WEBVTT - Part 5: The CEO 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:11.440 Yeah, you're looking good. It's May two thousand four, graduation 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.720 day at the U. S. Military Academy at west Point. 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:20.080 The U S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeldt stands on 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:24.000 a stage in a football stadium, squinting into the crowd. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:27.480 It's a privilege to be here in the shadows of 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.000 some of the greatest leaders of our age, and to 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:36.440 celebrate today with the leaders who will follow in their footsteps. 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:42.080 Rumsfeld is speaking to about nine hundred graduating cadets. They 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:46.480 wear clean white hats and gray wool jackets. Scattered among 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.920 the graduates are about fifty who are a little different 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.200 from the rest. They're part of west Point's little known 0:00:53.680 --> 0:01:00.560 Foreign Cadet program. They're the international students. Essentially, west Point 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.120 aims to instill in them a familiarity with and a 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:10.080 respect for the US military. Dozens of allied countries participate 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.360 in it. The idea is that those countries end up 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:18.600 with well educated future leaders. The United States also gets 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:23.200 something out of this program, future foreign counterparts who have 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:27.360 a relationship with the U. S Military on a personal level. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:33.559 Rumsfeld knows the value in grooming these cadets, even gives 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:37.160 them a shout out in his speech, they come from 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:42.119 all across this great country, and from I'm told American Samala, Cameroon, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:48.720 the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Jordan's that nod to Honduras actually 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:54.040 refers to a single student, David Castillo. He spent the 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:58.320 past four years here, taking the exact same classes as 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:03.360 his American counterparts, doing the same military drills, living in 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:07.400 the same barracks, and cheering at the same football games. 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.680 Rumsfeld reminds them all that the purpose of everything they've 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:17.120 endured is to become leaders. He urges all of the 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:21.359 graduates to set positive examples for anyone who might look 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.720 up to them in the years ahead. Use the skills 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.799 you've learned here to bring out the very best in them, 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:33.280 including respect for others, and always fall back on the 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:36.880 moral clarity of the honor code that you've learned here. 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:41.000 This ceremony comes at a time when America's War on 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:45.839 Terror is at its height, and soon after the graduates 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.640 toss their white hats in the air, many of them 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:54.080 will be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. But David Castillo's 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:58.200 future will be nothing like those of his classmates. It 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.600 will lead him back to Honduras, where he'll rise through 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.880 both the military and business worlds, and after his path 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:10.480 intersects with Berta Casseres, it will take a detour, one 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:26.359 that ends in a prison cell. My name is Monte 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.600 Reel for Bloomberg Green. In this episode, we'll go into 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.280 that prison cell. We'll talk to David Castillo and hear 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:38.960 the story of Executive Number three, the CEO who stands 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:45.080 accused of masterminding Berta's murder. David hasn't publicly told his 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:51.040 full story before. His defense is adamant and unyielding, and 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:55.680 it aims to upend almost everything you've heard so far 0:03:55.760 --> 0:04:20.320 in this series. This is Blood River. David's mother, Dina, 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:24.320 grew up in Honduras, but she was always surrounded by 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:28.400 American culture. Her father worked for the United Fruit Company, 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:33.120 one of the two dominant American banana corporations in the country. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.039 Do Nora attended the American School in her town. Then 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.640 she graduated college, got married, and when she was twenty 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:46.680 three years old, she gave birth to David. I actually 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:53.640 studied law, but I never worked as a professional in law. 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:58.680 My husband didn't want me to go into that because 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.040 he went with me one day too to a prison 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.760 in I was taking this case. I had taken this 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:12.240 case for a person that was there, and it was 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:16.440 after visiting hours that we came out. He had accompanied 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:20.719 me and then a whole bunch of men started saying 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.560 all these different things, and so he said, well, I'm 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.880 sorry to tell you that you will not be able 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.839 to continue in your profession. You better find something else. 