017 Insight Crime: "While not much remains of the Atlantic Cartel, the information Blanco may provide to US authorities could be the final nail in the coffin for the group, while also potentially impacting broader criminal dynamics in the region." [It is common knowledge on the Atlantic coast that the cartel is still operating under Wilter's brother's leadership and has retained much of the properties it had prior to Wilter's address.]

Randy Jorgensen and friends: how Canadian criminals steal Garifuna lands  8/12/2017 GarifunaWeb 

Southern District of Florida, SENTENCING MEMORANDUM by Wilter Blanco-Ruiz  8/7/2017 Docket Bird: "The Defendant, WILTER BLANCO-RUIZ, through counsel and pursuant to Rule 32 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure respectfully submits this Sentencing Memorandum, Request for Downward Departure and Request for Downward Variance. The Defendant respectfully moves this Court to impose a reasonable sentence that is sufficient but not greater than necessaryto meet the sentencing concerns enumerated in 18U.S. C. §3553 (a) of the United States Code. In support of this memorandum and motion for downward departure, Mr. BLANCO-RUIZ submits the following memorandum demonstrating to the Court that a below guideline sentencing is appropriate for this case.THE OFFENSE CONDUCTAccordingto paragraphs 7 through 10 of the PSR, between January and February 2015, Mr. Blanco-Ruiz and others conspiredto move 1800 kilos of Case 1."

Con ataque frontal de Honduras a corrupción en la policía, indicadores de seguridad mejoran  8/3/2017 Insight Crime: "El excomisionado de policía Jorge Alberto Barralaga fue arrestado el 30 de julio junto con otras tres personas durante la Operación Perseo, según anunciaron los fiscales hondureños en un boletín de prensa. Otros tres sospechosos están prófugos."

ÓRDENES DE CAPTURA, ASEGURAMIENTO DE BIENES Y CONGELAMIENTO DE CUENTAS POR EL DELITO DE LAVADO DE ACTIVOS  7/31/2017 Ministerio Publico, HN: "El Ministerio Público continúa este día con la Operación Perseo, misma que inició ayer con la captura de cuatro personas entre las que se encuentra el Comisionado de Policía Jorge Alberto Barralaga, las señoras Reyna Elizabeth Ayala, Edith Xiomara Roca y Motse Paola Fraga Duarte, esta última compañera de Wilter Blanco quien fuera extraditado a los Estados Unidos días atrás."

Honduran politician pleads guilty to U.S. money laundering charge  7/25/2017 Reuters: "Rosenthal was charged in October 2015 along with his father, Jaime Rosenthal, a former vice president of Honduras, his cousin, Yankel Rosenthal, a former minister of investment under current Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez; and Andres Acosta Garcia, a lawyer for Grupo Continental. Prosecutors have said that the four men engaged in a multi-year scheme to launder proceeds of narcotics trafficking and bribery offenses through accounts located in the United States."

La captura del mega empresario hondureño crea un terremoto  7/14/2017 Noti Bomba: "Los Rosenthal tenían tanto poder que jamás vieron venir su caída. Quizás no vieron las señales de los planes de Estados Unidos para el Norte de Centroamérica: Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador. Después de la crisis de niños migrantes que llegaban a sus fronteras –y la vergüenza mundial que representan videos en los que los detienen y no los dejan entrar–, Estados Unidos parece dispuesto a invertir pero después de limpiar los Estados, la política y la economía en estos tres países. En Guatemala encontró un aliado en la Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad (CICIG) y financia el 40% de su presupuesto. Es el instrumento, coinciden los donantes europeos, más efectivo para combatir las mafias de corrupción e impunidad enquistadas en el Estado. En Honduras, parecen dispuestos a romper lazos históricos con grandes empresarios. Esto porque el Plan Alianza para la Prosperidad fue lanzado en Honduras en un complejo turístico en el que los Rosenthal tienen acciones, el Indura Beach and Golf Resort. Junto a Scott Nathan, llegado desde Washington del Departamento de Estado."

Fiscalía de Honduras tras la organización criminal de Matta Waldurraga  6/23/2017 El Heraldo: "En fecha 31 de octubre de 2007, José Miguel Handal Larach vendió un inmueble ubicado en Punta Gorda, Omoa, Cortés, a Joaquín Martínez Meza por la cantidad de 50 mil lempiras. Posteriormente, Martínez Meza le donó la propiedad a Raquel Tatiana Núñez Pagoaga, quien el 25 de abril de 2013 se lo vendió por la cantidad de cuatro millones 150 mil 422 lempiras a Julia Esther Estrada Guzmán, quien actuó como representante legal de la sociedad denominada Scarius Marine. Este tipo de transacciones continuaron. Entre otros casos está que en octubre y noviembre de 2007 Handal Larach, por 300 mil y 100 mil lempiras, también vendió dos inmuebles a los señores Mario Enrique Zelaya Cabrera y Juan Carlos Escalón Carbajal, quienes en el 2013 le donaron los terrenos a Raquel Tatiana Núñez Pagoaga, quien el 25 abril de 2013 vendió tales inmueble a la sociedad Scarius Marine."

ENEE le aprobó un contrato a empresa de Matta Waldurraga  6/18/2017 El Heraldo: "El 31 de julio de 2013, la Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE) le otorgó un contrato de suministro de energía eléctrica con fuentes renovables a la empresa Generadora de Energía Hidroeléctrica Las Piedras, representada por Juan Ramón Matta Waldurraga. Mediante el decreto legislativo 336-2013 publicado el 16 de mayo de 2014 en La Gaceta número 33,428, se aprobó el contrato de suministro de Energía Eléctrica con fuente renovables suscrito por la ENEE el 31 de julio de 2013 con la Empresa Generadora de Energía Hidroeléctrica Las Piedras."

El extraditable hondureño Noé Montes Bobadilla, alias “Tom” lideraba el clan de los Montes en Colón  6/15/2017 El Heraldo: "Los Montes Bobadilla eran primos de Pedro García Montes, un hondureño que fue jefe de pagos del Cartel de Cali en Colombia. Mientras Adán huía de la justicia su familia tomó las riendas del negocio. Informes de la Dirección de Lucha contra el Narcotráfico indican que el clan de los Montes realizó actividades de narcotráfico con la participación de varios miembros de su familia, manteniendo relaciones con otros grupos que han operado en la zona del departamento de Colón, como ser los hermanos Rivera Maradiaga, ya en poder de la justicia de Estados Unidos y la familia Zelaya García."

Corruption Is the 'Operating System' in Honduras: Report  6/12/2017 Insight Crime: "Chayes says that this dynamic may be intensifying under the administration of President Juan Orlando Hernández, who took office in 2014 and is currently leading the field among contenders in the presidential election scheduled for November. The report argues that Hernández has made a "strategic effort" to consolidate government power in the executive branch, thereby strenghtening a close-knit network of elites with ties to the public, private and criminal sectors that already wield disproportionate political and economic control."

Missing the Real Noriega Story  6/1/2017 Consortium News: "The resulting publicity created lasting myths about Noriega and drugs. Journalists who should know better have described Noriega as “one of the world’s biggest drug kingpins,” to quote Time magazine. In fact, Louis Kellner, the U.S. attorney who oversaw his Miami indictment and trial admitted, “Noriega was never a major player in the drug war.” Indeed, at worst, he was a small fry compared to the military rulers of Honduras, whose epic protection of the cocaine trade was tolerated by Washington in return for using that country as a staging base for Contra operations against the Sandinista-led government of Nicaragua in the 1980s."

Private-Sector Network Members  5/30/2017 Carnegie Endowment: "As a Patuca III critic put it, “The thing about big dams isn’t that they generate electricity. They generate money for government pockets. The developers are the biggest companies. And big companies, big money also offers big opportunities for money-laundering.”

Five Years Later, US Admits Lies About Deadly Honduran Shooting  5/26/2017 FAIR: "A Justice and State Department review reveals that top Drug Enforcement Administration officials lied repeatedly to Justice and to Congress about deadly shootings in Honduras in May 2012—including an incident off the Mosquito Coast in which a boat was fired on, killing four passengers, among them a 14-year-old boy. DEA officials long maintained, and media reported, that those killed were drug dealers who had fired first."

Trump Policies Undermine Fight Against MS13: US Police  5/25/2017 Insight Crime: "The police chiefs also provided details of some of the dynamics that govern the gangs in the different places and how events in these places can impact one another. El Salvador's 2012 gang truce between the MS13 and the rival Barrio 18, which fell apart in 2014, strengthened communications between prison leaders in El Salvador and gang members in cities like Washington, Boston, and New York, they said. As opposed to what happens in the West Coast, where the MS13 answers to other organizations such as the Mexican Mafia, there are no defined leaders on the East Coast, which makes the views of the Salvadoran leadership more important."

Honduran government, narcos, and dams: eco-activist mayor Omar Suazo arrested after surviving an assassination attempt  5/14/2017 Garifunaweb: Summary of the Omar Suazo case - "An eco-activist and singer in the Garifuna tradition, Omar "Babakle" Suazo is mayor of Sambo Creek, a largely Garifuna town in Honduras. In the early hours of Monday May 8th, he was assaulted by a group of special agents and thrown to the ground face down while one stabbed him 4 times in the back. The attackers were shouting genocidal slogans, "Death to the Garifuna." An onlooker opened fire, killing the man stabbing Suazo and wounding at least one other. Regular police then arrived and arrested Omar Suazo for murder. He has been in jail ever since, in a private cell which may not shield him from additional attempts on his life."

El diputado eterno, un cartel narco y un valle inundado de palma africana  5/2/2017 Contra Corriente: "Antes de ser presidente, Rafael Leonardo Callejas era el ministro de Recursos Naturales, al llegar a la presidencia apadrinó políticamente a Nájera y a Rodolfo Irías Navas, los diputados del litoral atlántico que llevarían una de sus políticas más importantes, la que regresaba la tierra dada a campesinos a las manos de grandes terratenientes. Regresaba los valles al gran capital como había sido antes de la reforma agraria."

El diputado eterno, un cartel narco y un valle inundado de palma africana  5/2/2017 Contracorriente: "Un mes antes que los líderes del cártel de narcotráfico más poderoso de Honduras lo mencionaran en una corte de Estados Unidos vinculándolo junto a otros altos funcionarios del Estado de Honduras en sus actividades ilícitas, Óscar Nájera, diputado nacionalista por 27 años, nos contaba que en esa mesa en la que atendió esta entrevista, se habían sentado todos: los narcos, los políticos, esos señalados por “Los Cachiros” y los mismos Cachiros, los poderosos."

Honduras Suspends Ex-Police Directors Implicated in Drug Czar Murder  4/22/2017 Insight Crime: "Authorities in Honduras have suspended two former national police directors as well as 25 officers for their alleged involvement in the murder of the country's anti-drug czar in an investigation that threatens to expose the extent of state collusion with organized crime." [It appears nothing happened as a result.]

Neptalí Mejía trabajaba con Wilter Blanco y Los Cachiros  4/16/2017 La Prensa: "Por más de una década, Sergio Neptalí Mejía Duarte ha operado en el departamento de Colón, específicamente en el valle de Sico, junto con otros carteles como el de Los Cachiros y Wilter Blanco. Mejía Duarte fue mencionado por Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiga, exlíder del cartel de Los Cachiros, durante su testimonio en una corte de Estados Unidos contra Fabio Lobo, hijo del expresidente Porfirio Lobo Sosa, acusado por narcotráfico."

Un compinche del capo hondureño Wilter Blanco lo delató ante Estados Unidos  4/3/2017 El Heraldo: "El proceso judicial contra Blanco Ruiz, a quien se le considera socio de un miembro clave del Cartel de los Soles que opera en Venezuela, empezó la semana anterior. A Wilter Blanco se le considera el líder del Cartel del Atlántico, una organización de narcotraficantes hondureños que tenía relación con Roberto de Jesús Soto García, supuesto miembro del Cartel de los Soles y socio de Efraín Antonio Campo Flores y Francisco Flores de Freitas, sobrinos de la pareja presidencial de Venezuela, quienes fueron hallados culpables de delitos de narcotráfico en un tribunal de Nueva York."

Expareja de capo hondureño Wilter Blanco es condenada a siete años de cárcel por lavado  3/31/2017 El Heraldo: "García Ramírez aceptó, al someterse a un procedimiento abreviado, haber manejado un monto de 3 millones 521, 900 lempiras provenientes del capo hondureño. Con dicho monto compró una vivienda en la ciudad de La Ceiba, la cual le fue decomisada por las autoridades al no poder ser justificada por la mujer. La fémina fue arestada el pasado 21 de octubre de 2016 en la ciudad de Tocoa en el departamento de Colón. Vale aclarar que García fue amante y es madre de dos hijos del narcotraficante, pero no la esposa."

