Speaker 1: Yeah, you're looking good. It's May two thousand four, graduation
Speaker 1: day at the U. S. Military Academy at west Point.
Speaker 1: The U S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeldt stands on
Speaker 1: a stage in a football stadium, squinting into the crowd.
Speaker 1: It's a privilege to be here in the shadows of
Speaker 1: some of the greatest leaders of our age, and to
Speaker 1: celebrate today with the leaders who will follow in their footsteps.
Speaker 1: Rumsfeld is speaking to about nine hundred graduating cadets. They
Speaker 1: wear clean white hats and gray wool jackets. Scattered among
Speaker 1: the graduates are about fifty who are a little different
Speaker 1: from the rest. They're part of west Point's little known
Speaker 1: Foreign Cadet program. They're the international students. Essentially, west Point
Speaker 1: aims to instill in them a familiarity with and a
Speaker 1: respect for the US military. Dozens of allied countries participate
Speaker 1: in it. The idea is that those countries end up
Speaker 1: with well educated future leaders. The United States also gets
Speaker 1: something out of this program, future foreign counterparts who have
Speaker 1: a relationship with the U. S Military on a personal level.
Speaker 1: Rumsfeld knows the value in grooming these cadets, even gives
Speaker 1: them a shout out in his speech, they come from
Speaker 1: all across this great country, and from I'm told American Samala, Cameroon,
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Jordan's that nod to Honduras actually
Speaker 1: refers to a single student, David Castillo. He spent the
Speaker 1: past four years here, taking the exact same classes as
Speaker 1: his American counterparts, doing the same military drills, living in
Speaker 1: the same barracks, and cheering at the same football games.
Speaker 1: Rumsfeld reminds them all that the purpose of everything they've
Speaker 1: endured is to become leaders. He urges all of the
Speaker 1: graduates to set positive examples for anyone who might look
Speaker 1: up to them in the years ahead. Use the skills
Speaker 1: you've learned here to bring out the very best in them,
Speaker 1: including respect for others, and always fall back on the
Speaker 1: moral clarity of the honor code that you've learned here.
Speaker 1: This ceremony comes at a time when America's War on
Speaker 1: Terror is at its height, and soon after the graduates
Speaker 1: toss their white hats in the air, many of them
Speaker 1: will be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. But David Castillo's
Speaker 1: future will be nothing like those of his classmates. It
Speaker 1: will lead him back to Honduras, where he'll rise through
Speaker 1: both the military and business worlds, and after his path
Speaker 1: intersects with Berta Casseres, it will take a detour, one
Speaker 1: that ends in a prison cell. My name is Monte
Speaker 1: Reel for Bloomberg Green. In this episode, we'll go into
Speaker 1: that prison cell. We'll talk to David Castillo and hear
Speaker 1: the story of Executive Number three, the CEO who stands
Speaker 1: accused of masterminding Berta's murder. David hasn't publicly told his
Speaker 1: full story before. His defense is adamant and unyielding, and
Speaker 1: it aims to upend almost everything you've heard so far
Speaker 1: in this series. This is Blood River. David's mother, Dina,
Speaker 1: grew up in Honduras, but she was always surrounded by
Speaker 1: American culture. Her father worked for the United Fruit Company,
Speaker 1: one of the two dominant American banana corporations in the country.
Speaker 1: Do Nora attended the American School in her town. Then
Speaker 1: she graduated college, got married, and when she was twenty
Speaker 1: three years old, she gave birth to David. I actually
Speaker 1: studied law, but I never worked as a professional in law.
Speaker 1: My husband didn't want me to go into that because
Speaker 1: he went with me one day too to a prison
Speaker 1: in I was taking this case. I had taken this
Speaker 1: case for a person that was there, and it was
Speaker 1: after visiting hours that we came out. He had accompanied
Speaker 1: me and then a whole bunch of men started saying
Speaker 1: all these different things, and so he said, well, I'm
Speaker 1: sorry to tell you that you will not be able
Speaker 1: to continue in your profession. You better find something else.
Speaker 1: So Dona got a master's degree in education as well
Speaker 1: as a divorce. She landed a job teaching at the
Speaker 1: oldest American school in Honduras, the same school her son
Speaker 1: eventually would attend. This was in the town of Las
Speaker 1: Aba on the country's north coast. This school was founded
Speaker 1: in the nine by the Standard Fruit Company. It's the
Speaker 1: other big American ben in a company in Honduras. Basically
Speaker 1: all production in the town was very much based on
Speaker 1: Standard Foud Company operations. Some year was one of David's classmates.
Speaker 1: He wasn't only my classmate, he was my best friend
Speaker 1: because he was my neighbor. Actually he lived three houses
Speaker 1: four houses from my house. Most of the places in
Speaker 1: Honduras that we visited so far in this podcast have
Speaker 1: been marked by poverty and a glaring lack of reliable infrastructure.