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:36.800 So Dona got a master's degree in education as well 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.480 as a divorce. She landed a job teaching at the 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:45.160 oldest American school in Honduras, the same school her son 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.440 eventually would attend. This was in the town of Las 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:54.039 Aba on the country's north coast. This school was founded 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:58.159 in the nine by the Standard Fruit Company. It's the 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:03.160 other big American ben in a company in Honduras. Basically 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.839 all production in the town was very much based on 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:13.520 Standard Foud Company operations. Some year was one of David's classmates. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:16.200 He wasn't only my classmate, he was my best friend 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.599 because he was my neighbor. Actually he lived three houses 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.839 four houses from my house. Most of the places in 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.359 Honduras that we visited so far in this podcast have 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:31.359 been marked by poverty and a glaring lack of reliable infrastructure. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:36.320 This neighborhood as some amenities like those you might see 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:40.080 in an American suburb. We had a golf club near 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:44.080 our house, so we went to the golf club. I 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.840 play tennis and golf. He played golf. I remember we 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.240 had the first cars. The first golf cars were starting 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.279 to come into to our town because everybody just before, 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:59.080 everybody just walked the eighteen holes, and now we started 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.760 with the with the cars, and it was a lot 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:06.000 of fun. David liked sports, but some years, says math, 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:11.560 science and computers were more his thing. He was the 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.920 smart guy. He was the I won't say, I think 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.040 it's wrong to say a nerd, but he was very 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.560 He was always the guy that was interested in in 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:26.040 in getting his best grades and applying always. David had 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.360 never shown any interest in the military growing up, at 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.680 least none that his friends and family ever noticed, but 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.480 he knew about West Point's foreign cadet program several years 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.000 before another student from his high school had been selected 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:44.600 for it. West Point was a premier academic institution with 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:50.360 a top shelf engineering program. David decided that's where he 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:58.320 wanted to go. The U. S Embassy in Honduras handled 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:02.560 the application process. When David was called in for interviews 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:07.800 and for testing, Samir sometimes tagged along. I remember we 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.320 went to the to the physical tests, and I remember 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:16.120 I was with another of our close friends, Carlos, and 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.760 we were there, both of us like looking at him, 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.520 and I remember I think it was a three minute 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.400 push up tests to see how many push ups he 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.760 could do in through minute in three minutes, and I 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:30.600 remember he did like it was a very small amount, 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.679 and we were like, man, you know what you're not 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.880 getting in I mean, you suck. He started exercising every 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.800 day and he was determined to get that because my 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:46.120 dad also insisted that's the best thing that you can get. 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.800 If you're able to get that scholarship, you will have 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:55.000 the doors open in all the world. David got in. 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.360 The doors to West Point open for him. In the 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:02.120 summer of two thousand. He was in a new country 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:07.360 with new friends and a strict new routine. Wake up 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.600 was probably around six am, where we both wake up together, 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.600 get ready for the day, and have formation about six 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.719 thirty UM. That's where all the cadets get together in 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.920 line up outside of the barracks. Doesn't matter the temperature 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.079 and march to breakfast, and then we would all sit 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:29.160 down and have breakfast together. Travis Dent from Columbus, Ohio, 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.920 was one of David's roommates at West Point. They became 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:37.040 close friends. David spent his days working toward a degree 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:40.720 in electrical engineering. He was on the sailing team and 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:44.120 in the Honor