Honduras Crime Group Used Natural Disaster to Launder Money  3/29/2017 Insight Crime: "The criminal organization reportedly set up several businesses that were hired by state companies to carry out 28 major infrastructure projects in the aftermath of the storm. Authorities believe the projects were supervised by companies that were either controlled by the Cachiros, or did not exist. Honduras' Anti-Corruption Council (Consejo Nacional Anticorrupción - CNA) said one of the state companies implicated in the illegal scheme was the electricity company (Empresa Hondureña de Energía Eléctrica - ENEE), which allegedly paid inflated prices to an enterprise linked with the Cachiros. ENEE representatives, however, have rejected the accusations, saying they were unaware of links between the criminal organization and the companies they hired to carry out projects."

Another Day, Another Damning Testimony of Elites by Honduras Trafficker  3/20/2017 Insight Crime: "As part of a sentencing hearing on March 16, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga of the once-feared Cachiros criminal group said he met with Honduran Congressman Antonio "Tony" Hernández where they discussed how a company that Rivera Maradiaga and his family owned and operated could receive money from the government for services rendered. In return, Rivera Maradiaga claimed, he would pay a "bribe" to the president's brother."

Tony Hernández: "Estoy dispuesto a presentarme ante las autoridades de EEUU"  3/16/2017 El Heraldo: "El hermano del presidente Juan Orlando Hernández, Antonio "Tony" Hernández salió al paso de las acusaciones hechas este jueves por el excapo hondureño Devis Rivera Maradiaga en una corte de Nueva York, Estados Unidos."

Capo hondureño que se escondió en Costa Rica fue extraditado a Estados Unidos  3/15/2017 Nacion: "Ese cartel opera desde el 2004 en La Mosquitia, selva tropical de 800.000 hectáreas. Hace dos años dejó la zona cuando el Gobierno de Honduras inició una cacería en su contra, pues la Agencia Técnica de Investigación Criminal (ATIC) lo vincula con varios homicidios y el pago de sobornos a policías y políticos. De acuerdo con estimaciones realizadas por las autoridades, su fortuna está valorada $300 millones. El año pasado al capo le confiscaron 142 bienes, entre los que hay terrenos, casas, vehículos, lanchas y sociedades."

Contracts Awarded to Honduras Drug Clan Illustrate Cyclical Corruption  3/9/2017 Insight Crime: "In Honduras, government contracts are more than just a means to completing public works projects. They are often at the heart of how corruption and organized crime functions, as these contracts enable state monies to move from political elites to underworld figures in an ostensibly legal fashion. This process becomes a self-reinforcing cycle of corruption when the owners of the companies receiving the contracts send kickbacks or campaign contributions to the politicians responsible for doling them out. The Cachiros, for instance, regularly made significant donations to the campaigns of politicians from both of the country's major political parties, the National Party and Liberal Party."

Drug Trafficker In New York Court Claims He Bribed Honduran President  3/7/2017 CBS: "A man who led a violent Honduran drug trafficking organization has told a federal court in New York that he bribed a president of the Central American country. Devis Rivera Maradiaga, a onetime leader of a gang known as the Cachiros, made the allegation while testifying Monday in a pre-sentencing hearing for the son of now retired Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa. The son has pleaded guilty to cocaine smuggling."

Top Honduras Drug Trafficker Captured in Guatemala  3/6/2017 Insight Crime: "Víctor Hugo Díaz Morales, alias “El Rojo,” was captured along the Próceres Boulevard and 16th Street in Guatemala City, according to a Guatemalan Interior Ministry press release. The ministry says Díaz Morales is facing drug trafficking charges in the Southern District of New York. Díaz Morales goes by at least two other names: Víctor Manuel Villegas Castillo and Víctor Manuel Villela. Díaz Morales and his criminal organization operates mostly along the Guatemala-Honduras border, according to Honduras and Guatemalan authorities who spoke to InSight Crime on condition of anonymity during the course of the investigation into the alleged trafficker’s activities."

Honduras, From Banana Republic to Narco State  2/12/2017 Stratfor: "The most important factor for success, though, has been the National Inter-Institutional Security Task Force (FUSINA), created in 2014 to serve as an operational arm of the state's National Security Council. Currently, FUSINA is led by defense and security ministers." [When senior government officials are also traffickers, this will not work. Stratfor functions as a private CIA, and it will not critique CIA sponsored trafficking, abundantly in evidence in Honduras. If you reach your limit of free artices on Stratfor, just switch browsers.]

Honduras, From Banana Republic to Narco State  2/12/2017 Stratfor: "Gangs MS13 and Barrio 18 are involved in the drug trade but also carry out other violent crimes, such as extortion, in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba. The violence they impose has been a major driver of migration north to Mexico and to the United States. According to Honduras' Casa Alianza, Mexico deported more than 90,000 Honduran child migrants in 2016, and the United States apprehended an estimated 410,000 migrants mainly from Central America."

Navigating the Landscape of Guatemala's Organized Crime  12/4/2016 Stratfor: "Should leftist candidate Xiomara Castro win the Honduran presidency, her administration could prove less cooperative on counternarcotics operations with the United States." [As opposed to the current narco state where generals do the trafficking? Stratfor is a private CIA and is reluctant to criticize CIA sponsored trafficking. If you reach your limit of free artices on Stratfor, just switch browsers.]

Atlantic Cartel  11/25/2016 Insight Crime: [covers the areas occupied by Garinagu] "The investigations of the murders of González and Landaverde languished for years, and the cases came to exemplify the extent of criminality and impunity within the Honduran police force. In 2014, recordings surfaced from a police station known as the Casamata, or "Slaughter House," which showed officers discussing plans to execute González. Shortly thereafter, a police officer who had retrieved the recordings, apparently planning to turn them over to investigators, was found dead."

Bust of Transnational Drug Ring Follows Honduras Kingpin’s Capture  11/25/2016 Insight Crime: "In Honduras, the Attorney General’s Office conducted 10 raids in four cities — including the capital, Tegucigalpa — that resulted in the arrest of at least two police officers and one former officer. According to La Prensa, the operation is “related” to the arrest in Costa Rica of Honduran drug kingpin Wilter Neptalí Blanco Ruíz, which occurred the day before the raids."

Seguimiento tecnológico delató al presunto capo hondureño Wilter Blanco  11/24/2016 El Heraldo: "En el caso del tico Yandel Rodríguez, es considerado por las autoridades hondureñas como el enlace de Blanco en ese país y encargado de su seguridad personal. Dennis Rodríguez es trabajador del cartel del Atlántico en el manejo de lanchas que movilizan la droga procedente de Suramérica y fue la persona que lo trasladó desde el municipio de Limón, departamento de Colón, en Honduras, hasta el municipio de Heredia, departamento del mismo nombre, Costa Rica. Ese departamento es fronterizo con Nicaragua."

La lujosa vida que rodeaba al presunto capo Wilter Blanco  11/23/2016 El Heraldo: "Algunas de las propiedades incautadas están a nombre de su esposa Dunia Elizabeth Melgar Paguada."

Capturan al capo hondureño Wilter Blanco en Costa Rica  11/22/2016 El Heraldo: "El presunto narcotraficante hondure?o Wilter Blanco fue capturado la tarde de este martes por elementos de la Policía de Control de Drogas (PCD) del hermano país Costa Rica con apoyo de las autoridades hondureñas. ?En las imágenes en poder de EL HERALDO se puede ver a Blanco vistiendo una camisa naranja y muy diferente a las últimas fotos mostradas por las autoridades hondureñas para dar con su paradero. El operativo de captura se llevó a cabo con apoyo de la Dirección Nacional de Lucha contra el Narcotrófico (DLCN) y la Agencia Técnica de Investigación Criminal (ATIC)."

Embajador James Nealon celebra captura de supuesto capo Wilter Blanco  11/22/2016 El Heraldo: "Estados Unidos tuvo conocimiento que Ruiz Blanco planeaba un atentado criminal en contra del embajador Nealon y del presidente de la república Juan Orlando Hernández. Esto provocó que ambas figuras tuvieran que reforzar su seguridad. El supuesto narco hondureño fue capturado este tarde cuando caminaba tranquilamente por una vía pública de Cariari en Belén de Heredia, Costa Rica."

Wilter Blanco, el mayor capo de la droga en Honduras  11/22/2016 La Prensa: "En octubre pasado, el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos interpuso un requerimiento fiscal contra Blanco Ruiz por conspirar para ingresar al menos cinco kilogramos de cocaína a suelo estadounidense. Esta acción se originó, según lo conocido EL HERALDO, porque se colmó la paciencia de la diplomacia norteamericana por el libertinaje con el que ha operado Wilter Neptaly Blanco Ruiz y sus socios en las vastas zonas del atlántico de Honduras. Se conoce que tres hechos llevaron al límite de la tolerancia: el primero es la captura y liberación de Wilter Blanco y tres de sus compinches el 14 de septiembre de 2016 en Tocoa, Colón; el segundo es el atentado en San Pedro Sula contra un carro donde viajaban agentes antidrogas y el tercero la amenaza contra la vida del embajador James Nealon."

Wilter Blanco, el narco que mandaba en la Policía de Honduras  11/22/2016 La Prensa: "Para abril de 2015, los hondureños se vieron sorprendidos con la incautación masiva de bienes derivada de una operación de la Dirección de Lucha contra el Narcotráfico (DLCN) en contra de Wilter Neptaly Blanco Ruiz, un presunto narcotraficante de 39 años señalado como jefe del Cartel del Atlántico o del Cartel de Colón, prófugo de la justicia y ahora acusado como autor intelectual del asesinato del general Julián Arístides González. Blanco Ruiz, originario de Brus Laguna, La Mosquitia hondureña, era dueño de negocios dedicados a la exportación de mariscos y mantenía varias haciendas, unas que desbordaban en lujos como el famoso el Rancho Reguleto en Sonaguera, Colón, al noreste de Honduras, adonde llegaban bandas y artistas a entretener en las fiestas que ahí se organizaban."

“El Rojo” y Wilter, eslabones perdidos del narcotráfico en Honduras  10/30/2016 El Heraldo: "Los agentes antidrogas consideran que el arresto de estos dos supuestos capos de la droga y sus declaraciones terminarán de destapar, en Estados Unidos, la caja de Pandora, en la cual seguramente no se encontrará un tesoro oculto. Estos dos acabarán de embarrar a muchos miembros de la élite política, empresarios, militares, policías, jueces, exmagistrados y fiscales, más de lo que ya hicieron los hondureños extraditados que guardan prisión en cárceles estadounidenses."

Lugarteniente de Wilter Blanco desafía a los militares  10/23/2016 El Heraldo: "Presagiando amenazas los militares aseguraron el tractor y montaron vigilancia. Por la noche un informante alertó al jefe del equipo que 50 hombres de la banda de Fredy Ávila Ramos venían en apoyo a Óscar Everest Vega Aragón, dispuestos a atacar a la unidad militar, la cual a pesar de estar conformada solo por ocho hombres decidió enfrentarlos. Al siguiente día, 6 mujeres llegaron a la hacienda alegando que se tenía detenidas a las dos mujeres de la casa y exigían su liberación. Cuando el jefe del equipo platicaba con ellas inició el ataque. Las mujeres corrieron y se perdieron en el bosque. El personal que custodiaba el tractor -4 hombres-, al verse casi rodeado, salió por la vía de escape y se unió a los demás. El tiroteo continuó seguido de una fuerte explosión. Los patrulleros contraatacaron y los narcodelincuentes se retiraron dejando el tractor dañado aunque recuperable. El ajetreo de la fusilería terminó en 20 minutos. El resto del día no se escuchó nada. Los militares se movilizaron a la casa de la hacienda abandonada."

Honduras Kingpin Accused by US Will Turn Himself In: Reports  10/18/2016 Insight Crime: "Within months of the Cachiros’ surrender, the United States brought drug trafficking and money laundering charges against members of one of Honduras’ wealthiest and most politically powerful families, the Rosenthals, who were linked to the Cachiros’ operations."

Policías “Tigres” dejaron en libertad al capo Wilter Blanco Ruiz  10/16/2016 El Heraldo: "Al llegar a un retén ubicado en las cercanías de Tocoa, Colón, un oficial les hizo señal de parada y el conductor bajó el vidrio de su ventana, por lo que el oficial le pidió que bajara el vidrio de atrás, pero el conductor no atendió la orden y pidió hacer una llamada para luego pasarle el teléfono celular al uniformado. Tras unos minutos de conversación, el oficial regresó el aparato celular al conductor y pidió a los ocupantes una disculpa por el tiempo perdido y les pidió seguir la marcha."