Speaker 1: This neighborhood as some amenities like those you might see
Speaker 1: in an American suburb. We had a golf club near
Speaker 1: our house, so we went to the golf club. I
Speaker 1: play tennis and golf. He played golf. I remember we
Speaker 1: had the first cars. The first golf cars were starting
Speaker 1: to come into to our town because everybody just before,
Speaker 1: everybody just walked the eighteen holes, and now we started
Speaker 1: with the with the cars, and it was a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. David liked sports, but some years, says math,
Speaker 1: science and computers were more his thing. He was the
Speaker 1: smart guy. He was the I won't say, I think
Speaker 1: it's wrong to say a nerd, but he was very
Speaker 1: He was always the guy that was interested in in
Speaker 1: in getting his best grades and applying always. David had
Speaker 1: never shown any interest in the military growing up, at
Speaker 1: least none that his friends and family ever noticed, but
Speaker 1: he knew about West Point's foreign cadet program several years
Speaker 1: before another student from his high school had been selected
Speaker 1: for it. West Point was a premier academic institution with
Speaker 1: a top shelf engineering program. David decided that's where he
Speaker 1: wanted to go. The U. S Embassy in Honduras handled
Speaker 1: the application process. When David was called in for interviews
Speaker 1: and for testing, Samir sometimes tagged along. I remember we
Speaker 1: went to the to the physical tests, and I remember
Speaker 1: I was with another of our close friends, Carlos, and
Speaker 1: we were there, both of us like looking at him,
Speaker 1: and I remember I think it was a three minute
Speaker 1: push up tests to see how many push ups he
Speaker 1: could do in through minute in three minutes, and I
Speaker 1: remember he did like it was a very small amount,
Speaker 1: and we were like, man, you know what you're not
Speaker 1: getting in I mean, you suck. He started exercising every
Speaker 1: day and he was determined to get that because my
Speaker 1: dad also insisted that's the best thing that you can get.
Speaker 1: If you're able to get that scholarship, you will have
Speaker 1: the doors open in all the world. David got in.
Speaker 1: The doors to West Point open for him. In the
Speaker 1: summer of two thousand. He was in a new country
Speaker 1: with new friends and a strict new routine. Wake up
Speaker 1: was probably around six am, where we both wake up together,
Speaker 1: get ready for the day, and have formation about six
Speaker 1: thirty UM. That's where all the cadets get together in
Speaker 1: line up outside of the barracks. Doesn't matter the temperature
Speaker 1: and march to breakfast, and then we would all sit
Speaker 1: down and have breakfast together. Travis Dent from Columbus, Ohio,
Speaker 1: was one of David's roommates at West Point. They became
Speaker 1: close friends. David spent his days working toward a degree
Speaker 1: in electrical engineering. He was on the sailing team and
Speaker 1: in the Honor Society. In the evenings, he talked on
Speaker 1: the phone with his girlfriend and future wife, Tanya. David
Speaker 1: had an obligation to return to the Honduran military after graduation,
Speaker 1: but he delayed that move. Instead, he relocated to the Washington,
Speaker 1: d c. Area enrolled in graduate school at the University
Speaker 1: of Maryland. While there, he interned at a technology company
Speaker 1: that developed communications systems. To Travis, David's West Point roommate,
Speaker 1: this choice to study and to dip his toe into
Speaker 1: the business world seemed natural because David always struck him
Speaker 1: as more of a future businessman than a future soldier,
Speaker 1: because we both were kind of passionate about entrepreneurship and
Speaker 1: and thinking about different ideas that we could bring to life.
Speaker 1: And this was also in the start of I mean,
Speaker 1: we're looking two thousand two to two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: when the Internet was kind of just becoming popular. Um, yes,
Speaker 1: we had a O L and things like that, but
Speaker 1: now it was at a massive scale, and we would
Speaker 1: talk about different ways that we could leverage and help
Speaker 1: and and and do different companies to to to grow
Speaker 1: along that path. David returned to Honduras in two thousand
Speaker 1: and six and entered the military. His rise through the
Speaker 1: ranks was nothing short of meteoric, but he didn't exactly
Speaker 1: start at the bottom. He was the assistant to the
Speaker 1: country's intelligence director. Soon after that, he was picked to
Speaker 1: be the assistant to the Secretary of Defense. When the
Speaker 1: Honduran military was tasked with restructuring the country's electrical utility company,
Speaker 1: David oversaw part of that project. There he was perfectly
Speaker 1: positioned to help lead the country's push towards renewable energy projects.
Speaker 1: I think he's a workaholic because he used to work
Speaker 1: every single day of the year. David, at this point
Speaker 1: was twenty six years old. During this same period, d
Speaker 1: David also branched out into private enterprise. He was a
Speaker 1: majority shareholder in an electronics and computer company, for example,
Speaker 1: but by two thousand eight, he was working full time
Speaker 1: at the electrical utility. This was around the time when
Speaker 1: the Honduran government began really pushing renewable energy. In two
Speaker 1: thousand nine, DESSA was formed. It got the rights to
Speaker 1: develop a hydro electric project on the Gualcarate River and
Speaker 1: also to sell electricity to the state owned utility company
Speaker 1: where David worked. David's name wasn't attached to DESSA at
Speaker 1: that moment, but two years later in David officially left
Speaker 1: the government to work for that hydro electric company. But
Speaker 1: he wasn't just any employee. He became Dessa's president and
Speaker 1: was on the board of directors. David still kept in
Speaker 1: touch with a few of his friends from West Point.