Society. In the evenings, he talked on 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:49.040 the phone with his girlfriend and future wife, Tanya. David 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:53.520 had an obligation to return to the Honduran military after graduation, 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:58.559 but he delayed that move. Instead, he relocated to the Washington, 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:02.480 d c. Area enrolled in graduate school at the University 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.920 of Maryland. While there, he interned at a technology company 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:12.400 that developed communications systems. To Travis, David's West Point roommate, 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.080 this choice to study and to dip his toe into 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:21.160 the business world seemed natural because David always struck him 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.640 as more of a future businessman than a future soldier, 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:31.000 because we both were kind of passionate about entrepreneurship and 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.000 and thinking about different ideas that we could bring to life. 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.839 And this was also in the start of I mean, 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.760 we're looking two thousand two to two thousand and four, 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:44.679 when the Internet was kind of just becoming popular. Um, yes, 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:45.920 we had a O L and things like that, but 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.480 now it was at a massive scale, and we would 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.199 talk about different ways that we could leverage and help 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:54.840 and and and do different companies to to to grow 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:59.080 along that path. David returned to Honduras in two thousand 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.640 and six and entered the military. His rise through the 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:08.320 ranks was nothing short of meteoric, but he didn't exactly 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.840 start at the bottom. He was the assistant to the 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:16.520 country's intelligence director. Soon after that, he was picked to 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.400 be the assistant to the Secretary of Defense. When the 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:26.720 Honduran military was tasked with restructuring the country's electrical utility company, 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:32.199 David oversaw part of that project. There he was perfectly 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:37.920 positioned to help lead the country's push towards renewable energy projects. 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:44.160 I think he's a workaholic because he used to work 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:50.040 every single day of the year. David, at this point 0:11:50.840 --> 0:12:00.280 was twenty six years old. During this same period, d 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:04.600 David also branched out into private enterprise. He was a 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:09.080 majority shareholder in an electronics and computer company, for example, 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.840 but by two thousand eight, he was working full time 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:17.680 at the electrical utility. This was around the time when 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:22.520 the Honduran government began really pushing renewable energy. In two 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.680 thousand nine, DESSA was formed. It got the rights to 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:31.079 develop a hydro electric project on the Gualcarate River and 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.280 also to sell electricity to the state owned utility company 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:40.920 where David worked. David's name wasn't attached to DESSA at 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:46.560 that moment, but two years later in David officially left 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:50.560 the government to work for that hydro electric company. But 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:55.440 he wasn't just any employee. He became Dessa's president and 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.280 was on the board of directors. David still kept in 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.280 touch with a few of his friends from West Point. 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:07.360 One of them, Marco Lakaya, remembers the first time David 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:11.480 told him of his shift to the energy business. That 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:13.960 was impressed, Wow, you're you put up your your own 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.360 company and you're like building like a hydro electric plant. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:19.280 I'm like, wow, how did you learn all that? And 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.040 he said, well, I had a great experience with the 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:27.160 with the Honduran Army. Travis, David's old roommate at West Point, 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:32.360 was equally amazed. David I thought was and we would 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:33.640 joke about it. I thought it was gonna be the 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:37.440 president of Honduras one day because of his ties and 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:42.200 because of his his wanting to better the country, and 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.320 and the way he talked about it in in his 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:49.880 growth within within the politic arena, renewable energy was attractive 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.640 to lots of people in David's generation. It was an 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:57.600 alternative to fossil fuels, a cleaner way to bring energy 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:01.760 into people's homes, and there was money in it and 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:07.840 lots of political momentum. Travis himself, after completing his military commitment, 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:12.480 had started working in the renewable sector in Ohio. We 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:17.400 talked everything from solar to wind to hydro um and 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.800 the complications of hydro and the United States versus Honduras. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.480 And then there was Samir, David's best friend from when 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.960 he grew up in Las Aba. He too had ended 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:32.680 up in the same field today. Samir is the executive 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:38.960 director for honduras Is Renewable Energy Association. David was in 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.960 a perfect spot. His career seemed to be running on rails, 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:48.520 and those rails were shuttling him straight towards success. His 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:52.800 grandfather and his mother had been right. All the doors 0:14:52.880 --> 0:15:06.119 in the world were opening. David Castillo remembers the precise 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:11.520 moment when he first became aware of Berta Cassaris. He'd 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.760 already been president of Dessa for nearly two years by 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.880 this time. I know the exact date. Actually, it's April 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:24.800 first of two thousand. This was the very first time 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:29.400 that I heard the name Berta. At that time, Berta 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:35.280 had just led a protest against Dessa's Awazarka Damn project. David, 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:39.800 who lived and worked into Gooseagalpa, the capital, traveled to 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.520 the Gualcaate River to meet her. A few days later, 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.160 he encountered her again at a meeting in a government office. 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.880 He says they got along pretty well, but he says 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:55.760 Berta's supporters were the problem. He says it was clear 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.960 they were itching for a fight. He says, within weeks 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:04.640 of that meeting, they began vandalizing his company's work site. 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:10.520 Towards late in April of two thousand thirteen, we began 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:15.560 to see some sabotage. They began to cut the brakes 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:23.239 from machinery, cut fuel supplies, uh in Um contractors equipment. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:32.640 By June they were trespassing the campsites and burning buildings. 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.640 This was the summer when Rio Blanco turned violent when 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:42.240 Copeine protester Thomas Garcia was shot dead, and when Christian Madrid, 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:47.200 the boy whose family supported Dessa, was killed. And here's 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:51.440 where David's version of events really begins to veer sharply 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:56.880 from the accounts from Berta's colleagues, from the media, from prosecutors, 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:02.200 and from the international investigators who need the case. Berta 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.760 is often credited with driving out Sino Hydro, the Chinese 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:11.959 construction contractor that Dessa had hired. When Sino Hydro left, 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.679 it put the project on hold, and it forced Dessa 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:21.760 to relocate the damn David says neither Berta nor the 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:27.720 protesters caused Sino Hydro to leave. He insists that he 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:31.720 is the one that did it, that Dessa terminated the 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:36.560 company's contract after the violence broke out because he wasn't 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:42.000 satisfied with Sino Hydro's work. He even says that some 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:46.120 of Berta's criticisms of the Ahwa Zarka project in its 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:52.560 earliest stages were valid, and he blames Sino Hydro for them. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.760 Some of the concerns from the community of Latagira were 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:03.640 legitimate that Sino Hydro was not performing social compensations to them. 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:09.000 We're not doing social management correctly. David insists it's important 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:13.520 that he and not the protesters, drove the contractor out. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:18.480 By making that point, he's suggesting that he and Berta 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:23.720 on this matter, at least saw ida iye. He's also 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:28.159 undermining the idea that the protests were successful and that 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:32.720 Berta and Copeine had been the ones to paralyze the project. 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:39.000 In fact, David has a counter argument for almost everything 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:47.639 Copeine has ever said about Agua Zarca. One of the 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:52.520 biggest arguments surrounding the project has to do with local support. 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:58.879 By law, if a project impacts indigenous communities, companies must 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:03.840 consult with and get the approval from those residents. The 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:08.720 protesters have always said that Dessa rushed through the approval 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:15.000 process without serious consultations in the area. David says that 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:20.680 community consent is required only if the damn affects indigenous lands. 