Honduras, EE UU Se perfila a destruir toda la estructura de Wilter Blanco  10/15/2016 Quien Opina: "El informe ULP-05-2013 del Ministerio Público establece que Wilter Blanco comenzó sus actividades ilícitas asociándose con los señores Darsy Faustino Hyde Valladares y Francisco Javier Orellana, ambos hondureños, investigados por la propiedad de varios bienes muebles e inmuebles, presuntamente adquiridos con dinero de actividades relacionadas con el narcotráfico. El expediente de la FESCCO establece que Hyde Valladares lideraba una organización internacional que se dedicaba principalmente al envío de cargamentos de cocaína en lanchas rápidas utilizando la ruta del Golfo de Urabá, en Colombia, de donde salían hacia Panamá, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica y Guatemala, con destino final en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. Las autoridades concluyeron, de acuerdo al informe de la FESCCO que Wilter Blanco entró en contacto con este grupo, haciéndose testaferro suyo, de forma que el 19 de noviembre de 2007 recibió los traspasos de 14 lotes de terreno (Rancho Reguleto), cuyo dueño era Francisco Javier Orellana."

Estados Unidos cierra el cerco contra Wilter Blanco y su cartel en Honduras  10/14/2016 El Heraldo: "“El cartel del Atlántico es el más grande y mejor constituido por ahora”, dijo una fuente conocedora de la lucha contra las drogas. Querer defender a Wilter Blanco “es querer defender lo indefendible”. Este cartel domina La Mosquitia, donde continuamente bajan narcoavionetas y descargan lanchas. Sus operaciones se extienden a otras zonas de Colón, Islas de la Bahía y Atlántida, incluso tocan el occidente del país, donde se conecta con el cartel de AA, así como con el narcotraficante guatemalteco-hondureño más conocido como “El Rojo”, quienes gracias a un político de la zona tienen a la disposición las pistas de Gracias y de Río Amarillo, en Copán, detalló."

Juan Orlando Hernández confirma plan de atentado en su contra, revelado por EL HERALDO  10/13/2016 El Heraldo: "Estados Unidos logró captar conversaciones telefénicas a mediados de agosto de este año del supuesto narcotraficante con sus compinches en las que hablan de dar de baja y actuar contra el embajador James Nealon y el presidente Juan Orlando Hernández. En esta investigación, EL HERALDO también tuvo acceso a documentos confidenciales en los que se muestra que las autoridades hondureñas no le dieron captura al supuesto capo el pasado 14 de septiembre, a pesar que esa era la misión encomendada. Blanco estaba en Colón y las autoridades tenían indicios de que allí se encontraba; por eso, supuestamente, montan operativos. Las autoridades hondureñas, no solo dejaron ir al supuesto narcotraficante, que tiene orden de captura para extradición, sino que también les dieron vía libre a tres de sus compinches."

Estados Unidos apunta a destruir toda la estructura de Wilter Blanco  10/12/2016 La Tribuna: [Borrado de La Tribuna, sigue en Archive.org] - "El informe ULP-05-2013 del Ministerio Público establece que Wilter Blanco comenzó sus actividades ilícitas asociándose con los señores Darsy Faustino Hyde Valladares y Francisco Javier Orellana, ambos hondureños, investigados por la propiedad de varios bienes muebles e inmuebles, presuntamente adquiridos con dinero de actividades relacionadas con el narcotráfico. El expediente de la FESCCO establece que Hyde Valladares lideraba una organización internacional que se dedicaba principalmente al envío de cargamentos de cocaína en lanchas rápidas utilizando la ruta del Golfo de Urabá, en Colombia, de donde salían hacia Panamá, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica y Guatemala, con destino final en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. Las autoridades concluyeron, de acuerdo al informe de la FESCCO que Wilter Blanco entró en contacto con este grupo, haciéndose testaferro suyo, de forma que el 19 de noviembre de 2007 recibió los traspasos de 14 lotes de terreno (Rancho Reguleto), cuyo dueño era Francisco Javier Orellana."

US Investigating Criminal Ties of Dozens of Honduras Elites: Report  10/11/2016 Insight Crime: "Nearly three dozen mayors, congressmen, judges, military officials and police officers in Honduras are reportedly being investigated for their connections to a drug cartel, a potentially explosive probe that could help expose the deep links between elites and organized crime in the country."

Enlace de los Valle con cartel de Sinaloa es extraditable  10/10/2016 El Heraldo: "Las autoridades informaron que Luis Alonso y Miguel Arnulfo Valle tenían nexos con el cartel de Sinaloa, de Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. La fuente indicó que esta relación de “negocios” inició por intervención de César Gastelum Serrano, capturado el 11 de abril de 2015 en Cancún, México. El narco figuraba en la lista de los más buscados por los gobiernos de Honduras y Estados Unidos, ya que era quien recibía la droga que enviaban los hermanos Valle y que tenía como destino final Estados Unidos."

Honduras Extraditions Hint at Ongoing Weakness in Judicial System  10/10/2016 Insight Crime: "The source also said that another one of the men, Hidelgrado Gastelum García, was a liaison between the Valles and Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. A Mexican-Guatemalan dual national, Gastelum García is the cousin of the infamous César Gastelum Serrano, who has been crdited with forging the relationship between the two trafficking organizations. Gastelum Serrano remained high on the list of most wanted drug traffickers in both Honduras and the United States before his arrest in Cancún, Mexico in 2015."

Tres personas señaladas por EE UU están ligadas al narcotráfico  10/8/2016 El Heraldo: "Trascendió que el nombre de Winter Blanco Ruíz posee un gran peso en Gracias a Dios, ya que durante más de una década ha estado asociado a grupos de poder y narcotráfico, quien logró establecer un emporio en la zona, superando incluso al cartel de Los Cachiros, pero su vida la ha mantenido en bajo perfil."

Aseguran mansión en La Ceiba a supuesto capo hondureño  8/4/2016 La Prensa: "Las propiedades pertenecen al hondureño Francisco Javier Zelaya Fúnez quien está en prisión en Estados Unidos."

Tim Kaine’s Unlikely Biography  7/31/2016 Daniel Hopsicker: "When the drug business took off in earnest in the 1970’s, the Caribbean coast of Honduras, including San Pedro Sula and El Progreso, became a full-service oasis on the drug trafficking turnpike, serving hot food and aviation fuel 24 hours a day. Honduras became, and remains, a major off-ramp, located a comfortable distance for a twin-engined plane to fly from Colombia on a full tank of gas, refuel, and fly on to Florida. trampolinePilots call it the Trampoline. Planes touch down, gas up and bounce back into the air for the second half of their flight to the U.S. The Honduran Army made possible the blizzard of cocaine that transformed millions of American lives during the 1980’s. The grateful leaders of the Honduran military wouldn’t have it any other way. They took a cut on each flight. They still do."

Ex-Honduras president's son and police allegedly conspired to bring drugs to US  6/29/2016 Guardian: "Six Honduran national police officers have bene charged with conspiring with the son of a former Honduran president to import drugs into the United States. US attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan announced the charges, saying the officers were accused of participating “in a massive drug trafficking conspiracy” that flooded US cities with cocaine. None of the officers are in custody."

Son of ex-Honduras president pleads guilty to drug trafficking  5/16/2016 NY Post: "The son of Honduras’ ex-president Porfirio Lobo pleaded guilty Monday to being a common drug trafficker — and he now faces at least 10-year behind bars. Fabio Lobo, 44, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to scheming to import a “multi-ton load” of cocaine into the US last year in hopes of a big payday."

Gangs in Honduras  4/21/2016 Insight Crime: "This report was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by InSight Crime with assistance from the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa."

Files Suggest Honduran Police Leaders Ordered Killing of Antidrug Officials  4/15/2016 NYT: "Behind the scenes, according to the case files, the police investigators took just three weeks to solve the murder. The chief suspects were a cell of high-ranking police commanders working hand-in-hand with drug traffickers. The conspiracy reached all the way to the chief of police."

Tres generales y un cartel: violencia policial e impunidad en Honduras  4/15/2016 NYT: "Al General Arístides González lo mandaron a matar dos directores generales de la policía de Honduras que dirigieron la institución entre 2010 y 2013, los generales José Luis Muñoz Licona y José Ricardo Ramírez del Cid, que según la investigación de la propia policía, trabajaban para el Cartel del Atlántico junto con más de dos docenas de oficiales de diversos rangos. Recibieron la orden, organizaron el asesinato, lo ejecutaron y lo encubrieron. E hicieron lo mismo con el político de la Democracia Cristiana Alfredo Landaverde, que también había sido titular de la Dirección de Lucha contra el Narcotráfico."

Un informe revela nombres y hechos relacionados con asesinatos cometidos por la policía en Honduras  4/15/2016 NYT: "La revelación de la responsabilidad de la cúpula policial hondureña en asesinatos de alto impacto sucede la misma semana que se ha instalado la Misión de Apoyo Contra la Corrupción e Impunidad en Honduras (MACCIH). Creada por la Organización de Estados Americanos con el permiso del gobierno, la misión busca responder a la presión ciudadana que durante meses el año pasado pidió en las calles que la comunidad internacional interviniera el sistema de justicia del país."

Honduras Elites and Organized Crime: Juan Ramón Matta Ballesteros  4/9/2016 Insight Crime: "In interviews for this report, current and former officials routinely referred to Matta Waldurraga as his father’s successor in the drug trade, as well as a person who manages government contracts and serves as a kind of informal bank for the underworld. But the recent seizures were not accompanied by a public order for his arrest, and Matta Waldurraga has never been charged with a crime in Honduras. In declarations to the press, Matta Waldurraga called the 2014 seizure operation a “payasada,” a joke, and said the property was inherited from his grandmother.103 The family also protested the government’s confiscation of its property, but there was little it could do. The properties, the Honduran government said, were purchased with illegal proceeds and were thus subject to confiscation under a new law the government had passed just two years earlier.104"

Drugs, Dams, and Power: The Murder of Honduran Activist Berta Cáceres  3/11/2016 The Intercept: "Cáceres told her she was being “seriously harassed” by three local politicians who she believed were acting at the behest of Desarrollos Energéticos, SA (DESA), the private energy company behind the Agua Zarca dam. DESA is partially controlled by the controversial Honduran Atala family, whose members are involved in a variety of business ventures and suspected by many of having backed the 2009 coup. Best known among them is billionaire Camilo Atala, president of Banco Ficohsa, a regional bank that in 2014 acquired most of Citibank’s assets in the region, making it the largest bank in Honduras."

Rechazamos la presencia de militares y narcos en el territorio Garífuna  1/13/2016 OFRANEH: "La criminalización del pueblo Garifuna emprendida por los militares y funcionarios estatales, no es más que una cortina de humo para ocultar la alianza existente entre alcaldes, jueces y narcos. Las Fuerzas de Seguridad poseen suficiente información sobre quiénes son y cómo actúa el crimen organizado en el país. Las comunidades Garífunas se han mantenido al margen del lucrativo y espeluznante negocio. Si bien hay algunos Garífunas involucrados, la gran mayoría de nuestro pueblo se mantiene fuera de la esfera de influencia del narcotráfico, y podemos señalar de forma contundente que ejército y policía conocen bien quienes son los involucrados, pero se abstienen de desmantelar las estructuras criminales."

Honduras - Events of 2015  1/1/2016 Human Rights Watch: "Rampant crime and impunity for human rights abuses remain the norm in Honduras. Despite a downward trend in recent years, the murder rate is among the highest in the world. Efforts to reform the institutions responsible for providing public security have made little progress. Marred by corruption and abuse, the judiciary and police remain largely ineffective."

Empresario Yankel Rosenthal dice que recobrarán "centavo a centavo su patrimonio"  11/19/2015 El Heraldo: "Yankel salió el pasado lunes del sistema penitenciario de Estados Unidos y fue trasladado de una cárcel a un centro de detención. El empresario de 47 años fue acusado, junto a su primo Yani Rosenthal y el padre de éste, Jaime Rosenthal, por lavado de activos provenientes del tráfico de drogas, que tiene una pena de 20 años, y soborno a un funcionario. El 18 de marzo de 2016 está previsto que Yankel Rosenthal comparezca ante un juez federal de distrito."

La captura del megaempresario hondureño empieza un terremoto  11/7/2015 Nomada, Guatemala: "Para los políticos porque junto con quien fue el capo de los Cachiros –los narcos que lavaban dinero en el banco de los Rosenthal– también temblaba el presidente hondureño, conocido por el acrónimo JOH."

Did Yani Rosenthal Surrender in Honduras Elite Case?  11/3/2015 Insight Crime: "Secondly, Yani’s decision may be so as to protect the Rosenthals' conglomerate, Grupo Continental, one of Honduras’s largest economic groups. The US indictment was released at the same time as the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added three Rosenthals and seven of their businesses to the “Kingpin List,” effectively embargoing all business dealings with the family. While there are no open investigations against the Rosenthals in Honduras, Honduran officials have seized at least 16 of the family’s assets. The government has also closed the Rosenthal’s Banco Continental. Liquidation of the bank has been a major financial hit for the both the family and ordinary Honduran citizens."

Ofac de EUA ordena bloquear intereses y propiedad de Seguros Continental  10/22/2015 La Prensa: "La Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros (Ofac) del Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos ordenó hoy jueves bloquear 'la propiedad e intereses' en propiedad de Seguros Continental. Ofac explica que la medida se toma debido a que Banco Continental, designado por el Departamento del Tesoro como empresa usada para lavar dinero vinculado al narcotráfico, posee 50% o más de intereses de Seguros Continental."