Speaker 1: One of them, Marco Lakaya, remembers the first time David
Speaker 1: told him of his shift to the energy business. That
Speaker 1: was impressed, Wow, you're you put up your your own
Speaker 1: company and you're like building like a hydro electric plant.
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, how did you learn all that? And
Speaker 1: he said, well, I had a great experience with the
Speaker 1: with the Honduran Army. Travis, David's old roommate at West Point,
Speaker 1: was equally amazed. David I thought was and we would
Speaker 1: joke about it. I thought it was gonna be the
Speaker 1: president of Honduras one day because of his ties and
Speaker 1: because of his his wanting to better the country, and
Speaker 1: and the way he talked about it in in his
Speaker 1: growth within within the politic arena, renewable energy was attractive
Speaker 1: to lots of people in David's generation. It was an
Speaker 1: alternative to fossil fuels, a cleaner way to bring energy
Speaker 1: into people's homes, and there was money in it and
Speaker 1: lots of political momentum. Travis himself, after completing his military commitment,
Speaker 1: had started working in the renewable sector in Ohio. We
Speaker 1: talked everything from solar to wind to hydro um and
Speaker 1: the complications of hydro and the United States versus Honduras.
Speaker 1: And then there was Samir, David's best friend from when
Speaker 1: he grew up in Las Aba. He too had ended
Speaker 1: up in the same field today. Samir is the executive
Speaker 1: director for honduras Is Renewable Energy Association. David was in
Speaker 1: a perfect spot. His career seemed to be running on rails,
Speaker 1: and those rails were shuttling him straight towards success. His
Speaker 1: grandfather and his mother had been right. All the doors
Speaker 1: in the world were opening. David Castillo remembers the precise
Speaker 1: moment when he first became aware of Berta Cassaris. He'd
Speaker 1: already been president of Dessa for nearly two years by
Speaker 1: this time. I know the exact date. Actually, it's April
Speaker 1: first of two thousand. This was the very first time
Speaker 1: that I heard the name Berta. At that time, Berta
Speaker 1: had just led a protest against Dessa's Awazarka Damn project. David,
Speaker 1: who lived and worked into Gooseagalpa, the capital, traveled to
Speaker 1: the Gualcaate River to meet her. A few days later,
Speaker 1: he encountered her again at a meeting in a government office.
Speaker 1: He says they got along pretty well, but he says
Speaker 1: Berta's supporters were the problem. He says it was clear
Speaker 1: they were itching for a fight. He says, within weeks
Speaker 1: of that meeting, they began vandalizing his company's work site.
Speaker 1: Towards late in April of two thousand thirteen, we began
Speaker 1: to see some sabotage. They began to cut the brakes
Speaker 1: from machinery, cut fuel supplies, uh in Um contractors equipment.
Speaker 1: By June they were trespassing the campsites and burning buildings.
Speaker 1: This was the summer when Rio Blanco turned violent when
Speaker 1: Copeine protester Thomas Garcia was shot dead, and when Christian Madrid,
Speaker 1: the boy whose family supported Dessa, was killed. And here's
Speaker 1: where David's version of events really begins to veer sharply
Speaker 1: from the accounts from Berta's colleagues, from the media, from prosecutors,
Speaker 1: and from the international investigators who need the case. Berta
Speaker 1: is often credited with driving out Sino Hydro, the Chinese
Speaker 1: construction contractor that Dessa had hired. When Sino Hydro left,
Speaker 1: it put the project on hold, and it forced Dessa
Speaker 1: to relocate the damn David says neither Berta nor the
Speaker 1: protesters caused Sino Hydro to leave. He insists that he
Speaker 1: is the one that did it, that Dessa terminated the
Speaker 1: company's contract after the violence broke out because he wasn't
Speaker 1: satisfied with Sino Hydro's work. He even says that some
Speaker 1: of Berta's criticisms of the Ahwa Zarka project in its
Speaker 1: earliest stages were valid, and he blames Sino Hydro for them.
Speaker 1: Some of the concerns from the community of Latagira were
Speaker 1: legitimate that Sino Hydro was not performing social compensations to them.
Speaker 1: We're not doing social management correctly. David insists it's important
Speaker 1: that he and not the protesters, drove the contractor out.
Speaker 1: By making that point, he's suggesting that he and Berta
Speaker 1: on this matter, at least saw ida iye. He's also
Speaker 1: undermining the idea that the protests were successful and that
Speaker 1: Berta and Copeine had been the ones to paralyze the project.
Speaker 1: In fact, David has a counter argument for almost everything
Speaker 1: Copeine has ever said about Agua Zarca. One of the
Speaker 1: biggest arguments surrounding the project has to do with local support.
