By: Insight Crime
September 6, 2024
InSight Crime has obtained a video in which some of Honduras’ top drug traffickers met with a member of the first family and offered to give over half a million dollars to help Honduras’ ruling party in an unsuccessful run for office by now-President Xiomara Castro.
The meeting, which happened during Castro’s failed 2013 bid for the presidency, was attended by Carlos Zelaya, Castro’s brother-in-law. Carlos Zelaya admitted to journalists during an impromptu press conference on August 31 that he went to San Pedro Sula at the invitation of several “businessmen” and spoke to the drug traffickers.
It is not clear what prompted Zelaya’s confession, but the stunning admission came just days after InSight Crime spoke with a person who attended the meeting. Still, Zelaya — who also announced during the August 31 gaggle that he was resigning from the legislature, and leaving his post as the powerful secretary of Congress — claimed he only knew one of the people who were at the meeting. He denied that he ever received any money from the traffickers.
“There never was any money delivered, at least not to me,” he said.
The 34-minute video tells a slightly different story. Although taken from a spy camera embedded in a watch worn by one of the traffickers, the pictures and audio are clear enough to show the drug traffickers reminisce about previous contributions allegedly paid to former President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, the husband of Castro, brother to Carlos, and founder of the ruling Libre Party.
They later decide how much they would collectively give “Mel,” an amount they confirm with Carlos Zelaya once he arrives, before determining when and how it would be delivered to the brothers. Carlos also negotiates for the traffickers to rent as many as 10 vehicles for the party to use in the waning days of the campaign.
In 2021, Castro rode to a sweeping victory on a promise to combat drug trafficking and corruption, typified by her predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in March in a US court on charges he conspired with drug traffickers. Today, Mel Zelaya is President Castro’s principal advisor, sitting beside her at the head of the table during cabinet meetings.
The video is another startling piece of evidence that reveals the depth of drug traffickers’ infiltration of the political class in Honduras. It confirms long-held suspicions that the current ruling party of Honduras was no more immune to the influence of drug money than politicians like Hernández, just as campaigns ramp up for the 2025 election.
The mere existence of the video may have put a wrench in already strained relations between Washington and the Castro administration. As InSight Crime was preparing to publish the video, Castro announced on August 28 that she would seek to end an extradition agreement that allowed for Honduran nationals to be brought to justice in the United States for drug trafficking crimes. Castro said that she was canceling the agreement due to comments made by the US ambassador in Honduras. The publication of the video may complicate things further.
In his statement to the press, Carlos Zelaya said that he had acted unilaterally, but he did not answer additional questions. Mel Zelaya has previously been accused in court testimony of receiving bribes from traffickers, which he has denied.
“My life is public, I’ve never had secrets,” said Mel Zelaya in response to a request for comment. “I’ve never received money from drug traffickers.”
President Castro did not respond to a request for comment before publication, but gave a short address to the nation on the night of September 3 a few hours after the publication of this article in which she appeared to blame the release of the video on a coup plot hatched by the US embassy and Honduras’ opposition parties.
“In relation to the video from 2013 published on networks, I condemn any type of negotiation between drug traffickers and politicians,” Castro said in the address.
Money for Mel Zelaya’s Administration
The video begins with several men conversing while seated in the living room of an opulent home. It was taken in November 2013. At the time, Devis and Javier Rivera headed the Cachiros, the country’s most notorious trafficking group, but were facing unprecedented law enforcement efforts at home and abroad.
Honduras had recently passed a constitutional reform that paved the way for its citizens to be extradited on drug trafficking charges for the first time ever. In September 2013, the US Treasury Department had sanctioned the Cachiros, and shortly thereafter, Honduras seized millions in alleged Cachiros’ properties.
In anticipation of a looming US indictment and seeking leverage for a possible cooperation deal with US prosecutors, the Rivera brothers began recording meetings with traffickers and politicians using spy cameras. This included the meeting with Carlos Zelaya and the other traffickers, which took place just weeks before the election.
Some time after the Riveras struck a deal with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in December 2013, they delivered the video to US authorities, who placed it under seal. The video has never been released publicly before because none of the traffickers who appeared went to trial upon being charged in the United States. InSight Crime received a copy of the video from a source who asked to remain anonymous. Two sources who had previously seen the video confirmed its authenticity and that it was recorded by Devis Rivera. They spoke to InSight Crime on condition of anonymity due to the restricted nature of the video. The audio is not entirely legible. InSight Crime transcribed only what could be confidently understood. Voices were identified using audio and visual cues.