Aseguran otra agencia de Banco Continental en San Pedro Sula  10/16/2015 La Prensa: "La Fuerza Interinstitucional Nacional (Fusina) y miembros de la Agencia Técnica de Investigación Criminal (Atic) y de la Dirección de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico (DLCN) aseguraron este viernes la agencia del Banco Continental en el bulevar Morazán, las bodegas de Inversiones Chumbagua en la 33 calle del sector El Polvorín y una casa abandonada en la colonia Felipe Zelaya de San Pedro Sula."

La caída de los Rosenthal, el poderoso clan hondureño acusado de lavado de dinero y narcotráfico  10/14/2015 BBC Mundo: "Como una de las familias más ricas e influyentes de Honduras, los Rosenthal estaban acostumbrados a ocupar importantes puestos de gobierno y su apellido figuraba regularmente entre los aspirantes a la presidencia. Pero en lugar de pelear por la máxima magistratura sus energías ahora están puestas en tratar de evitar una cárcel en Estados Unidos, país que les acusa de haber estado lavando dinero proveniente del narcotráfico durante al menos diez años."

US Releases Indictment Against Honduras Business Behemoth  10/7/2015 Insight Crime: "The US Treasury Department simultaneously named the three Rosenthals as "Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers," and added the family bank, meat packing plant and investment arm, among other businesses, to its "Specially Designated Nationals" (SDN) list, which prohibits others from doing business with these companies or face sanctions."

Why is Honduras so violent?  10/1/2015 Brookings Institution: "It remains one of the most violent countries in the world due to a serious organized crime problem associated with drug trafficking and gangs. This has produced both internal displacement and a wave of undocumented immigrants to the United States (including unaccompanied minors). Drug trafficking has contributed to corruption, impunity, and insecurity in Honduras. President Juan Orlando Hernández, who took office in 2014, responded with a crackdown on crime and the militarization of law enforcement, but faces serious criticism over corruption in government and human rights abuses by the security forces. This week, the Honduran government accepted a proposed Organization of American States (OAS) mission to counter corruption and impunity, the MACCIH (Misión de Apoyo en Contra de la Corrupción e Impunidad en Honduras)."

Incautan 211 kilos de cocaína y capturan a un narco colombiano  9/24/2015 EL Heraldo: "Autoridades de Fusina informaron que el miércoles a las 10:00 de la noche se le dio persecución a una lancha tipo tiburonera de nombre Caribean Queen entre las comunidades de Cusuna y Punta Piedra, en el litoral del departamento de Colón. El resultado inicial fue el decomiso de cinco fardos de droga y la lancha, ya que en la persecución los narcotraficantes la dejaron varada en la playa para darse a la fuga internándose en los matorrales. Mientras escapaban, los delincuentes siguieron disparando con armas de grueso calibre contra la tripulación de la lancha de la Fuerza Naval, produciéndose un intercambio de disparos que duró aproximadamente 20 minutos obligándoles a dejar abandonados los cinco paquetes de cocaína."

Honduras’ Garifuna communities resist eviction and theft of land  8/3/2015 Waging Nonviolence: "In August 2012, members of communities across the Honduran Atlantic coast reclaimed the heart of their territory from encroachment by narco-traffickers, mega-tourism projects and the expansion of palm oil. They founded the community of Vallecito in the territory that the Garifuna consider to be their ancestral land, a mile inland from the sea."

Son of Honduras Ex-President Arrested for Drug Trafficking  5/22/2015 Insight Crime: "Lobo's arrest follows another mysterious incident in April, when a congressman and his father, a former Supreme Court judge, were murdered. The congressman was reportedly a political operator for the Valle family, a prolific drug trafficking clan whose two leaders, Miguel Arnulfo and Luis Alonso Valle Valle, were extradited to the United States in December. Other alleged political operators for the Cachiros have faced similar fates: just days after the Maradiaga brothers surrendered, a former governor with suspected close ties to the Cachiros was gunned down. With the alleged leaders of Honduras's two biggest drug trafficking groups imprisoned in the United States, some of the country's elites are arguably now beginning to see the fallout from their well-documented collaboration with drug traffickers."

Son of former Honduras president Porfirio Lobo arrested by DEA in Haitian drug bust  5/21/2015 NY Daily News: "The son of former Honduran President Porfirio Lobo was arrested in Haiti in an apparent anti-drug operation carried out by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Haitian authorities, the ex-president and the Honduran government confirmed Thursday."

The Indigenous Fight for Lands and Cultural Survival in Honduras  12/16/2014 Foreign Policy in Focus: "Narcos, long interested in the strategic characteristics of the land for clandestine drug running — including space for a runway, a hidden creek to the sea, and its remote location — had invaded the legally titled Garifuna lands. In 2012, the community reoccupied its land with drumming and ceremony, despite threats and automatic rifle fire. Since then, however, a portion of the land has been re-invaded. OFRANEH’s strategy to win back Vallecito is to apply strong enough pressure, together with allies around Honduras and the world, that the governmental Agrarian Institute of Honduras will be forced to evict the illegal usurpers. The future of Vallecito is complicated by the Honduran government’s plans for so-called “charter cities.” Know as ciudades modelos in Spanish, these are foreign enclaves shielded from Honduran sovereignty and financed by international investors, with their own security and laws. Vallecito is at the center of a large swath of Garifuna territory the government has in mind for this project. If it is consolidated, dozens of Garifuna communities could be displaced."

Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward  10/10/2014 Huff Post: "During her interview with HuffPost, Baca recounted meeting Contra leader Adolfo Calero multiple times in the 1980s at Contra fundraisers in the San Francisco Bay Area. He would personally pick up duffel bags full of drug money, she said, which it was her job to count for Cornejo. There was no question, she said, that Calero knew precisely how the money had been earned. Meneses’ nickname, after all, was El Rey De Las Drogas — The King of Drugs."

Honduras Captures Leaders of Valles Drug Clan  10/6/2014 Insight Crime: "Honduras arrested two leaders of a prominent drug trafficking organization, further evidence of the growing effectiveness of the Honduran security forces, and how US assistance has aided the country’s battle against organized crime. In a joint operation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Guatemalan authorities, Honduran police arrested Miguel Arnulfo and Luis Alonso Valle Valle on October 5 in the province of Copan."

An Arrest in Florida Could Mean Trouble in Honduras  8/4/2014 Insight Crime: "There have been persistent rumors about the Matta Ballesteros family’s continued involvement in drug trafficking, although this is the first known action the Honduran government has taken against the family or its properties. There are still no known charges against any member of any of these prominent underworld families in Honduras. But given the recent actions against the Valle family, there is every reason to believe members of the Matta Ballesteros and the Rivera Maradiaga families could face indictments in the US very soon."

Property Seizures of CIA Linked Narco Latest Blow Against Honduras Impunity  8/4/2014 Insight Crime: "Matta Ballesteros was Honduras’ first known major international drug trafficker. He served as an intermediary between Colombia’s Medellin Cartel and Mexico’s Guadalajara Cartel. According to La Tribuna, he amassed a fortune of more than $2 billion and at one point offered to pay off Honduras’ external debt. Matta Ballesteros allegedly had ties to high-level officials in Honduras and it is rumored he even financed a military coup in 1978. He also had dealings with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which used his airline company to transport weapons, food and other supplies to the Nicaraguan rebels known as the Contras, who were fighting a proxywar against the Sandinista government."

U.S. Military: More Counter-Narcotics Funding Will Help Stem Exodus of Children from Central America  7/29/2014 NarcoNews: “… It has been the malignant effects of immense drug trafficking through these nonconsumer nations [in Central America] that is responsible for accelerating the breakdown in their national institutions of human rights, law enforcement, courts, and eventually their entire society as evidenced today by the flow of children north and out of the conflictive transit zone,” Kelly wrote. “… I believe that the mass migration of children we are all of a sudden struggling with is a leading indicator of the negative second- and third-order impacts on our national interests that are now reality due to the near unimpeded flow of drugs up the isthmus [Central America], as well as the unbelievable levels of drug profits (approximately $85 billion) available to transnational criminal organizations to literally buy police departments, court systems and even governments.”

The Honduras Drug War  6/27/2014 CounterPunch 

Cocaine: the new face of deforestation in Central America  3/11/2014 Monga Bay: "Finally, profits from drug trafficking cannot be declared as income and thus must be laundered. Drug cartels often get around this by purchasing remote land and clearing it, allowing them to convert drug-money into legalized private property without leaving a trail. Large ranches or narco-estates formed by deforestation, often masquerade under the fronts of agriculture and oil palm plantations. Land titles are falsified, government officials bribed, and ultimately, such land becomes legalized when unsuspecting legitimate corporations purchase it from “locals” as an agricultural investment."

Prying Native People from Native Lands: Narco Business in Honduras  2/4/2014 NACLA: "But there is yet more reason to be deeply wary about inferring too much from this epic land ownership transfer: drug trafficking. Honduras is now infamous for its staggering rates of drug-related violence, but links between drug trafficking and Lobo’s resource-grabbing agenda are rarely made. In fact—especially in La Mosquitia—it is narco-traffickers who act as shock troops in the assault on native homelands, ruthlessly dispossessing residents and rapaciously converting forest commons to private pasture primed for sale. And traffickers simply do not care who owns what. If they want it, it’s theirs. Many observers consider most of the Mosquitia—including the newly titled areas—to be effectively controlled by drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs). But the narcos are not in the land-grabbing business for themselves alone; in the Mosquitia region, they represent the thin end of the corporate wedge prying native peoples from native lands. We have observed these dynamics first-hand. On our last visits to the region, the dynamics of narco-dispossession were impossible to ignore. Residents recounted story after story of being coerced—by money or violence—to give up their lands. In the Miskitu town of Brus Laguna (pop. 11,000), for example, few residents plant their fields any more, since most agricultural lands were bought up by a narco [Brus is the home town of Wilter Blanco, founder of the Atlantic Cartel]. If locals wish to fish in the town’s lagoon, they must get traffickers’ permission."

A Mission Gone Wrong  1/6/2014 New Yorker: "“The story that was out there at the time was entirely different from what we saw.” Later, having become more familiar with the shooting, the Senate aide said, “I am not aware of anyone in the Honduran government or the State Department who, after reviewing the case, believes that the evidence establishes that the people in the boat fired at the agents.”

Docs Reveal CIA-Guadalajara Link, Not Conspiracy  11/13/2013 Insight Crime: "At first glance, they seemed like wild assertions: in October, the Mexican magazine Proceso and Fox News, based on interviews with two former agents and a former contractor, said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had executed Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985, after Camarena discovered the agency’s plan to finance the CIA’s proxy army in Central America, the Contras, using illicit drug funds. The details were sketchy — reports of a CIA asset recording the torture session came via Mexican informants, for instance — but the sources were strong. Ex-DEA agent Phil Jordan once headed the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC); Hector Berrellez was a DEA supervisor on the case; and Tosh Plumlee was a former CIA contract pilot who worked with SETCO, a Honduran-based airline owned by Honduran drug trafficker Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros."

Assassinated DEA Agent Kiki Camarena Fell in a CIA Operation Gone Awry, Say Law Enforcement Sources  10/27/2013 Narco News: "Present at the house in Guadalajara where Camarena was held after his kidnapping, Berrellez says, were narco-traffickers like Caro Quintero, his partner Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and members of their organization. Also at the house, he adds, were DFS agents as well as several CIA operatives, among others — along with plenty of tape-recording equipment. Berrellez says he has sources who were at the house when Camarena was being tortured and later became government witnesses and have confirmed these facts. The goal of abducting Camarena, Berrellez believes, was not to kill him, but rather to conduct a police-style interrogation to find out where he was getting his information about CIA’s covert operations in Mexico. Berrellez — as well as Jordan and Plumlee — say they believe it is likely Camarena was abducted on orders from powerful individuals who were calling the shots in the CIA-supported Contra supply operation (individuals who ultimately reported to the White House)."

El agente de la DEA asesinado, Kiki Camarena, cayó en una operación de la CIA que salió mal, según fuentes de seguridad  10/27/2013 Narco News: "Berrellez también hizo otra revelación que considera parte clave del rompecabezas en el asesinato de Camarena. Como parte de la investigación de la muerte del agente de la DEA, Berrellez dice que su equipo rastreó a todos los que aparecían en su lista de llamados. Uno de esos números, dice Berrellez, pertenecía al periodista mexicano Buendía, lo que significa que Camarena estuvo en contacto con el periodista antes del asesinato de Buendía en 1984. “Buendía podía identificar a los tipos de la CIA [en la operación encubierta de armas por drogas de la Contra] por nombre. ¿Qué información le proporcionó a Kiki [Camarena]? se pregunta Berrellez. “Creo que Kiki habló con Buendía antes de su asesinato, y creo que Kiki entrevistó a Plumlee luego de eso y habló sobre lo que supo de Buendía, y luego Plumlee lo informó [a sus superiores de la CIA] lo que finalmente llevó a que Kiki fuera levantado [para interrogarlo], y luego se excedieron, y ahora está muerto.” Berrellez sólo puede especular en ese frente, pero es una opinión que tanto Plumlee como Jordan comparten. De hecho, el ex miembro del personal del senador Hart, Holen, comparte una preocupación similar. Holden afirma que la naturaleza de la información que Plumlee reportó a sus superiores de la CIA luego de reunirse con Camarena, “plantea algunas preguntas de a quién culpar por el secuestro, tortura y muerte [de Camarena].”"