Speaker 1: By law, if a project impacts indigenous communities, companies must
Speaker 1: consult with and get the approval from those residents. The
Speaker 1: protesters have always said that Dessa rushed through the approval
Speaker 1: process without serious consultations in the area. David says that
Speaker 1: community consent is required only if the damn affects indigenous lands.
Speaker 1: He says this project did not do that, but Deessa
Speaker 1: pursued local approvals anyway. He points to documents released by
Speaker 1: the international development banks that funded the project. F m O,
Speaker 1: a bank from the Netherlands, sent a fact finding mission
Speaker 1: to the area and reported that local residents had signed
Speaker 1: letters of support for the project. In both and again
Speaker 1: in David says there are eleven separate communities within Rio Blanco,
Speaker 1: and he says ten of them supported the dam. Latahera,
Speaker 1: where Copine's base was centered, was the lone exception. These
Speaker 1: ten communities probably about six thousand people compared to this
Speaker 1: community in a Taha that has a population of about
Speaker 1: four dred people. But some residents there told me that
Speaker 1: Dessa went so far as to forge signatures to fake
Speaker 1: that community support, and their assertions were backed up by
Speaker 1: a report issued by a United Nations office that specializes
Speaker 1: in Indigenous rights. The head of that group visited the
Speaker 1: area in and she later said that the communities had
Speaker 1: not been properly consulted. David insists all of that is
Speaker 1: an outright lie. He says his opponents are also lying
Speaker 1: when they talk about how special or sacred the Gualcake
Speaker 1: River is to them. Berta often talked about this idea.
Speaker 1: The Linka indigenous community speaks of the river as being
Speaker 1: part of its ancestral traditions, traditions that were never written down,
Speaker 1: but that instead we're passed on through ritual and oral repetition.
Speaker 1: David points out that FMO the Development Bank also looked
Speaker 1: into this when they studied the project. The very first
Speaker 1: time that this was referred to as a sacred river
Speaker 1: was when Complete referred to it sometime in around two thousand,
Speaker 1: fifteen and sixteen. These are very sensitive points of dispute,
Speaker 1: but they're not nearly as sensitive as the one we're
Speaker 1: going to get into now. David says that in or
Speaker 1: So the nature of his relationship with Berta changed for
Speaker 1: the better. This was around the time that the Ahwah's
Speaker 1: Arka project was modified and moved two kilometers up river.
Speaker 1: He says, after that happened, Ian beart to spoke more
Speaker 1: as allies than as opponents. We do not have any
Speaker 1: countis were going. This seems to defy reason. Even after
Speaker 1: the project was moved, Berta and Coping still held occasional
Speaker 1: protests against the dam. They did so right up to
Speaker 1: the weeks before her murder. So how can David say
Speaker 1: there were no tensions between them. It's because they had
Speaker 1: an unspoken understanding, he says, at this particular time, Berta's
Speaker 1: protests against DASA were essentially for show, orchestrated displays devoid
Speaker 1: of any real consequence. David claims Berta would stage these
Speaker 1: protests for visiting journalists and for international NGOs. He explains
Speaker 1: it this way. If a protest group like Copaine wants
Speaker 1: to raise funds, it has to show the outside world
Speaker 1: that it's embroiled in a hot and active conflict. He says,
Speaker 1: Berta couldn't afford to portray its relationship with Dessa as friendly.
Speaker 1: He says, his tacit deal with Berta at this time
Speaker 1: was that Copeine wouldn't hurt Deessa, and Dessa wouldn't hurt Copeine.
Speaker 1: His job was to build a dam, Hers was to protest.
Speaker 1: I didn't have any hard feelings because that's what they do.
Speaker 1: That's what they're supposed to be doing. Protesting in a
Speaker 1: song as they protests, and it just start affecting me.
Speaker 1: Why would I have any hard feelings. It might be
Speaker 1: a difficult idea to absorb that the environmental activists and
Speaker 1: the developer whose project she continued to fight against could
Speaker 1: be civil towards each other, or even more than that,
Speaker 1: that they could be genuinely close. You have to separate
Speaker 1: the idea that David Castillo as a person is Dessa
Speaker 1: and the project, and that Berta cases is coping. David
Speaker 1: and Berta were really good friends. I I got to
Speaker 1: have affection for her. I got to consider her my
Speaker 1: my good friend, in which that you call, you talk,
Speaker 1: you support you hear um. When she had a concern,
Speaker 1: she called me when she had an emergency. She also
Speaker 1: called me when I had when I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: to her, I also called her and I requested that
Speaker 1: I wanted to see her and not necessarily anything I
Speaker 1: had to do with the project. Okay, so Koben and this.
Speaker 1: They might have been antagonists, but David and Verta we're friends.
Speaker 1: David says sometimes he and bear To travel together for fun.
Speaker 1: One time, as an example, we took a trip, a
Speaker 1: road trip together to a place called Cerro de los Oios.