Carlos Lobo, alias “El Negro Lobo,” and Ramón Matta Waldurraga, the son of one of Central America’s most notorious drug traffickers, are in the room along with Devis Rivera. All three have since pleaded guilty and have been sentenced on drug trafficking charges in the United States.
As they wait for Carlos Zelaya to arrive, Devis Rivera mentions a previous bribery scheme.
“Last time, Mel sent someone like this, and they never gave him the money,” he says early on.
The allegation appears to be in reference to $500,000 allegedly sent to Mel Zelaya during his run for the presidency in 2005, a claim Rivera made under oath during the US trial of another drug trafficker.
The Cachiros had expected that, in return for the money, their cousin, a former congressperson named Midence Martínez Turcios who recently pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in a US court, would be appointed minister of security. When Martínez was not named, they apparently became suspicious that the money had never been delivered and killed the intermediary, the Liberal Party legislator Juan Salgado Cuevas.
The conversation continues, and Carlos Lobo mentions another payment through an intermediary to Mel Zelaya’s administration.
“We give him 200,000, they give 100 to Mel, and they keep 100,” Lobo says.
InSight Crime was unable to contact Lobo, who was released from a US prison last year.
Later, another trafficker named Hector Fernández Rosa, alias “Don H,” arrives, and recounts in greater detail how he too allegedly paid money to the Mel Zelaya administration.
“They robbed me,” Fernández Rosa says with a laugh.
“How much did they get from you?” asks Devis Rivera.
“More than two million,” responds Fernández Rosa.
Fernández Rosa also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in the United States. InSight Crime was not able to contact him, and he is still serving time. But prior to his sentencing in 2019, he denied paying money to Zelaya, telling prosecutors that he believed “the candidate would lose.” Fernández Rosa had an incentive to lie. Enhancements, such as bribery, can result in a longer sentence.
However, in the video, Fernández Rosa explains that the agreement was that an ally was going to be appointed vice-minister of security, and Mel Zelaya did not fulfill his end of the bargain.
“But did you meet with Mel?” asks Devis Rivera.
“Yes,” replies Fernández Rosa.
“In person?” asks Rivera.
“Of course!” exclaims Carlos Lobo.
Fernández Rosa adds that he also lent his helicopter to Mel Zelaya during the campaign.
“Around two or three months he went around with all the expenses paid,” he says.
Cash and Cars for Libre
Before Carlos Zelaya arrives, the traffickers manage their expectations. For example, several of them say they cannot expect an ally to be appointed to a position of power, since they cannot trust politicians.
“Politicians are fucking dirty,” Matta says.
Still, the traffickers agree to give Zelaya $650,000. Devis and Javier Rivera agree to contribute $150,000 each; Carlos Lobo agrees to give $200,000; Matta says he will give $100,000; and Fernández Rosa reluctantly says he will provide $50,000.
By giving it collectively instead of individually, the traffickers felt they would hold a strategic advantage.
“It’s not the same to ride with a single buddy, and here there is this little group, there are several of us here. They’ll have to think about it!” Lobo says.
After Javier Rivera arrived, they made clear that although Carlos Zelaya was attending the meeting, it was Mel Zelaya that they were trying to influence.
“All the help we are going to give him goes to Mel. If Mel wants to give some to them, that’s his deal, but our commitment is with Mel,” Devis Rivera says at one point.
A little more than 20 minutes into the video, Carlos Zelaya arrives with Carlos Muñoz, who was a candidate to be Mel Zelaya’s deputy legislator, at the same time as Adán Fúnez, the Libre Party mayor of the city of Tocoa – the Cachiros’ epicenter of activity. Fúnez did not respond to a request for comment. InSight Crime was unable to contact Muñoz.
In the dining room, Carlos Zelaya, Fúnez, and Muñoz sit around a table along with the traffickers and the person managing the camera, Devis Rivera, where they recount a few anecdotes about Mel Zelaya.
After a short political speech by Muñoz, Devis Rivera explains they have pooled their resources together “to throw some money to Libre,”
“I don’t know if … that’s all we can do, man,” he says to Carlos. “No more, because right now, fuck, they have us squeezed,” he adds, seemingly referring to Treasury Department sanctions and recent property seizures by the Honduras government.
“Half must be for the comandante,” Carlos Zelaya replies, using the nickname that members of the Libre Party often used to refer to Mel Zelaya.
The rest, he adds, will go to the campaign.
“That would be between Mel and you guys,” Rivera replies.