“The CIA helped kill DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena,” say witnesses  10/15/2013 El Pais: "But new revelations suggest that Caro Quintero may have not been the only one responsible for the gruesome murder. Another figure has surfaced in the case, Félix Ismael “El Gato” Rodríguez, a Cuban exile who participated in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. El Gato has also been linked to the 1967 ambush of Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Bolivia. These CIA-connection claims are now being brought to light by Phil Jordan, the former director of DEA’s powerful El Paso Intelligence Center in Texas; former DEA agent Héctor Berrellez; and Tosh Plumlee, who maintained he was hired to fly covert missions on behalf of US intelligence. The three men spoke to Fox News in exclusive interviews broadcast last Thursday… In its own investigation this week, the Mexican news magazine Proceso delved even further by reporting that El Gato introduced a Honduran, Juan Matta, to the Guadalajara cartel. Matta served as a middle-man between Colombian traffickers and Caro Quintero, who was the “head of all the heads” in the Mexican cartel."

Narco-jet in Costa Rica scandal tied to Iran Contra figure  8/12/2013 Mad Cow Morning News 

Release of DEA Agent Kiki Camarena’s "Murderer" Is Game Changer for CIA  8/10/2013 Narco News: "In other words, the US government is alleging that even while he was incarcerated, Caro Quintero continued to run his drug empire through third parties who were laundering millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains on his behalf. How is that possible, unless Caro Quintero continues to have extremely good connections within the Mexican government that have an interest in assuring his drug money is laundered? If that’s the case, why would those same government officials have any interest in extraditing him to the US to stand trial? Similarly, why would those with any real juice in the US government want to put Caro Quintero on trial, at least in an open court, if he has the knowledge to expose corrupt covert US operations that played a role in the murder of a US DEA agent?"

Capturan en Honduras a uno de los capos más buscados en Colombia  1/19/2013 Proceso Digital: "Smith Pomare era buscado por la policía de Colombia por formar parte de una banda del crimen internacional junto a su hermano gemelo, de hecho, se les conoce a los dos como “Los Mellos”, por lo que las autoridades colombianas han ofrecido una recompensa de 200 millones de pesos a quien entregue información que contribuya a desmantelar ese grupo delincuencial."

Mitt Romney’s “Pinochet Moment”  9/20/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "Speaking about US policy towards Honduras, Romney accused President Obama of backing a "pro-Marxist" leader in Honduras, faulting him for not more quickly and enthusiastically supporting the military coup in 2009 that deposed the elected President of a fledgling democracy. That Romney chose to say anything at all about a small nation in Central America was somewhat surprising, especially since he hasn't been specific about much else. But, as he must know, Honduras is important to US foreign policy for only one reason: Controlling Hondurus is important to controlling the drug trade."

Romney Campaign Calls Obama Foreign Policy 'Confusing' and 'Amateur Hour'  9/14/2012 ABC: ""When Honduras and their supreme court removed the president of the country -- a pro-Marxist, anti-American president -- and he insisted, our president, President Barack Obama insisted he get put back. That sent a message to the world," Romney said, igniting applause from the 900 attendees."

Romney broadens criticism of Obama on Middle East violence  9/14/2012 Detroit News: "The Republican presidential candidate offered a series of criticisms, attacking Obama for refusing a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, backing a "pro-Marxist" leader in Honduras, failing to support protesters in Iran and mismanaging the alliance with Egypt."

Honduran jet fighter shot down DEA drug plane  9/11/2012 MadCow Morning News: “The U.S. agreement with Honduras for sharing radar intelligence specifically prohibits shooting down civilian aircraft. We are merely seeking better controls for its militarized approach to combating drugs in Central America,” said the spokesman. “The decision came after two separate incidents in July, when civilian aircraft were shot down off the coast of northern Honduras. We don't have information about the occupants or their cargo."

US suspends anti-drug radar support in Honduras  9/7/2012 AP: "The United States has suspended sharing of radar intelligence with Honduras because the Central American nation's air force shot down two suspected drug planes in violation of agreements with Washington, the State Department and U.S. military confirmed Friday. The decision came after two separate incidents in July, when civilian aircraft were shot down off the coast of northern Honduras, said William Ostick, spokesman for the State Department's Western Hemispheric Affairs Office. The U.S. agreement with Honduras for information sharing specifically prohibits shooting down civilian aircraft."

“Pepe” Lobo confirma derribo de avioneta  9/7/2012 Nuevo Herald: "El presidente de Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, admitió que hubo un derribo de una avioneta por parte de una autoridad nacional sin respeto a un “protocolo”, y dejó entrever que el incidente le costó el puesto al exjefe de las Fuerzas Aérea Hondureña (FAH), Ruiz Pastor Landa. El gobernante tampoco precisó qué incidente fue y en qué fecha. EL HERALDO informó esta semana, en exclusiva, que la aeronave fue derribada en las proximidades de Guanaja."

Mexico’s new President owes election to “Narco-Televisa”  9/5/2012 MadCow Morning News: "The first to question what had quickly become the official story—that the busted Mexicans had merely been posing as journalists—was a local publication called The Digital Reporter. While offering no proof, the Digital Reporter insisted that the crew in custody—charged with money laundering and organized crime—were under the direction of Televisa, and that the convoy of vehicles belonged to Televisa as well. Ringleader Raquel Correa Alatorre, as well as three or four other detainees, were working for the Mexican television giant, the publication asserted. The publication, it was later learned, was getting leaks from Nicaraguan military sources, who indicated that there was a senior executive at Televisa—a corporate vice president—also involved in the case."

Nicaragua seizes $7m from fake reporters  8/25/2012 AAP: "Granera said the suspects told police about 25 bundles hidden in the vans contained the cash. She said the elaborate ruse was intended to smuggle the cash through Nicaragua to the neighbouring nation of Costa Rica to the south. Mexican drug cartels frequently buy Colombian cocaine to ship north to the US market, and often must smuggle cash proceeds from the drug sales back down south to pay the Colombian suppliers."

The moral economy of a floating crate of cash  8/23/2012 Quotha: "Within Ángela's community, at least, such finds are necessarily redistributed in a way that strengthens, reaffirms, and creates kinship ties. In her poor extended family—ranging from extremely poor to middle-of-the-road, getting-by-fairly-well and university-educated poor like Ángela—a Limited Good model of wealth distribution seems to guide the discourses of the poorest family members, who see the relative wealth of their less-poor kin as having been accumulated at their expense. Meanwhile, the less-poor family members tend to employ a Protestant ethic/developmentalist logic, blaming the extreme poverty of their family members on poor choices, bad morals, a disdain for formal education, and excessively high fertility."

Collateral Damage of a Drug War  8/15/2012 CEPR: "On May 11, 2012, four boat passengers were shot dead during a counternarcotics operation that involved Honduran and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents. Although Honduran authorities announced that drug traffickers had been killed after agents had fired in self-defense, survivors of the incident, as well as local authorities, insisted that innocent people had been killed, including two women, a fourteen year-old boy and twenty-one year old man. In late July of 2012, analysts from Rights Action and CEPR visited the region where the shooting took place. This report summarizes and analyzes the extensive testimony and other information obtained during the visit. It presents detailed narratives of the sequence of events on May 11 and provides detailed background profiles on the boat passengers who were fired upon as well as on key witnesses. It also describes the region and context in which the shooting incident occurred, in order to better understand its impact on the local community. Finally, it offers a series of key findings and formulates recommendations of measures that the U.S. government and international community should take to address the May 11 incident as well as the broader consequences of U.S.-sponsored drug policies in Honduras and the Central American region."

Honduras cooperating with US human rights probe  8/13/2012 AP: "Despite repeated U.S. criticisms that law enforcement agents have murdered and tortured people, an in-house State Department report sent to Congress Wednesday certifies that Honduras meets U.S. human rights requirements to receive all $56 million appropriated by Congress. But the report said no U.S. military or law enforcement aid - including $1.3 million in foreign military assistance, and another $1.7 million in peace and security funding - can go to anyone working under Bonilla until he is cleared."

Pics of new Mexican President with Sinaloa cartel lieutenant  8/10/2012 MadCow Morning News: '“Rafa" Celaya, the new Mexican President’s friend, wasn’t living rough in the mountains of Sinaloa. Instead, he is a long-time functionary in Mexico’s ruling PRI party who has worked in mid-level positions in state and municipal government in Hermosillo, including a half-dozen years in Sonora State’s Ministry of Finance. The arrested man is the nephew of Victor Hugo Celaya Celaya, an influential politico in Sonora, according to Mexico City newspaper Proceso. In addition to pictures with the president, Rafa is shown in photos with Emilio Gamboa, the newly elected leader of the PRI in the Senate, and influential Mexican Senator Manlio Fabio Beltrones."

Es “hipocresía” decir que Honduras es aeropuerto de la mafia: Pepe Lobo  7/23/2012 La Prensa, Honduras: “Yo lo que pediría a todos, al Departamento de Estado, es que revisen si están haciendo lo suficiente, y si es justo que aquí en Honduras, en lugar de hacer programas sociales, apoyar a los productores a que siembren más o resolver muchos problemas... si es justo que estemos invirtiendo recursos en esa lucha (contra el narcotráfico)”, expresó el mandatario. A su juicio, el asunto no es de estarse “tirando la bola”, porque al final la única realidad es: “qué pasaría si nosotros no estuviésemos en el corredor entre donde se demanda y donde se produce”.

Hunden en Nicaragua "narcolancha" que se dirigía a Honduras  7/23/2012 La Prensa, Honduras: "Una lancha rápida cargada con droga que viajaba de Panamá hacia Honduras fue hundida el fin de semana en aguas del Mar Caribe por la Fuerza Naval de Nicaragua tras un intercambio de disparos entre los supuestos narcotraficantes y militares."

Nicaragua denuncia que cárteles de Colombia equipan a narcos en Honduras  7/20/2012 La Prensa, Honduras: "Lo que está claro es que los medios venían procedente de Colombia con destino a la Mosquitia hondureña (zona indígena del Caribe), donde se han asentado unos cárteles de narcotraficantes muy peligrosos que tienen altas vinculaciones con elementos colombianos", aseguró el jefe de inteligencia militar, Adolfo Zepeda."

Policía colombiana se lleva de Honduras a capo  7/20/2012 La Prensa, Honduras 

The Massacre in the Moskitia - The DEA and the Return of the Death Squads  6/15/2012 CounterPunch: "I first heard of the tragedy while in the process of preparing for a human rights delegation to Honduras coordinated by the Alliance for Global Justice and led by Karen Spring from Rights Action. The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Associated Press have all published stories glorifying the role of the DEA in seizing a huge quantity of drugs in the incident. They not only down played the killing and injuring of innocent people (some reports even questioned if there even were casualties), but also some of the news reports stated that those shot were actually involved in drug trafficking. In typical mainstream media fashion there was over-the-top anonymous quoting of US and Honduran officials and not much fact checking."

Víctimas inocentes  6/13/2012 El Heraldo, Honduras 

CNN acts as SOUTHCOM's propaganda agent on Honduras  6/10/2012 Quotha: "This article about an imaginary Honduras where people don't give a shit about DEA massacres on national territory cites as its two "expert" sources the Monologue's Michael Shifter and FIU prof Eduardo Gamarra, both of whom have recently been paid quite a bit of money to write reports for SOUTHCOM (through Florida International University) and unspecified Intelligence agencies (at least in Shifter's case with his work for WHEMSAC)."

Honduran Miskitos Caught in Anti-Narcotics Crossfire  6/9/2012 Repeating Islands 

Legal Questions Remain in DEA Miskitia Attack  6/8/2012 Honduras Weekly 

La masacre en Mosquitia, Honduras: “Sólo los agentes de la DEA pueden disparar desde un helicóptero que por otra parte, es suyo”  6/5/2012 Dick Emanuelsson: "Habla agente de la policía antinarcótica del Ministerio Público."

Video of COFADEH press conference on DEA massacre in Ahuas  6/5/2012 Quotha: "Graphic image warning. Skip to 1:30 if you don't want to see the horrifying photographs of how the DEA destroyed the bodies of the indigenous Miskitu people whose brave relatives are present at the press conference that begins at that time mark. Video by Dick and Mirian Emanuelsson."