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:25.760 He says this project did not do that, but Deessa 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:30.920 pursued local approvals anyway. He points to documents released by 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:35.280 the international development banks that funded the project. F m O, 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.080 a bank from the Netherlands, sent a fact finding mission 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:43.040 to the area and reported that local residents had signed 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:47.560 letters of support for the project. In both and again 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:54.200 in David says there are eleven separate communities within Rio Blanco, 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:59.680 and he says ten of them supported the dam. Latahera, 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:05.200 where Copine's base was centered, was the lone exception. These 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:11.040 ten communities probably about six thousand people compared to this 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.320 community in a Taha that has a population of about 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:18.840 four dred people. But some residents there told me that 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:23.320 Dessa went so far as to forge signatures to fake 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:27.440 that community support, and their assertions were backed up by 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:31.440 a report issued by a United Nations office that specializes 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:35.480 in Indigenous rights. The head of that group visited the 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:40.040 area in and she later said that the communities had 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:45.680 not been properly consulted. David insists all of that is 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:50.080 an outright lie. He says his opponents are also lying 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:54.440 when they talk about how special or sacred the Gualcake 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:59.360 River is to them. Berta often talked about this idea. 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:04.240 The Linka indigenous community speaks of the river as being 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:09.320 part of its ancestral traditions, traditions that were never written down, 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:15.320 but that instead we're passed on through ritual and oral repetition. 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:21.160 David points out that FMO the Development Bank also looked 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:25.240 into this when they studied the project. The very first 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:27.560 time that this was referred to as a sacred river 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:32.119 was when Complete referred to it sometime in around two thousand, 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:37.560 fifteen and sixteen. These are very sensitive points of dispute, 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.800 but they're not nearly as sensitive as the one we're 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:45.159 going to get into now. David says that in or 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:50.199 So the nature of his relationship with Berta changed for 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:54.440 the better. This was around the time that the Ahwah's 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:58.440 Arka project was modified and moved two kilometers up river. 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:03.440 He says, after that happened, Ian beart to spoke more 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.760 as allies than as opponents. We do not have any 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:15.159 countis were going. This seems to defy reason. Even after 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:20.159 the project was moved, Berta and Coping still held occasional 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.520 protests against the dam. They did so right up to 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:28.800 the weeks before her murder. So how can David say 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:33.880 there were no tensions between them. It's because they had 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:41.480 an unspoken understanding, he says, at this particular time, Berta's 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:50.480 protests against DASA were essentially for show, orchestrated displays devoid 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:56.280 of any real consequence. David claims Berta would stage these 0:22:56.280 --> 0:23:03.440 protests for visiting journalists and for international NGOs. He explains 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:07.600 it this way. If a protest group like Copaine wants 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:11.520 to raise funds, it has to show the outside world 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:17.080 that it's embroiled in a hot and active conflict. He says, 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:22.440 Berta couldn't afford to portray its relationship with Dessa as friendly. 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:27.520 He says, his tacit deal with Berta at this time 0:23:28.359 --> 0:23:33.200 was that Copeine wouldn't hurt Deessa, and Dessa wouldn't hurt Copeine. 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:39.159 His job was to build a dam, Hers was to protest. 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:42.840 I didn't have any hard feelings because that's what they do. 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:46.639 That's what they're supposed to be doing. Protesting in a 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:49.080 song as they protests, and it just start affecting me. 0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:53.639 Why would I have any hard feelings. It might be 0:23:53.680 --> 0:23:58.159 a difficult idea to absorb that the environmental activists and 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:02.720 the developer whose project she continued to fight against could 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:06.760 be civil towards each other, or even more than that, 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:13.240 that they could be genuinely close. You have to separate 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:17.560 the idea that David Castillo as a person is Dessa 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:24.080 and the project, and that Berta cases is coping. David 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:30.879 and Berta were really good friends. I I got to 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:36.240 have affection for her. I got to consider her my 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:40.240 my good friend, in which that you call, you talk, 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:45.640 you support you hear um. When she had a concern, 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:48.240 she called me when she had an emergency. She also 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:51.160 called me when I had when I wanted to talk 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:54.639 to her, I also called her and I requested that 0:24:54.680 --> 0:24:58.800 I wanted to see her and not necessarily anything I 0:24:58.800 --> 0:25:05.280 had to do with the project. Okay, so Koben and this. 