Speaker 1: It's a forested spot where the ground is marked by
Speaker 1: mysteriously deep holes. It's a local attraction near La Speranza, Barts,
Speaker 1: his hometown. He says he and bear To took a
Speaker 1: day trip there. In they hired guides, five or six
Speaker 1: local kids who showed them around. After that hike, they
Speaker 1: returned to La Speranza and went to dinner. Then they
Speaker 1: at a bar They capped the evening with a cup
Speaker 1: of tea at her house and he returned to his hotel.
Speaker 1: David says this wasn't an unusual evening for them. She
Speaker 1: also regularly visited to goose Agalpa, the capital where David lived.
Speaker 1: He says he'd take her out to her favorite Mexican
Speaker 1: restaurant and the evening would evolve from there. After having dinner,
Speaker 1: we used to go across the street to um to
Speaker 1: ambar Um calls Kawano, and sometimes she she danced in
Speaker 1: she had some beer. We used to do this every month,
Speaker 1: once a month, once every two months. If she had traveled,
Speaker 1: she used to usually bring a gift to me from
Speaker 1: her travels. I recalled that one time she brought me
Speaker 1: a jade mentally um with a my and representation of
Speaker 1: a sort of sodiac sign that she said was my
Speaker 1: soda sign. He says she brought him a CD from Asia,
Speaker 1: a novel from Argentina, and a bottle of Grappa from Italy,
Speaker 1: and he returned the favors. I also supported her economically
Speaker 1: because I knew that she also had needs. Gifts of
Speaker 1: money or a plane ticket or anything that would help
Speaker 1: her with her travels. David says he helped her buy
Speaker 1: a new vehicle for Copine. He donated money so Barta
Speaker 1: could paint murals on the walls of Copine's women's health
Speaker 1: center in Lasperanza. He says he even paid medical expenses
Speaker 1: for Barta's mother, and because of all of that, he says,
Speaker 1: her murder was a complete surprise to him. He'd gotten
Speaker 1: a call early in the morning after she was killed.
Speaker 1: I wasn't show um. I could not believe it. I
Speaker 1: felt sad, But he says one thing he didn't feel
Speaker 1: was fear from the law. And throughout those two years
Speaker 1: following her murder, even his fingers pointed Adessa and at him.
Speaker 1: He says it never occurred to him that he'd be
Speaker 1: seriously considered a suspect. That's because he says, he was
Speaker 1: perfectly innocent. In no way did I ever feel that
Speaker 1: I was going to be arrested. That day I was detained.
Speaker 1: I was flying to Houston to see my family, which
Speaker 1: I did every two weeks. David is walking through an
Speaker 1: airport in northern Honduras. It's March two, the two year
Speaker 1: anniversary of Barton's death. David's wife, Tanya, and their three
Speaker 1: young daughters had been living in Houston for more than
Speaker 1: a year. David says this was for security reasons. Honduras
Speaker 1: had never felt safe, but he says that after Copeine
Speaker 1: began Blamingdessa for Barta's murder, they decided to make a change.
Speaker 1: So David began splitting his time between the two countries,
Speaker 1: flying back and forth. I check in and the at
Speaker 1: United to get my plane ticket. I go to custom
Speaker 1: seven Immigration and they told me, listen, Mr Cassio, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna be able to travel today. And I said,
Speaker 1: why am I not going to be able to travel?
Speaker 1: Because you have a immigration alert and a you you
Speaker 1: just can't travel. And when I hear that, I'm mad
Speaker 1: because I'm gonna lose my fight. And I told him, listen,
Speaker 1: you have to tell me why I have an immigration
Speaker 1: learned and they said, no, listen, we don't have that information.
Speaker 1: He walks to the police station inside the Honduran airport
Speaker 1: to try to figure out what's going on. So I'm
Speaker 1: talking to this police member when he goes online and
Speaker 1: he says, only sucre still you also have in a restaurrant? Uh?
Speaker 1: And I said why? More officers arrive and they escort
Speaker 1: him to a vehicle. David says the atmosphere was confusing
Speaker 1: but casual. He didn't resist and they didn't treat him
Speaker 1: like some sort of threat. They just explained that they
Speaker 1: were driving him to a prosecutor's office. So they left
Speaker 1: the airport, but on the road, one of the officers
Speaker 1: gets a phone call. The officer explains to David, we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to go back to the airport and we're
Speaker 1: gonna take you a picture of you outside the airport.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, listen, I can't cooperate with you. Uh.
Speaker 1: If you can, you can take me by force, but
Speaker 1: I'm not a trophy. It felt to him like a
Speaker 1: public relations stunt. It was the anniversary of Berta's murder.
Speaker 1: David believed the police wanted to show they were still
Speaker 1: interested in the case, and he was paying the price.