Drug interdiction: The U.S. wades more deeply into Honduras  6/4/2012 Pittsburgh Post Gazette: "To Americans of a certain age, the picture of U.S. drug advisers, flying in State Department helicopters and operating in a small jungle country in support of the corrupt security forces of a questionable president, is all too familiar. It is also entirely inappropriate, particularly as innocent civilians die as a result of their work."

URGENT ACTION: Honduran State Discriminates Against Victims of the DEA  6/4/2012 Quotha: "The child WILMER LUCAS WALTER (14) and youth LUCIO ADAN NELSON QUEEN (22), who were traveling in the boat that was fired on by the DEA and Honduran agents, have been hospitalized since May 11 en regional hospital centers and to date have not received the surgical attention required to treat their serious injuries. Wilmer is at risk of losing his left hand due to negligence and lack of attention and Lucio is weakened by infection as he waits for orthopedic intervention in his right arm. In the midst of the so called “war against drugs” the principal victims are the indigenous, Misquito villagers including children and women; the principal actor responsible for these serious actions is the State."

Dana Frank on This is Hell  6/3/2012 Quotha: "Click for Dana Frank’s 40-minute interview on the DEA attack in Honduras on the Northwestern University program “This is Hell”, a weekly, 4-hour political analysis program broadcast each Saturday morning."

Transnational Organized Crime in Central America and the Caribbean  6/1/2012 UN: "In 2007, UNODC concluded that the mara groups (MS-13 and M-18) play very little role in transnational cocaine trafficking. This continues to be the case."

Annie Bird: USA/DEA Killings in Ahuas  5/30/2012 Quotha: "The Patuca River is like a highway for over 25 Miskitu, Tawaka and Pech communities that live on its shores; there are no roads in this part of the Gracias a Dios department. But the river is much more than a road, it is their source of life. Communities farm rice, beans, yucca, and plantains on its shores, and fish the waters. They leave their towns in planting and harvest seasons to spend weeks at a time in huts along the river shore close to their fields. Though most make their life from the river, the main source of outside employment is working on the commercial fishing boats that pick up Miskitu men at mouth of the river and take them to sea for weeks at a time. For over 20 years, Lilda Lesama has coordinated divers and fishermen for the commercial boats, transporting them by canoe from Ahuas to Barra Patuca."

Death in Miskitia Land and the Search for Justice  5/28/2012 COHA: "On May 11, death came to the Miskitia from U.S. State Department-owned helicopters manned by contract Guatemalan pilots, members of a special Honduran Police Unit, along with U.S. DEA agents. Reports concerning the botched anti-narcotics operation barely survived three news cycles before expiring in the face of an indifferent public. During week one, a number of initial news reports (with the notable exception of the coverage by the Huffington Post) offered a defaming criminal profile of the local Miskito population using anonymous “official” U.S. government sources. During week two, when the voice of the Miskito community was beginning to be heard more clearly, some news reports offered a more humanized version of the people of Ahuas and surrounding villages. By May 17, the question of U.S. accountability began to lose steam when State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland deferred the responsibility of carrying out an investigation to the notoriously corrupt Honduran authorities. Despite the current paucity of news about this incident, the struggle for justice in the Miskitia continues."

Informe Preliminar de Verificación - Caso Ahuas  5/24/2012 COFADEH: "Del 20 al 24 de mayo de 2012, una Comisión de verificación conformada por tres personas del Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, COFADEH, con el acompañamiento internacional de representantes del Programa de Acompañamiento Honduras PROAH y de Acción Permanente por la Paz, visitó los municipios de Ahuas y Puerto Lempira en el Departamento de Gracias a Dios y también La Ceiba en el departamento de Atlántida, con el objetivo de documentar los hechos trágicos del 11 de mayo de 2012."

DEA Facing Fallout from Deadly Honduras Raid  5/22/2012 Stop the Drug War: "In the Honduran village where four residents were killed last week by gunfire from a helicopter on a US-backed anti-drug operation complete with DEA agents on board the chopper, feelings continue to run high. On Monday, they told the Associated Press that DEA agents also accompanied Honduran commandos who stormed into homes and mistreated residents after the raid, but the agency denies that."

US agents on deadly Honduran military operation  5/16/2012 AP: "The leaders of the Masta, Diunat, Rayaka, Batiasta and Bamiasta ethnic groups said in a press statement that "the people in that canoe were fishermen, not drug traffickers." "For centuries we have been a peaceful people who live in harmony with nature, but today we declared these Americans to be persona non grata in our territory," the statement continued."

Lessons of Iraq Help U.S. Fight a Drug War in Honduras  5/5/2012 NYT: "Honduras is the latest focal point in America’s drug war. As Mexico puts the squeeze on narcotics barons using its territory as a transit hub, more than 90 percent of the cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela bound for the United States passes through Central America. More than a third of those narcotics make their way through Honduras, a country with vast ungoverned areas — and one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the world."

Honduras: When Engagement Becomes Complicity  3/15/2012 Foreign Policy in Focus: "U.S. Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Honduras on March 6 with a double mission: to quell talk of drug legalization and reinforce the U.S.-sponsored drug war in Central America, and to bolster the presidency of Porfirio Lobo."

En Honduras, un desastre hecho en los E.E.U.U. Friday, 27 January 2012 14:04 Administrador  1/27/2012 Defensores en Linea: "Cuando prominentes figuras han salido ha acusar a la policía son acribillados por escuadrones de la muerte y narcotraficantes, el más famoso acusador fue el antiguo comisionado de policía, Alfredo Landaverde. El fue asesinado el 7 de diciembre, hasta ahora el gobierno ha comenzado hacer significativos arrestos de oficiales de policía… Porque el Departamento de Estado se ha lanzado detrás de la administración Lobo a pesar de las evidencias de la corrupción del régimen? En parte porque ha sido enterrados por la circunscripción Cubana-Americana de la Representante Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, la Presidente del Comité de Relaciones Exteriores, y sus aliados. Ellos han sido feroces sobre Honduras como un primer dominó con el que pueden empujar contra la línea gobiernos de izquierda y centro-izquierda que han ganado elecciones en América Latina en los últimos 15 años. Con su base militar aérea Americana, Honduras es crucial para la estrategia militar de los Estados Unidos en América Latina."

In Honduras, a Mess Made in the U.S.  1/26/2012 NYT: "When prominent figures came forward to charge that the police are riddled with death squads and drug traffickers, the most famous accuser was a former police commissioner, Alfredo Landaverde. He was assassinated on Dec. 7. Only now has the government begun to make significant arrests of police officers… Why has the State Department thrown itself behind the Lobo administration despite brutal evidence of the regime’s corruption? In part because it has caved in to the Cuban-American constituency of Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and her allies. They have been ferocious about Honduras as a first domino with which to push back against the line of center-left and leftist governments that have won elections in Latin America in the past 15 years. With its American air base, Honduras is also crucial to the United States’ military strategy in Latin America."

US Supported Honduras’ Ascent in the Cocaine Business Chain: Putting 2 & 2 & 2 Together  11/1/2011 Boiling Frogs: "Long an impoverished backwater in Central America, Honduras has become a main transit route for South American cocaine.”Honduras is the number one offload point for traffickers to take cocaine through Mexico to the U.S.,” said a U.S. law enforcement official who could not be quoted by name for security reasons. A U.S. State Department report released in March called Honduras “one of the primary landing points for South American cocaine.”

Drug Trafficking in Honduras (Crime Part III)  10/21/2011 La Gringa 

Post-2009 Coup, Honduras a 'Narco-Storehouse'  9/23/2011 In Sight: "With the state's focus fixed elsewhere and crucial support from the U.S. missing, criminal groups took advantage of the disorder. During Micheletti's brief time in office, up to 1,000 tons of cocaine may have traveled through Honduras by land, sea or air, according to analyst James Bosworth."

Court Pleadings Point to CIA Role in Alleged “Cartel” Immunity Deal  9/11/2011 NarcoNews: "The fingerprints of the CIA have surfaced in a controversial federal criminal case pending in Chicago against Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, an alleged kingpin in the Sinaloa “drug cartel.” ...“That is a very reasonable conclusion [that the CIA is likely involved in this case in some way],” says a former federal agent familiar with national security procedures. “Seeking CIPA protection, yup, there is hot stuff to hide.” Zambada Niebla, extradited to the US in February 2010 and now facing narco-trafficking charges in federal court in Chicago, claims in pleadings in his case that the US government entered into a pact with the leadership of the Mexican Sinaloa narco-trafficking organization that supposedly provide its chief narcos with immunity in exchange for them providing US authorities with information that could be used to target other narco-trafficking organizations."

The Sweet Deal With ‘El Narco’  9/7/2011 CounterPunch 

Revelan lazos de magnate hondureño con el narco  9/3/2011 Dick Emanuelsson: "Obviamente, si bien Facussé tiene varias preguntas incómodas que responder a partir del contenido de este cable, los Estados Unidos harían bien en explicar cómo, si durante más de ocho años han tenido acceso a esta información, nunca actuaron sobre ella."

DRUG PLANE BURNED ON PROMINENT HONDURAN'S PROPERTY  9/3/2011 Wikileaks: "Post's JIATF-S TAT provided information to the HAF March 14 about a known drug trafficking flight with a 1,000 kilo cocaine shipment from Colombia, which resulted in a fruitless air interdiction attempt. Separately, a law enforcement source provided information that the aircraft successfully landed March 14 on the private property of Miguel Facusse, a prominent Honduran, who is one of the nation's wealthiest individuals, leading industrialist, and uncle of former Honduran President Carlos Flores Facusse."

Honduras: killings continue as Aguán becomes "new Colombia"  8/30/2011 WW4 Report: "African oil palms have replaced bananas as the main commercial crop in the valley, and tensions increased as landowners like Facussé saw the potential for the palms in the biofuel business, which could attract carbon credits and international financing. To maintain their estates, the landowners have hired private guards and supplied them with arms. Campesino groups consider the guards paramilitaries and blame them for most of the 51 killings of campesinos that they say have taken place in the past two years. Meanwhile, narco traffickers and other criminals have reportedly moved into the area."

Are Foreign Criminal Gangs Driving Honduras Land Conflict?  8/24/2011 Honduras Weekly: "Drug traffickers are certainly a powerful presence in Colón, but other reports have tied them to palm oil plantation owners, rather than to the peasant movements. The state, located on the Caribbean coast close to Nicaragua, is a key transit location for trafficking groups moving drugs from South America towards Mexico and the United States. A statement released by representatives of the Catholic Church in Honduras said that drug traffickers are in the process of becoming big landowners in the region, and that they dominate Bajo Aguán, flaunting their wealth. Similarly, the palm oil landowners have themselves been accused of using foreign firepower, with allegations after a series of killings in November 2010 that Facusse had hired 150 Colombian paramilitaries to form a private army and attack the peasant movements. Land conflicts in other parts of Latin America, driven by the accumulation of land to grow monocrops such as palm oil, have tended to feature organized criminal groups on the side of big landowners, rather than on the side of the peasants. In the 1990s and 2000s Colombia saw mass displacements carried out by paramilitary groups, who would remove peasants from their land on behalf of big agribusinesses like palm oil."

More Narco airplanes land in Honduras  8/21/2011 Canal 10 

Drug Trafficking: Central America’s Dark Shadow  8/17/2011 Honduras Weekly: "Drug-related corruption has thoroughly infiltrated Central American governments and business elites. Cartels have penetrated key state institutions throughout Central America, including the police, army, executive branches, and judicial systems."

A drug trafficker's paradise  8/15/2011 Al Jazeera: "When cameraman Alfredo DeLara and I travelled to Colon, Honduras, we were surprised to see what this rural province has become. Everyone is armed: we saw drug dealers with AK-47s and revolvers in Toyota cars, farmers with submachine guns and gunmen in trenches within the perimeters of the palm oil plantations."

Honduras Catches First Narco-Sub  7/15/2011 In Sight: "Honduras' Navy intercepted a semi-submersible vessel, containing between three and five tons of cocaine, in the Caribbean Sea. The drug trafficking craft was spotted off the Mosquito Coast, close to the border with Nicaragua. The military gave chase, but the crew reportedly abandoned the semi-submersible and tried to sink it to destroy the evidence."

Honduras: Narco-trafficking threatens Plátano River Reserve  7/15/2011 InfoSur 

Drug Trafficking in La Ceiba, a Honduran Caribbean City  3/7/2011 CoLab Radio: "The core area of drug trafficking is indeed the Department of Colon and the Mosquito Coast area, east of La Ceiba. There, the landing of Colombian avionetas transporting cocaine is common, as are 4X4s and SUVs."

With Increased US Aid, Honduras Militarises Anti-Drug Fight  2/22/2011 Upside Down World: "Javier Aguirre, a young man from Juticalpa, told IPS that things there are tense. "The traffickers walk about freely, flaunting their weapons and their bodyguards, and there are places where you can't go after 8:00 at night, because they shoot you if they don't know you. "The problem is that there is complicity between the police and the 'narcos'. Leaders of the cartels can often be seen going into the police station to 'fix' things with the police, using drugs or money," he added. The stories coming out of Olancho are shocking. For example, after the frequent shootouts and killings, groups of heavily armed thugs often show up before the forensic experts can identify the bodies, to burn the corpses so they won't be recognised. But such incidents are rarely covered by the press. A journalist from that area who spoke to IPS under condition of anonymity said reporters there engaged in self-censorship because they would not be "the first killed for talking."