They discuss renting numerous vehicles to help the Libre Party in the last weeks of the election.
“Let’s give them two rented cars, each one of us. How much does that cost, a hundred dollars daily?” Devis Rivera says.
Assuming that Rivera was referring to those who had agreed to provide money to Libre, that would mean he was talking about renting 10 vehicles.
After firming up how long they would have the vehicles, Carlos Zelaya returns to the pledged contributions.
“Okay, so when would you be delivering that money?” he asks.
“Wherever you say. You order where, you understand me, you say where,” Javier Rivera responds.
After a bit of discussion, Javier Rivera suggests a place and time, “Look, Sunday in Tegus (Tegucigalpa),” he says.
It was agreed that Fúnez would make arrangements to speak with Mel Zelaya and then later deliver the money along with an envoy chosen by the traffickers, “to be a witness that el hombre has received it,” said Fúnez.
“Let’s do this. Upon leaving here I can talk to el hombre to see if he can meet with me tomorrow or the day after that,” Fúnez added.
Although he does not say it, “el hombre” appears to be a reference to Mel Zelaya.
Prior to the arrival of the politicians, the traffickers made clear that their envoy would not only deliver the money, but also a message. “And let the person who we are going to send it with tell him … ‘Look, this man sent him this much, this man sent him this much, this man sent him…’” said Carlos Lobo.
They also expressed their belief that a victory for the Libre Party would benefit them.
“What can help us here is for these people to win … otherwise it’s tough,” said Devis Rivera.
‘The Narcos Bribe Everyone’
On August 23, InSight Crime contacted Matta, who was released from US prison in 2019. During the brief interview, he denied that the meeting had taken place.
Five days later, on August 28, Castro announced her intention to cancel extradition. She claimed that it was in response to US ambassador Laura Dogu’s criticism of Honduran military leaders’ meeting with Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, who was indicted by US prosecutors for drug trafficking in 2019.
“The interference and interventionism of the United States, as well as its intention to direct the politics of Honduras through its embassy and other representatives, is intolerable,” Castro said on Twitter/X.
Three days later, Carlos Zelaya stood in front of the Attorney General’s Office, looked into a scrum of reporters and said: “Today, I want to tell the truth.”
During his impromptu presser, Zelaya made clear he was ready to answer to authorities in Honduras and the United States about the meeting. He added that he decided to confess his participation in the meeting because he had become aware there was a video of it. When asked, he denied that the video had anything to do with Castro’s decision to halt extraditions.
Hours after the shocking statement, Zelaya’s son, José Manuel Zelaya, announced that he would step down as defense minister.
Mel Zelaya has defended himself against allegations in the past. In 2021, for example, he said he did not appoint one of the drug traffickers’ allies to the security ministry.
“Irrefutable proof that I never received a bribe is that I never appointed a minister, neither from organized crime nor due to pressure from the American embassy,” Zelaya tweeted on March 11, 2021.
However, a 2008 cable sent by then-US Ambassador Charles Ford – which was later published by Wikileaks – cast doubt on Mel Zelaya’s version of the events.
“Zelaya’s inability to name a Vice Minister for Security lends credibility to those who suggest that narco traffickers have pressured him to name one of their own to this position,” wrote Ford. “Due to his close association with persons believed to be involved with international organized crime, the motivation behind many of his policy decisions can certainly be questioned.”
By 2013, the interactions between drug traffickers and politicians had become commonplace. During the campaign that year, agents from the DEA were reviewing transcripts of intercepted phone calls provided to them by Honduran counterparts when one caught their eye.
“It was one drug trafficker calling another and he says, ‘Who are you voting for in the election?’ and he goes, ‘We’re voting for all of them,’” said Andrew Pappas, a retired DEA agent who was stationed in Honduras at the time.
“When that phone call came in, we knew they weren’t worried at all about who was going to win the election; they had paid them all off,” he added.
During his own trial, former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández seemed to confirm this.
“The narcos bribe everyone,” Hernández said. “Or at least they try.”
Drug traffickers also testified to these relationships, none more than Devis Rivera.
“In Honduras, it is common for politicians to accept drug trafficking money and then turn around and say they never took it, so I recorded them – not to extort them, but to make it known that these corrupt politicians were doing this,” Rivera said during Hernández’s trial.
At the same trial, Rivera also disclosed that Carlos Zelaya was one of the politicians he recorded – an apparent reference to the video published for the first time by InSight Crime – and that he had bribed him with between $100,000 and $200,000.
After those declarations, Carlos Zelaya denied the meeting had ever occurred.