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:11.159 They might have been antagonists, but David and Verta we're friends. 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:21.440 David says sometimes he and bear To travel together for fun. 0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:26.040 One time, as an example, we took a trip, a 0:25:26.119 --> 0:25:31.920 road trip together to a place called Cerro de los Oios. 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:36.360 It's a forested spot where the ground is marked by 0:25:36.520 --> 0:25:42.560 mysteriously deep holes. It's a local attraction near La Speranza, Barts, 0:25:42.640 --> 0:25:45.800 his hometown. He says he and bear To took a 0:25:45.880 --> 0:25:50.760 day trip there. In they hired guides, five or six 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:55.600 local kids who showed them around. After that hike, they 0:25:55.640 --> 0:25:59.880 returned to La Speranza and went to dinner. Then they 0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:02.880 at a bar They capped the evening with a cup 0:26:02.920 --> 0:26:06.840 of tea at her house and he returned to his hotel. 0:26:07.920 --> 0:26:12.800 David says this wasn't an unusual evening for them. She 0:26:12.920 --> 0:26:17.840 also regularly visited to goose Agalpa, the capital where David lived. 0:26:18.480 --> 0:26:21.080 He says he'd take her out to her favorite Mexican 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:26.639 restaurant and the evening would evolve from there. After having dinner, 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:30.200 we used to go across the street to um to 0:26:30.400 --> 0:26:37.359 ambar Um calls Kawano, and sometimes she she danced in 0:26:37.880 --> 0:26:40.960 she had some beer. We used to do this every month, 0:26:41.119 --> 0:26:45.280 once a month, once every two months. If she had traveled, 0:26:46.040 --> 0:26:48.880 she used to usually bring a gift to me from 0:26:48.880 --> 0:26:52.879 her travels. I recalled that one time she brought me 0:26:53.359 --> 0:27:01.199 a jade mentally um with a my and representation of 0:27:01.560 --> 0:27:05.520 a sort of sodiac sign that she said was my 0:27:05.600 --> 0:27:10.159 soda sign. He says she brought him a CD from Asia, 0:27:10.760 --> 0:27:14.959 a novel from Argentina, and a bottle of Grappa from Italy, 0:27:15.920 --> 0:27:21.000 and he returned the favors. I also supported her economically 0:27:21.320 --> 0:27:25.119 because I knew that she also had needs. Gifts of 0:27:25.560 --> 0:27:29.200 money or a plane ticket or anything that would help 0:27:29.240 --> 0:27:32.960 her with her travels. David says he helped her buy 0:27:33.000 --> 0:27:37.119 a new vehicle for Copine. He donated money so Barta 0:27:37.160 --> 0:27:40.320 could paint murals on the walls of Copine's women's health 0:27:40.400 --> 0:27:45.200 center in Lasperanza. He says he even paid medical expenses 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:49.840 for Barta's mother, and because of all of that, he says, 0:27:50.200 --> 0:27:55.160 her murder was a complete surprise to him. He'd gotten 0:27:55.160 --> 0:27:58.399 a call early in the morning after she was killed. 0:27:59.320 --> 0:28:06.000 I wasn't show um. I could not believe it. I 0:28:06.080 --> 0:28:10.600 felt sad, But he says one thing he didn't feel 0:28:11.080 --> 0:28:15.200 was fear from the law. And throughout those two years 0:28:15.320 --> 0:28:20.120 following her murder, even his fingers pointed Adessa and at him. 0:28:20.119 --> 0:28:22.800 He says it never occurred to him that he'd be 0:28:22.920 --> 0:28:27.840 seriously considered a suspect. That's because he says, he was 0:28:28.119 --> 0:28:33.359 perfectly innocent. In no way did I ever feel that 0:28:33.400 --> 0:28:47.080 I was going to be arrested. That day I was detained. 0:28:48.200 --> 0:28:53.960 I was flying to Houston to see my family, which 0:28:55.360 --> 0:29:00.120 I did every two weeks. David is walking through an 0:29:00.120 --> 0:29:06.400 airport in northern Honduras. It's March two, the two year 0:29:06.440 --> 0:29:12.160 anniversary of Barton's death. David's wife, Tanya, and their three 0:29:12.160 --> 0:29:15.280 young daughters had been living in Houston for more than 0:29:15.320 --> 0:29:20.720 a year. David says this was for security reasons. Honduras 0:29:20.840 --> 0:29:24.719 had never felt safe, but he says that after Copeine 0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:29.800 began Blamingdessa for Barta's murder, they decided to make a change. 0:29:30.520 --> 0:29:34.400 So David began splitting his time between the two countries, 0:29:34.920 --> 0:29:39.440 flying back and forth. I check in and the at 0:29:39.560 --> 0:29:43.920 United to get my plane ticket. I go to custom 0:29:43.960 --> 0:29:47.760 seven Immigration and they told me, listen, Mr Cassio, you're 0:29:47.760 --> 0:29:51.320 not gonna be able to travel today. And I said, 0:29:51.360 --> 0:29:53.160 why am I not going to be able to travel? 0:29:53.960 --> 0:30:00.520 Because you have a immigration alert and a you you 0:30:00.680 --> 0:30:04.680 just can't travel. And when I hear that, I'm mad 0:30:04.720 --> 0:30:08.280 because I'm gonna lose my fight. And I told him, listen, 0:30:08.560 --> 0:30:10.160 you have to tell me why I have an immigration 0:30:10.320 --> 0:30:13.240 learned and they said, no, listen, we don't have that information. 0:30:14.040 --> 0:30:17.200 He walks to the police station inside the Honduran airport 0:30:17.440 --> 0:30:21.160 to try to figure out what's going on. So I'm 0:30:21.160 --> 0:30:24.880 talking to this police member when he goes online and 0:30:24.880 --> 0:30:29.920 he says, only sucre still you also have in a restaurrant? Uh? 0:30:29.960 --> 0:30:34.760 And I said why? More officers arrive and they escort 0:30:34.840 --> 0:30:39.080 him to a vehicle. David says the atmosphere was confusing 0:30:39.480 --> 0:30:43.560 but casual. He didn't resist and they didn't treat him 0:30:43.600 --> 0:30:47.400 like some sort of threat. They just explained that they 0:30:47.400 --> 0:30:51.120 were driving him to a prosecutor's office. So they left 0:30:51.160 --> 0:30:54.480 the airport, but on the road, one of the officers 0:30:54.600 --> 0:30:58.840 gets a phone call. The officer explains to David, we're 0:30:58.840 --> 0:31:01.080 gonna have to go back to the airport and we're 0:31:01.120 --> 0:31:03.360 gonna take you a picture of you outside the airport. 0:31:06.080 --> 0:31:10.480 So I'm like, listen, I can't cooperate with you. Uh. 0:31:10.520 --> 0:31:13.480 If you can, you can take me by force, but 0:31:13.640 --> 0:31:18.600 I'm not a trophy. It felt to him like a 0:31:18.640 --> 0:31:23.360 public relations stunt. It was the anniversary of Berta's murder. 0:31:24.120 --> 0:31:27.480