Organized Crime in Central America  12/14/2010 Wilson Center: "According to consultant James Bosworth, Honduras, like El Salvador and Guatemala, has experienced the effects of organized crime in Mexico, especially with respect to illicit trafficking. In recent years, the country has recorded one of the highest (if not the highest) homicide rates in the world, upwards of 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Honduras has also become one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. However, Bosworth said, what distinguishes Honduras from its Central American neighbors is the 2009 coup against President Manuel Zelaya. The coup facilitated the expansion of organized crime in the country and demonstrated to the international community the incompatibility of goals of democracy promotion and public security."

Narcotraficante Villela Meza, hermano de Armida de López contreras y cuñado de Federico Álvarez, será extraditado a EE.UU.  10/18/2010 Vos el Soberano: "Miguel Ángel Villela Meza es hermano de la lidereza de la fascista Unión Cívica Democrática UCD Armida Villela Meza de López Contreras, esposa del Canciller de la dictadura michelettista Carlos López Contreras. Así mismo, el capo de la droga y también traficante de armas, es cuñado del Supernumerario del OPUS DEI en Honduras, el costarricense Federico Álvarez, analista estrella del Diario La Tribuna."

Partners in Crime: The U.S. Secret State and Mexico's "War on Drugs"  9/17/2010 Global Research: Good links.

Honduras since the coup: Drug Traffickers’ Paradise  8/31/2010 CIP: "In his book El Narcotráfico en América Latina (English: Drug Trafficking in Latin America), Adalberto Santana indicates that in the seventies and eighties, during some of which time Honduras was under military rule, the Central American country became a US ally against communism in the isthmus. Santana states that the US tolerated drug trafficking that even the highest ranks of the military government were involved with. The author cites a report – “El Narcotráfico en Honduras 1982-1988” (English: Drug Trafficking in Honduras 1982-1988) – from the Honduras Data Centre, according to which drug trafficking there between 1982 and 1987 made revenue of 12 billion dollars."

The trials of Rep. Maxine Waters: Ethics or payback?  8/20/2010 SF Bay View: "Prior to the Mercury series, there was massive evidence that the Reagan-Bush-North Contra apparatus was involved in flooding the United States with cocaine, through Mena, Arkansas, and other locations. Repeated efforts by Maxine Waters and honest agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement agencies to investigate were systematically suppressed by Porter Goss for “national security” reasons. Maxine appeared before the Goss committee many times in her effort to unmask the drug kingpins that were in the U.S. government and the major banks of the United States. Porter Goss, now a non-member of the United States Congress, is co-chair of the ethics committee investigating Maxine Waters. If Mr. Goss is as successful in investigating her as he was in covering up the drug misdeeds of two presidents, Maxine is in deep doo-doo."

Who Is Behind the 25,000 Deaths In Mexico?  7/23/2010 The Nation: "Yet the daily torrent of local press accounts from Ciudad Juárez makes it clear that most of the murder victims are ordinary Mexicans who magically morph into drug cartel members before their blood dries on the streets, sidewalks, vacant lots, pool halls and barrooms where they fall dead, riddled with bullets… General Jorge Juárez Loera, the first commander of the Joint Operation Chihuahua, put it this way: "I would like to see reporters change their articles and instead of writing about one more murder victim, they should say, 'one less criminal.' "

Statistical Analysis and Visualization of the Drug War in Mexico  6/15/2010 Diego Valle-Jones: "While the first joint army operations in 2006 and 2007 lowered the homicide rates in Michocán and Guerrero, later military operations in Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León, Veracruz and Durango have coincided with increases in homicides and attempts by the Sinaloa cartel to take over drug trafficking routes from rival cartels."

U.S. Military has Special Ops "Boots on the Ground" in Mexico  6/12/2010 NarcoNews 

Sicarios asesinan a funcionario antinarcórticos del Ministerio Público  12/8/2009 El Libertador: "En horas de la mañana, dos desconocidos asesinaron al jefe de la Direccion de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico (DLCN) Julián Arístides González, cuando este venia de dejar a sus hijos de un colegio bilingue en las afueras de la ciudad, sin que hasta el momento la policía de investigación y la preventiva no hayan dado con los responsables del asesinato del general retirado."

PLANS TO ESTABLISH FOUR MARITIME OPERATIONS CENTERS  11/9/2009 Cablesearch.org: "Minister of Government and Justice Jose Raul Mulino announced in late October that the GOP intended to establish four maritime operating centers to interdict narcotics and other illegal items transiting Panamanian waters. The operation centers would be jointly manned by security forces from the Panamanian National Police (PNP), National Aero-Naval Service (SENAN), and National Frontier Service (SENAFRONT). The idea for a joint maritime task force incorporating various Panamanian security services originated in the U.S. Embassy's Law Enforcement and Security Working Group as a possible solution to a FARC drug trafficking organization operating on the Pacific Coast. When the Ambassador suggested the idea to Mulino and Vice President/Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela, both were enthusiastic. However, Mulino later muddled the issue in a premature and incorrect announcement of joint "bases" which implied they would be U.S.-Panamanian bases, sparking an outcry."

Italia: jefe de los 23 agentes CIA condenados “traficó” en Honduras, con la red de Posada  11/7/2009 Habla Honduras: "“Bob” Seldon Lady, el ex jefe de la estación de la CIA en Milán, quien dirigía a los 23 agentes de la CIA condenados en Italia por secuestrar, torturar y luego ‘desaparecer’ al clérigo musulmán Abu Omar en la ciudad italiana de Milán en el 2003 era un elemento clave de la red que desde Honduras y El Salvador, con John Negroponte, Félix Rodríguez Mendigutía y Luis Posada Carriles traficó armas contra cocaina a favor de la Contra nicaraguense, cuando se encontraba en América Central en los años 80."

Honduras: la Corte Suprema limpia el general Vásquez de su pasado criminal  11/5/2009 Tercera Informacion: "El general golpista Romeo Vásquez, ha logrado limpiarse jurídicamente de su pasado criminal con la complicidad de la Corte Suprema de Justicia que dictaminó el "sobreseimiento definitivo por falta de pruebas" de los expedientes del actual jefe de las fuerzas armadas, de su primo Marvin y de doce otros socios implicados en el trafico de carros robados, que se les mantenía congelados desde 1993. Lo confirmó el diario golpista La Prensa de San Pedro Sula que entierró recientemente, en un par de párrafos, el caso Vásquez al final de un texto donde se anunció que su cómplice Wilfredo Leva Cabrera, un ex coronel narcotraficante del ejercito, tendrá que cumplir 85 años de prisón."

Honduras: Narcotráfico e imperio converge  9/11/2009 CubaDebate: "En Honduras la actividad de los carteles de la droga, el lavado de dinero, el surgimiento de numerosas fortunas sin explicación, intensa actividad en la construcción, infraestructuras innecesarias, no son actividades nuevas. De hecho ya durante esta década incluso un diputado del derechista Partido Nacional fue capturado mientras peleaba por recuperar un cargamento d droga de una avioneta que aterrizo clandestinamente en una carretera sin pavimentar en el despoblado departamento de Olancho (http://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/2003/07/08/internacionales/inter2.html) . Este diputado fue puesto en la cárcel, y antes de que se esclareciera nada fue ejecutado en la penitenciaria. El caso se cerró pero la conexión entre los fondos de la droga y los políticos hizo aparición por primera vez. Resulta sorprendente la efectividad policial desde entonces para ignorar evidencias, pistas o indicios racionales sobre este tipo de casos."

Honduras Reports Lack of Towns Named for Oliver North  8/23/2009 NarcoNews: "Last Thursday night in the northeastern Honduran port of Trujillo, Al Giordano and I visited the Bahia Bar, past clients of which had allegedly included Marine Corps officer Oliver North in the 1980s. North’s patronage was presumably an effect of the bar’s proximity to the Trujillo airfield, which functioned as a transit point for Colombian cocaine en route to the United States."

Las relaciones de los militares hondureños con el narcotráfico  7/19/2009 El Liberador: "El hondureño defensor de los Derechos Humanos, Andrés Pavón, afirmó que el general Vázquez Velázquez, jefe del Estado Mayor hondureño, tiene conocidos lazos con el narcotráfico. "Él es un hombre de la comunidad de inteligencia de América Latina, cercana a las estructuras de la DEA y la CIA", explica."

Micheletti, vinculado al cartel de Cali, en una lista de narcos del ministerio de la Defensa  7/17/2009 CubaDebate: "El nombre del cabecilla golpista hondureño Roberto Micheletti aparece en una larga lista de narcotraficantes redactada, en una fecha no precisada, por un alto oficial del Ministerio de la Defensa y Seguridad Pública de Honduras que lo relaciona con el Cartel de Cali, la red colombiana de narcotráfico. El documento firmado por el Coronel de infantería René Adalberto Paz Alfaro y llevando el membrete del ministerio, señala en el número SN-FF. AA. 060, a ROBERTO MICHELLETI BAIN – con el error de ortógrafo en Micheletti – con la “CONEXIÓN” Cartel de Cali y bajo la mención “LUGAR” la palabra “Yoro”. Las notas biográficas de Micheletti precisan que empezó su carrera política en los años 80, cuando ocupaba el cargo de presidente del Consejo Local en Yoro donde siempre se hizo elegir de diputado al Congreso Nacional… Llama la atención que, hace unos días, un grupo de congresistas norteamericanos de extrema derecha encabezados por los representantes de la Florida, Mario y Lincoln Díaz-Balart, intentaron ensuciar el nombre del presidente constitucional Manuel Zelaya al solicitar del presidente Barack Obama que investigue su supuesta “vinculación con el narcotráfico”, a través de la DEA. Obama ni constestó. Los Díaz-Balart tienen un viejo expediente de relaciones turbias con los círculos colombianos afiliados al narcotráfico."

The CIA's Ghosts of Tegucigalpa  7/14/2009 Consortium News: "The DEA agent in charge of its recently opened Tegucigalpa office, Thomas Zepeda, had documented the complicity of Col. Torres Arias and other high-ranking Honduran officers in Matta Ballesteros’s drug operations. But DEA needed the Honduran military’s assistance to arrest Torres and his cronies, and the CIA needed them to support the contras. To avoid a showdown with the CIA, the DEA’s Zepeda proposed that a grand jury be empanelled to investigate corruption in the Honduran armed forces. But the CIA nixed the idea, no doubt to protect its collaborators. As one high-level diplomat later noted: “Without the support of the Honduran military there would have been no such thing as the contras. It’s that simple … So they got rid of the DEA station.”"

Declaration of the Afro-Honduran Assembly PDF  7/14/2009 TransAfrica: by ORGANIZATION OF ETHNIC COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (ODECO)

Diputado habría peleado por droga  7/8/2009 ElSavador.com 

Over 10,000 Dead: Is Mexican Drug War Violence Ebbing?  4/17/2009 NarcoNews: "Statistical Slights-of-Hand and Temporary Lulls Have Obscured the Drug War's Rising Costs"

U.S. military report warns 'sudden collapse' of Mexico is possible  1/13/2009 El Paso Times: "The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."

Juarez murders shine light on an emerging 'Military Cartel'  12/6/2008 NarcoNews: "Castillo’s charge that “Iraq veterans” are on the payroll of the DTOs, acting as enforcers and helping to fuel the violence in Juarez by moving weapons — including U.S.-issued munitions — from the U.S. into Mexico (which has very restrictive gun laws) might seem over the top at first glance. But as Narco News checked into the allegation, federal agents directed us to another law-enforcement-sensitive report that apparently was not well received by the U.S. Department of Defense. The law enforcers indicate that the report sheds some light on Castillo’s allegations concerning the Mexican DTOs’ reach into the U.S. military itself. The report [link here] was issued last year by the National Gang Intelligence Center, which serves as an intelligence bank for local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the U.S."

As the Violence Soars, Mexico Signals It's Had Enough of America's Stupid War on Drugs  10/14/2008 Alternet: "The U.S.-financed War on Drugs has had savage results in Mexico, and now its president wants to decriminalize pot, cocaine and heroin possession."

DEA Reports show that Mexican Cartel “Thugs” are receiving training from Iranian Revolutionary Guard  7/17/2008 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS 

Mexican insurgents cause record $80 per barrel crude oil price - Al-Queda's goal to collapse the US. economy appears on track  11/12/2007 Voz de Azatlan: published 9/12/07

Geopolitics of Drugs: Narcoavión de Guantánamo  10/29/2007 Chicago Public Radio: excellent compilation of information about the narcoavion that crashed in mexico laden with cocaine and fresh from Guantanamo Naval Base.