Speaker 1: His defiance wouldn't change the fact that he was going
Speaker 1: to jail. David Castillo was charged with the murder of
Speaker 1: Berta Casseres, a woman that he says was his close
Speaker 1: friend and confidante. Shortly after the arrest, David proclaims his
Speaker 1: innocence at an indictment hearing he mentions that he had
Speaker 1: considered himself Berta's friend. To the members of Rita's family,
Speaker 1: this counter narrative is deeply offensive. They harbor no doubts
Speaker 1: whatsoever that he planned her death. Berta's daughter er Tita Isabel,
Speaker 1: remembers being in the courtroom that day Brando Castill when
Speaker 1: we were in the hearing with David Castillo. It was
Speaker 1: horrible because the only person in the family who went
Speaker 1: to this hearing was me. Well, first of all, it
Speaker 1: was uncomfortable to be in such a tiny room. Not
Speaker 1: all of the people who wanted to attend could because
Speaker 1: it was super small. But I had to be there,
Speaker 1: and he was right there, and when he testified, he
Speaker 1: looked at me. He didn't speak to the judge, he
Speaker 1: spoke to me. He was looking at me, And so
Speaker 1: he was being the victim, the poor little thing who
Speaker 1: was such a friend of my mother, and he was
Speaker 1: such a kind person with her, and that he'd helped
Speaker 1: give her so many opportunities in life. She says it
Speaker 1: was extremely uncomfortable to listen to him, yet also satisfying
Speaker 1: in a strange way to be able to look him
Speaker 1: in the eye and to be able to hear him
Speaker 1: tell his story out loud. It was valuable to her
Speaker 1: to listen to him speak. She says he measured his
Speaker 1: words and recited them calmly. To her, it seemed as
Speaker 1: if he was following a memorized script. Beer Tita Isabelle
Speaker 1: says her mother had talked to her about David. Berta
Speaker 1: told her that David was different from the others at Dessa.
Speaker 1: He spoke differently, softly, and with no apparent aggression. He
Speaker 1: didn't insult Berta. He'd ask about her children, and he
Speaker 1: let her know that he was paying attention to them
Speaker 1: where they traveled, when they were coming back. But Bertita
Speaker 1: isabel says her mother never really trusted David. That she
Speaker 1: always believed there was a sinister undercurrent to his kindness,
Speaker 1: as if he was cultivating her like an intelligence source,
Speaker 1: always probing for information and keeping tabs of what she
Speaker 1: was up to. She told me, this sort of person
Speaker 1: is much more dangerous because it's not that he said
Speaker 1: outright that he's going to kill her, but she knew
Speaker 1: he was a stalker. Today, David's case still hasn't gone
Speaker 1: to trial, but his defense wants to prove that David
Speaker 1: and Berta were in fact close. They came up with
Speaker 1: almost fourteen hundred direct text messages sent between the two
Speaker 1: of them. The messages cover a period of almost three years,
Speaker 1: right up until the weeks before Barta was killed. The
Speaker 1: texts do support the idea that they got along very well,
Speaker 1: at least most of the time. I appreciate our friendship,
Speaker 1: bear To, wrote to him the year before she was killed.
Speaker 1: Despite our differences, I've tried to trust you. David responded
Speaker 1: that he felt the same way. On rare occasions, she'd
Speaker 1: complain about his project or about other people involved in it.
Speaker 1: A little less than a year before she died, she
Speaker 1: vented to him about fm O, that's the development bank
Speaker 1: that said local communities had signed letters supporting the dam.
Speaker 1: Barton wrote to David about quote his friends, saying the
Speaker 1: bank's representatives were miserable liars. But after some back and forth,
Speaker 1: she and David were on friendly terms. By the next evening,
Speaker 1: they agreed they'd see each other again, and Barta seemed
Speaker 1: frankly playful. She wrote to David, and you'll give me
Speaker 1: permission to rob a kiss, nothing more, just once. Even
Speaker 1: neither side has suggested there was a romantic relationship between them.
Speaker 1: Barrett's supporters say her text to him were playful and
Speaker 1: in character with a personality that wasn't always serious. More importantly,
Speaker 1: her supporters say the texts uncovered by the defense team
Speaker 1: actually support their allegations. To them, the texts offer proof
Speaker 1: that bear to in David's relationship began to deteriorate in
Speaker 1: the fall of that's also when they say David and
Speaker 1: others began plotting her murder. Barta and Copeine began ramping
Speaker 1: up their opposition to Deessa with renewed protests and public
Speaker 1: denunciations around that time. David wrote to her in October,
Speaker 1: you say that you like me, and your actions speak otherwise.
Speaker 1: You speak of dialogue, but the reality is different. He
Speaker 1: assures her. He still considers her a friend, but by
Speaker 1: the first of December he's writing her back. I see
Speaker 1: you've been busy, David tells her. He then pays a
Speaker 1: copy of some strong criticisms she recently made against his company.
Speaker 1: Barretta writes him back, something else you want to tell me?
Speaker 1: You response to her only that I hope you're well
Speaker 1: and send many best wishes. Barta writes to him, is
Speaker 1: this irony? Later that December, they exchange friendly holiday greetings,
Speaker 1: but by February something appears to have changed, and remember,
Speaker 1: prosecutors alleged that at this time, the accused killers had
Speaker 1: begun surveilling Berta and that they had already attempted murder her.
Speaker 1: In early February, Barrettster writes to David saying she is
Speaker 1: quote disappointed. She says she thought maybe he really could
Speaker 1: be different from the wealthy elites who financially backed his project.
Speaker 1: In the messages, she does not indicate what provoked her disappointment.
Speaker 1: David doesn't write her back for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: but when he finally does, his message comes two days
Speaker 1: after what investigators allege was that failed murder attempt. He
Speaker 1: writes her, what does that refer to? Different? It appears
Speaker 1: he's referencing the message she'd sent, comparing him to the
Speaker 1: wealthy investors. She says, you know them, you know, and
Speaker 1: then she adds, how strange what you write to me.
Speaker 1: David responds, suggesting that he's a little confused. Yes, I
Speaker 1: know them very well, they're friends. But I don't know
Speaker 1: what you would think would be different. I know that
Speaker 1: I am very different, but I don't know what you think.
Speaker 1: He suggests that he was just trying to be friendly
Speaker 1: when he brought up her criticisms of his company. He writes,
Speaker 1: they told me that you went to visit Lattehea, and
Speaker 1: it made me want to say hello. Bear To responds, seriously,
Speaker 1: you wanted to say hello to me or to fight?
Speaker 1: After he assures her of his good intentions, bear to rights.
Speaker 1: I believe that there are people in your world who
Speaker 1: can have integrity. I thought you could be one of
Speaker 1: those exceptions. I think you may be capable somewhere of
Speaker 1: having kindness, integrity, ethics, and humanity. You can even give
Speaker 1: love and nice things, But you are also capable of
Speaker 1: being like those bastards from the comfort of a certain
Speaker 1: power and impunity from which you act. David again expresses
Speaker 1: his sincerity, and she writes, I'm disappointed for many underlying reasons.
Speaker 1: And it's not that you are obligated to have anything
Speaker 1: to do with me or to even appear respectful. But
Speaker 1: I believed in you as a human being, that even
Speaker 1: being from that shitty world, you could be different. When
Speaker 1: he again insists they can maintain respect and friendship, she
Speaker 1: asked him, do you really believe what you're saying truly?
Speaker 1: Or do you want to pull my leg? This is
Speaker 1: the last day February that Bearton David will exchange text messages.
Speaker 1: She ends the conversation and telling him that she'd picked
Speaker 1: out a gift for him a while ago. She says
Speaker 1: she wants to give it to him before the sense
Speaker 1: of why she had chosen it was lost and that
Speaker 1: was it. If these texts suggests tension between the two
Speaker 1: of them, David says it was quickly resolved. He categorically
Speaker 1: rejects the idea that these conversations illustrate a falling out.
Speaker 1: You can see that we are friends. We continue to
Speaker 1: visit each other all the way until very recently. When
Speaker 1: when when when she was killed. It's impossible that you know,
Speaker 1: asked copeene mentions or as guy demensis, that I was
Speaker 1: planning to hurt my friend. It's ridiculous, He says. They
Speaker 1: met in person after those final messages. It was less
Speaker 1: than two weeks later. He says she gave him the gift,
Speaker 1: a type of gemstone native to western Honduras, and phone
Speaker 1: records verify they were in contact. She called him on
Speaker 1: February eighteen, two weeks later, she would be murdered. David
Speaker 1: was locked in prison after his hearing to await trial.
Speaker 1: His mother, Dona, visited him shortly after that. She says
Speaker 1: she had to stand in a long line to get
Speaker 1: past the front gate. She guesses there might have been
Speaker 1: two thousand people, mostly women, waiting to enter. All the
Speaker 1: women there very vulgar. Um. I remember that I didn't
Speaker 1: know where I had to in, which line I had
Speaker 1: to be, and I asked, and one of the ladies
Speaker 1: just looked at me from top to bottom and she said, lady,
Speaker 1: you look so well edge hated. I don't think you
Speaker 1: belong here. And I just looked at her and I said, um,
Speaker 1: I just want to know where I have to stand.
Speaker 1: And I couldn't believe that my son, who was a businessman,
Speaker 1: a respectful person, respectful in every sense, you know, towards
Speaker 1: every human being, towards law, was sleeping there in that place.
Speaker 1: I interviewed David after he'd been transferred to another prison.
Speaker 1: This one is inside a military compound just outside of GOOSEGALPA.
Speaker 1: You enter through multiple guard stations and then reach the
Speaker 1: actual prison behind a locked, high metal gate. I talked
Speaker 1: to him multiple times going to the prison on weekends,
Speaker 1: when the inmates are allowed to receive visitors. Did Ara
Speaker 1: was there along with her husband. They sat in a
Speaker 1: narrow courtyard chatting with the families of other prisoners. Many
Speaker 1: had brought sacks full of food and clothes for the inmates.
Speaker 1: A few children played soccer in the courtyard. The atmosphere
Speaker 1: felt relaxed. The prisoners could walk freely out of their rooms,
Speaker 1: visiting with their families and if they wanted to other inmates.
Speaker 1: One of the other prisoners here is Sergio Rodriguez, the
Speaker 1: former environmental manager and community relations chief Fordessa. He was
Speaker 1: arrested almost two years before David. The two of them
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time together. Now. David's room is small,
Speaker 1: maybe eight by ten ft or so, with an even
Speaker 1: smaller toilet area. A mattress sits atop a yellow cement platform.
Speaker 1: There's a table, two plastic chairs, and a plastic cabinet
Speaker 1: with a candle on it. David appeared thinner than he'd
Speaker 1: been at the time of his arrest, but he looked healthy.
Speaker 1: You wore a white Nike T shirt, blue sweite pants,
Speaker 1: and silver Nike running shoes. David says that more than
Speaker 1: two years in confinement has taken a toll. This has
Speaker 1: been terrible, horrible it I've lost everything everything in these
Speaker 1: two years that I've been detained. I've lost everything, and
Speaker 1: most important, I've lost my family because I have not
Speaker 1: been able to see him. They do not live here
Speaker 1: in nondutas it's not easy for them to travel now.
Speaker 1: I have not seen my three little girls, which is
Speaker 1: what I missed the most in almost two years. I
Speaker 1: missed him a lot. I wish I could see them.
Speaker 1: I wish I could hug them. I wish I could
Speaker 1: go to school with him. And it's unjust, but I'm
Speaker 1: going through. David's mother visits him every weekend, or did
Speaker 1: until prison visits were suspended because of the COVID nineteen pandemic.
Speaker 1: Her loyalty to her son is total. She says that
Speaker 1: only once in the past two years did she allow
Speaker 1: herself to question the possibility that he could have been
Speaker 1: involved in the murder. She says she'd been praying to
Speaker 1: God every day that all of the details of his
Speaker 1: case would be revealed, everything so that her son could
Speaker 1: be set free. One day, she told David that she'd
Speaker 1: been doing that, and she posed a question to him,
Speaker 1: and I would like to know as a mom if
Speaker 1: by praying this way we might be hurting you. Because
Speaker 1: God will reveal everything. And I don't know if you
Speaker 1: could have heard some thing and didn't say anything, if
Speaker 1: you could have done something, and maybe I don't know
Speaker 1: if your partners could have told you something to do something,
Speaker 1: and maybe it was wrong. And you know that this
Speaker 1: will come out. And he looked at me that day
Speaker 1: and he said, listen, Mom, I want to tell you something.
Speaker 1: I am very proud of having you as my mother,
Speaker 1: but I want you to be and feel proud of
Speaker 1: the son that you grew up. Because I've never done
Speaker 1: anything against the law, and not even say against the
Speaker 1: human being. I have nothing to be ashamed of, and
Speaker 1: you have nothing to feel ashamed of. I want you
Speaker 1: to have your head high up always because there's nothing
Speaker 1: that I have ever done against anyone. She says that
Speaker 1: to lock up her son is to lock up a
Speaker 1: man who had been invested with unlimited potential. So much
Speaker 1: had been poured into his life, starting all the way
Speaker 1: back in las Aba. He'd had a proper upbringing, the
Speaker 1: best education, enormous opportunities. She says that after Barts's murder.
Speaker 1: When people began pointing the finger at Dessa, she became
Speaker 1: afraid for her son's life. She says it made a
Speaker 1: dangerous country feel even more menacing to everyone in the family.
Speaker 1: To her, much of Honduras had turned on David. These
Speaker 1: people don't have anything to lose. If they lose their
Speaker 1: life one less, that's it. But we do. We have
Speaker 1: a different life. We have a lot to lose, you know,
Speaker 1: the family members and copying. They they have been picked
Speaker 1: him um stir about what happened to uh huberta um.
Speaker 1: But I have also been a victim. I continue to
Speaker 1: be a victim because when all these slides are published
Speaker 1: and said and how they frame things, um, they probably
Speaker 1: look bad. David's tone sometimes shifted during our conversations from
Speaker 1: dejected and despairing to a dug in sort of defiance,
Speaker 1: but the message never changed. I did not order this,
Speaker 1: I did not participate it in the murder. There is
Speaker 1: no evidence whatsoever that could link me to the killing Operta.
Speaker 1: But there are all those text messages, the ones that
Speaker 1: prosecutors say show David conspiring with others to try to
Speaker 1: get away with murder. On the next episode of Blood River,
Speaker 1: we dive into the heart of David's defense. Yeah. Blood
Speaker 1: River is written and reported by me monte Reel Top
Speaker 1: for Foreheads is our senior producer. My Aquava is our
Speaker 1: associate producer. Our theme was composed and performed by Senior Rubinos.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Carlos Rodriguez. Francesca Levi is the head
Speaker 1: of Bloomberg Podcasts. Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already,
Speaker 1: and if you like what you hear, please leave us
Speaker 1: a review. It helps others find out about the show.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.