Jet plane that crashed with 4 tons of cocaine tied to the CIA and the Russian Mafia  10/3/2007 Voz de Azatlan: "The Gulfstream II jet plane with tail number N987SA was initially traced to William Achenbaum, a wealthy New York real estate tycoon. Mr. Achenbaum says that the jet plane was being managed by Air Rutter International that according to the New York Post is owned by Arik Kislin of Long Island in New York (See New York Post 'CRASH JET HAD AIR OF MYSTERY' ). Kislin and Achenbaum are principals of the Hotel Gansevoort in New York. (See New York Post 'SHADY 'INN' CROWD') Arik Kislin is the nephew of Semyon Kislin that the Center for Public Integrity alleges is a powerful Russian Mafia member. (See http://publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=323 ) The Kislin family have made very large contributions to the political campaigns of Rudy Giuliani."

LITEMPO: The CIA's Eyes on Tlatelolco  10/18/2006 National Security Archives: "The declassified U.S. documents reveal CIA recruitment of agents within the upper echelons of the Mexican government between 1956 and 1969. The informants used in this secret program included President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz and future President Luis Echeverría. The documents detail the relationships cultivated between senior CIA officers, such as chief of station Winston Scott, and Mexican government officials through a secret spy network code-named "LITEMPO." Operating out of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Scott used the LITEMPO project to provide "an unofficial channel for the exchange of selected sensitive political information which each government wanted the other to receive but not through public protocol exchanges." [Scott was Chief of Station in 1963 at the time of the JFK hit.]

DHS, DOJ seeking to deliver informant to House of Death's door  8/14/2006 NarcoNews 

U.S. Attorney General backing effort to silence House of Death informant  8/12/2006 NarcoNews: ''“My position [in the case] is that Lalo is afraid to return to Mexico because he would be killed,” she says. “Legally, you can seek protection in the United States if you fear you are being returned to a place where you would be killed.” Goodwin adds that if Lalo is unsuccessful in his appeal, the case could be brought to the doorstep of the U.S. Supreme Court. Lalo finds himself in this position after working as an informant for the very same government that is now seeking to deport him to what he fears will be a certain death at the hands of the narco-traffickers he betrayed while on the payroll of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While working as an ICE informant, Lalo participated in up to a dozen murders between August 2003 and mid-January 2004 at the House of Death in Ciudad Juárez. Lalo had penetrated a narco-trafficking organization — headed by Heriberto Santillan-Tabares — that employed police officers in Juárez to help carry out the murders.''

Venezuela Captures Suspected Drug Lord  8/10/2006 Venezuela: ''Elias Verde Peña, believed to be the leader of a drug ring in Venezuela and Europe, was detained Monday in western Caracas, Venezuela’s Office of the Attorney General said in a statement. Verde is being investigated for multiple homicides and alleged links to 22 Venezuelans who were detained March 21 at a Paris airport. Nearly 45 pounds of cocaine was discovered in the stomachs of those arrested in France. Following the Paris scandal, the Judicial Police Chief of Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar International Airport and 14 other security officials were dismissed. Venezuelan authorities last week detained Libardo Parra Gonzalez, a suspected Colombian drug trafficker and paramilitary leader. Gonzalez, who is wanted in Colombia and the United States for alleged crimes including drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, was deported to Colombia to face charges. In 2005, Venezuela signed multilateral agreements with both France and Colombia to collaborate more effectively on counter-narcotic efforts. On Monday, Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel was in Bogotá where he used the opportunity to highlight the neighboring nations’ growing cooperation in the fight against drugs.''

Debate far from over for Mexico's drug bill  5/10/2006 Monitor: "Mexico's Secretary of Public Security Eduardo Medina Mora argues the bill has been sensationalized by the media. Selling drugs or using them in public would remain a crime punishable by jail, and police would still be able to take anyone found using drugs into custody for questioning, he told reporters last week. The bill also sets stiffer penalties for trafficking and empowers Mexico's 400,000 local and state police to pursue and arrest street dealers, something that is now the responsibility only of the 21,000-strong federal police force. Mexico would not have been the first country to decriminalize drugs. Half a dozen European countries, as well as Colombia, have passed some form of decriminalization law, says Bruce Bagley, a professor of international studies at the University of Miami. Many other countries have decriminalized marijuana. Most US states, by contrast, have much stricter laws. "Is decriminalization the way to go? Absolutely," says Mr. Bagley. "The US method of repression does not work. Not only have we failed to reduce drug use, we have filled our jails with prisoners in for drug-related crimes, many of them non- violent - which has a devastating impact on society, especially on the poor.""

Bush administration "Back to the Future" antics in Central America  2/1/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: "According to high-level U.S. intelligence sources, the Bush administration is planning a redux of the Contra wars of the 1980s. With polls showing that Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega may become Nicaragua's next President in November 2 elections, the Bush administration has ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to establish a network of small clandestine communications stations along the Honduran and Costa Rican borders with Nicaragua, supplemented by additional support bases in El Salvador. Many of those involved in the covert operations are veterans of the Contra wars of the 1980s. The hub of U.S. covert activity is centered in the Soto Cano airbase in Honduras. Formerly the Palmerola airbase, the base was active in U.S. support for the contras against the Sandinistas in the 1980s. U.S. intelligence sources also report that right-wing elements in the CIA and Pentagon also have a nasty surprise in store for Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, if he is, as expected, elected President of Mexico in July's elections. Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City, a champion of Mexico's poor, and an ally of Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, is leading in most polls. Intelligence whispers from U.S. covert actors in Latin America indicate that if Obrador is elected and fails to moderate his leftist policies, he will not live to see his inauguration day. Apparently, Obrador has gotten the message from the Bush administration. Last night, he told Mexican television that he would appoint three non-PRD members to his three most important cabinet posts: Treasury, Foreign Affairs, and Interior."

John Dimitri Negroponte  1/22/2006 Celerino Castillo: "From 1985 to 1991, I was assigned to Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador. As one of two DEA agents that covered those countries, I observed that our U.S. government was complicit in drug trafficking and human rights violations. The area was rife with rebellion, gunrunning, and a perception that communism was on the move towards our back yards. One of my job descriptions was to train members of their military intelligence on interdiction of drug enforcement. However, most of my time was spent assisting the CIA in training the death squads. We were utilizing CIA contract agents from different parts of South America, specifically Venezuela and Argentina. In reality, Central America became one huge country, which allowed the death squads to over flow into each other. Mario Sandoval-Alarcon, best know as the godfather of the death squads and creator of the notorious death squad, ?La Mano Blanca? ran all death squads. Sandoval was so loved by Ronald Reagan, that he got a private invitation and attended Reagan's inauguration."

Guatemala a key drug route  3/5/2003 Miami Herald: "In the three years since President Alfonso Portillo assumed office, Guatemala has emerged as one of the principal corridors in the hemisphere for U.S.-destined drugs -- a new battleground in the war on drugs where the traffickers are winning."

Re-open the Buendía Case  5/3/2000 Narco News: "The Narco News Bulletin, on the 16th memorial of the assassination of Mexican journalist Manuel Buendía, publishes an English translation of today's column by Carlos Ramírez, Mexico's most widely-read newspaper columnist, that calls to re-open the investigation of the 1984 narco-assassination. Ramírez explores the allegations that a key member of Mexico's ruling party, Manuel Bartlett, was responsible for the crime and its cover-up."

Total Coverage: The CIA, Contras, and Drugs  8/25/1998 Mother Jones: "You may have seen the headline last month on the front page of the NEW YORK TIMES. (Then again, you may not have, since it ran in a small box on the bottom-left corner.) It announced, “CIA Says It Used Nicaraguan Rebels Accused of Drug Tie.”"

ALLEGATIONS OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CIA AND THE CONTRAS IN COCAINE TRAFFICKING TO THE UNITED STATES  6/1/1998 CIA 

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF CELERINO CASTILLO III, (D.E.A., RETIRED) FOR THE HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE  4/27/1998 Powderburns: From Oliver North Diary, with Note by Cele Castillo - "May 14, 1986, I spoke to Jack O'Conner DEA HQS Re: Matta-Ballesteros. (NOTE: Juan Ramon Matta-Ballesteros was perhaps the single largest drug trafficker in the region. Operating from Honduras he owned several companies which were openly sponsored and subsidized by C.I.A.)"

Section of Pamphlet released as part of Nancy Spannaus' campaign for U. S. Senate, Virginia  8/1/1994 American Almanac: "The people Ollie North worked with in the Contra operation could make up an international police lineup of drug traffickers and terrorists. Here are some of his most notable associates: {{Juan Ramo@aan Matta Ballesteros:}} This Honduran cocaine kingpin was convicted in July 1990 of conspiracy to kidnap, torture, and murder DEA agent Enrique Camarena. {The Los Angeles Times} (July 7, 1990) said that Ballesteros ``is reputed to be one of the world's biggest drug kingpins.'' At the time of the Camarena affair, Matta Ballesteros was the owner of a Honduran charter airline, SETCO Air, that was paid over half-a-million dollars by the U.S. State Department to airlift ``humanitarian aid'' to the Contras in a program run by Ollie North from the White House. Other funds, drawn directly from secret North-Secord bank accounts in Switzerland, were also funneled into SETCO Air. The Kerry Report states: ``SETCO was the recipient in 1986 of $185,924, in State Department NHAO office funds for the transportation of humanitarian assistance to the FDN [Contras] based in Honduras. A 1983 U.S. Customs Service report stated that `SETCO aviation is a corporation formed by American businessmen who are dealing with Matta and are smuggling narcotics into the United States.' The Matta referred to in the report is Juan Matta Ballesteros, a major cocaine trafficker in the region, and wanted by U.S. law enforcement agencies for the brutal murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico.'' An Aug. 9, 1985 entry by Oliver North into his notebook removes any shadow of a doubt that North was fully aware of the Contra-cocaine connection: ``Honduran DC-6 which is being used for runs out of New Orleans is probably being used for drug runs into U.S.'' The Honduran plane referenced by North was owned by Matta Ballesteros."

Camarena Figure Gets 3 Life Terms : Drugs: Honduran Juan Matta Ballesteros has received two other lengthy sentences for his role in the DEA agent’s murder.  5/9/1991 LA Times: "Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros, 46, a Honduran national, will serve the concurrent triple life terms in addition to 150-year and 75-year consecutive sentences handed down by Los Angeles federal court judges during the last 17 months. “The sentences are a joke--a political joke,” Matta’s attorney, Martin A. Stolar said. Stolar said Matta’s conviction in the Camarena case will be appealed. Appeals in the two earlier convictions are also pending. During the trial, prosecutors charged that Matta attended meetings to plan the abduction of Camarena in retaliation for U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency campaigns to deter cocaine trafficking in Mexico. Prosecutors described the affluent Honduran businessman as one of the most influential drug smugglers ever jailed in the United States."

Honduran Guilty of Kidnapping, Not Murder, of U.S. Drug Agent  7/27/1990 NYT: "Mr. Matta was convicted in the ninth day of jury deliberations on charges of racketeering in the kidnapping and slaying of Mr. Camarena, of conspiring to kidnap Mr. Camarena and of kidnapping the agent and holding him for interrogation. But jurors found Mr. Matta not guilty of a count that charged Mr. Matta with murdering Mr. Camarena, a 31-year-old agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration."

Honduras: Judge Dismissed For Overly Zealous Investigations Of Drug Trafficking; Debate Continues  7/6/1988 University of New Mexico: "On June 1, the Honduran Supreme Court of Justice dismissed Miguel Izaguirre Fiallos, judge of the city of Tela, Atlantida department. The judge had gained notoriety for investigations into drug trafficking activities. In response to his dismissal, Izaguirre said that Honduras "is gradually becoming a narco-state." He accused several government officials, magistrates, and members of the national congress of involvement in the drug trade. Honduran Supreme Court president Salomon Jimenez Castro declared that Izaguirre had taken on "illegal powers" during his investigations in violation of the constitution and the penal code. "He thought of himself as a super-judge who rose up to fight against deeds committed in places outside of his jurisdiction. He was a judge for the city of Tela, not for the Republic of Honduras. At a June 1 press conference, Izaguirre said that he had relied on the support of the armed forces to denounce the extent of the drug trade as well as participation by prominent government figures. The former judge named Attorney General Ruben Zepeda Gutierrez, Supreme Court justices Roberto Perdomo Paredes and Jose Elias Calix, president of the Congress and Liberal Party presidential aspirant Carlos Orbin Montoya, and Rodolfo Irias Navas, a member of congress for the "Rafael Leonardo Callejas" Movement (a Liberal Party splinter group)."

KEY SUSPECT ARRESTED IN U.S. AGENT`S DEATH  4/6/1988 Chicago Tribune: "Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros was being flown to the U.S. early Wednesday, where he is to face four drug-related indictments, according to sources here. They said Matta also will be questioned about the 1985 murder in Mexico of Enrique Camarena, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration."