Speaker 1: It's now been four and a half years since the
Speaker 1: night of March second, when Berta Cassarus was shot dead
Speaker 1: in the bedroom of her house. Four and a half
Speaker 1: years of frustrations, secrets, and revelations. First there was the survivor,
Speaker 1: the witness that the assassins failed to kill in Berta's
Speaker 1: guest bedroom. Then there were the false leads, allegations of
Speaker 1: a cover up, and surprise raids. After all of that,
Speaker 1: investigators piece together a murder plot that pointed the finger
Speaker 1: at the hydro electric company that Berta had opposed. This
Speaker 1: led to seven murder convictions, but a critical piece of
Speaker 1: this story remains unresolved. David Castillo, the CEO of Dessa,
Speaker 1: was arrested in eighteen for plotting Berta's death, and since
Speaker 1: then his case has been in limbo. All the while
Speaker 1: a clock has been ticking. Under Honduran law, a person
Speaker 1: can be held in custody without going to trial for
Speaker 1: only two and a half years, and David's time in
Speaker 1: prison expires on September two. It's now late August, with
Speaker 1: just two weeks to go before that day arrives, and
Speaker 1: Bart's family is growing very worried. They say David's legal
Speaker 1: team is trying to run out that clock. Bart's older
Speaker 1: brother Gustavo, tells a Honduran television show that if David
Speaker 1: goes free, the family's hopes of finding some measure of
Speaker 1: justice will slip away too. We're asking the court, let's
Speaker 1: go immediately with the the trial. They can try and
Speaker 1: show his innocence and show that he didn't participate, and
Speaker 1: show that he didn't threaten b That's fine again, they
Speaker 1: can make whatever case they want, but we are prepared
Speaker 1: to show that David Castillo is guilty after all the
Speaker 1: evidence that's been submitted to the public Ministry and submitted
Speaker 1: to the court. That same day, the Honduran Supreme Court
Speaker 1: makes a startling announcement. After more than a year of
Speaker 1: appeals and postponements, it decides to remove the judge who
Speaker 1: had overseen the case from the beginning. Barton's family is shocked.
Speaker 1: They see this change as a last minute delay at tactic,
Speaker 1: something to make sure no trial could be said before
Speaker 1: time runs out. They fear the Supreme Court itself is
Speaker 1: sabotaging the case. The court doesn't give a reason for
Speaker 1: the change, and both sides seem a little baffled by it,
Speaker 1: The dismiss judge had allowed the case to drag on
Speaker 1: with little action. Some of David's supporters worry the court
Speaker 1: has bowed to pressure to schedule a trial no matter what.
Speaker 1: Barrett's family fears that it's a delay tactic, something to
Speaker 1: make sure no trial can be said before time runs out.
Speaker 1: They worry that the justice system has been fixed, and
Speaker 1: they plead for action. But at least, does you know
Speaker 1: today the court has to demonstrate that no longer will
Speaker 1: people be set free because of their connections or because
Speaker 1: of the influence of powerful people in this country put
Speaker 1: invage of the hint. This idea that powerful, well connected
Speaker 1: people might be intervening on David's behalf has become a
Speaker 1: theme throughout this case. As David has waited for a
Speaker 1: trial to be set, researchers with several nonprofit organizations, as
Speaker 1: well as an international anti corruption panel, have dug into
Speaker 1: his COMPANYSA. They say they've unearthed a history of corruption,
Speaker 1: the kind made possible by connections deep into Honduran government agencies.
Speaker 1: And lawyers representing Berta's family argue that it was this
Speaker 1: system of corruption that had her killed. This is another
Speaker 1: reason they want David's murder case to go to trial.
Speaker 1: They hope to present some of this evidence in court.
Speaker 1: Victor Fernandez is a lawyer representing Berta's family. This is
Speaker 1: from an August radio interview. You can see there's a
Speaker 1: criminal structure that's linked to the highest levels of executive power.
Speaker 1: He says, putting David on trial would be an unprecedented
Speaker 1: blow against the culture of impunity that has reigned in
Speaker 1: Honduras for years. Impunity that he says, originates with an
Speaker 1: elite group of politically and economically powerful people. He says,
Speaker 1: they want to protect David because that's how they can
Speaker 1: protect themselves. It's a group economical. This group of economic
Speaker 1: powers was able to be a part of this whole
Speaker 1: criminal dynamic, and it started with the creation of the
Speaker 1: Aguasaka project and extended all the way through Berta's assassination
Speaker 1: and the other crimes committed along the way. So the
Speaker 1: tentacles go up to this levelogy and in Sabertas supporters,
Speaker 1: simply setting a trial date has become a critical test
Speaker 1: of a country and of its entire system of justice.
Speaker 1: Honduras has never tackled a murder case like this one.
Speaker 1: Most homicide investigations are never closed and few result in arrests.
Speaker 1: Maybe the gunmen might go to jail, but those who
Speaker 1: might have given the orders almost never do. Berta's family
Speaker 1: and their lawyers want to face David in court because
Speaker 1: there they hope to expose and dismantle a way of
Speaker 1: doing business that they describe as murderers. My name is
Speaker 1: montereyrel for Bloomberg Green and this is blood River in
Speaker 1: hon During President Juan Orlando Hernandez faced calls for his resignation,
Speaker 1: more than three hundred and fifty five million dollars had
Speaker 1: been embezzled from the country's social security program, and some
Speaker 1: of that money had ended up in the president's campaign chest.
Speaker 1: Under pressure, President Hernandez agreed to let an international anti
Speaker 1: corruption panel come to Honduras. It would be overseen by
Speaker 1: the Organization of American States. It's sort of like the
Speaker 1: United Nations for the Western Hemisphere. That anti corruption panel
Speaker 1: backed numerous investigations that uncovered dents of rampant government led
Speaker 1: graft and lawlessness. One investigation charged a former First Lady
Speaker 1: of Honduras with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars. She
Speaker 1: was convicted and sentenced to fifty eight years in prison.
Speaker 1: But now she's no longer in custody for the same
Speaker 1: reason that Berta's family fears David could be released. This summer,
Speaker 1: her conviction was annulled because of procedural problems. Her new
Speaker 1: trial date hasn't yet been set, but she's already been
Speaker 1: in custody longer than Honduran authorities can hold her, so
Speaker 1: she's free for now. But that's not the most important
Speaker 1: connection between David and that anti corruption panel. Last year
Speaker 1: in Tegucigalpa, the panel's members gathered to announce some newss
Speaker 1: I think I was that is. The members of the
Speaker 1: panel revealed that its most recent investigation was called Fraud
Speaker 1: on the Gualcrate. It centered on Dessa and the Awa
Speaker 1: Zarka dam Anna Maria Calderon, a former prosecutor from Peru,
Speaker 1: said the group had looked into the business dealings behind
Speaker 1: the hydro electric project and had uncovered a wide range
Speaker 1: of crimes. They accused David Castillo and fifteen others, including
Speaker 1: government officials, of launching a project that was rotten from
Speaker 1: the very start. The alleged crimes included fraud, abuse of authority,
Speaker 1: and falsification of documents. La Calderon said Dessa was founded
Speaker 1: in two thousand nine by two brothers who seemingly weren't
Speaker 1: involved in the company's daily operations. At that time, David
Speaker 1: Castillo was working for the Honduran government run electrical utility.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't join Dessa until but the investigators said David
Speaker 1: was pulling the strings at Dessa from day one. They
Speaker 1: said the two brothers behind Dessa were actually low level
Speaker 1: employees who worked for David at a computer company he
Speaker 1: founded a couple of years earlier. They said one brother
Speaker 1: had worked as a driver there. So the investigators alleged
Speaker 1: that David was the de facto head of Deessa while
Speaker 1: he was working for the State Electrical Utility, and this,
Speaker 1: they said, was the same time when the state utility
Speaker 1: signed its agreement with Dessa to purchase electricity from the
Speaker 1: proposed Ahwa Zarka damn. In other words, the investigators say
Speaker 1: David was playing both sides when the Awa Zarka projects
Speaker 1: approvals and contracts were drawn up. They say he effectively
Speaker 1: rigged the process, making sure Dessa could sell electricity to
Speaker 1: the government at inflated prices. In addition to David, several
Speaker 1: senior officials with the Honduran Environmental Agency faced charges. When
Speaker 1: announcing the case last year, the anti corruption panel suggested
Speaker 1: a comprehensive review of the electrical utilities contracts called their own.
Speaker 1: Further warned that all government agreements tied to renewable energy
Speaker 1: sources might have been compromised. But in early President Hernandez
Speaker 1: effectively shut down the anti corruption group. The president's critics
Speaker 1: suspect that was because anti corruption investigations have not been
Speaker 1: kind to the president in recent months. Last October, Tony Hernandez,
Speaker 1: the President's brother, was put on trial in a New
Speaker 1: York courtman Us prosecutors accused her Nandez of helping smuggle
Speaker 1: almost tons of cocaine into the United States while enjoying
Speaker 1: the protection of his brother, President Juang Orlando Hernandez. Tony
Speaker 1: Hernandez was found guilty, and the President was named as
Speaker 1: an indicted co conspirator. He's denied involved. Prosecutors alleged the
Speaker 1: drug profits were funneled into the President's campaign, that the
Speaker 1: president helped secure drug routes and the cooperation of the
Speaker 1: Honduran police and its military. The court essentially ruled that
Speaker 1: Honduras is a narco state. But even though the Anti
Speaker 1: Corruption Panel was dissolved this year, its case against David
Speaker 1: and the others didn't die. It was passed on to
Speaker 1: another group of prosecutors inside Honduras. David is fighting the charges.
Speaker 1: He says they're baseless, another attempt to smear him and
Speaker 1: his card. Several of the former public officials named in
Speaker 1: the case filed appeals for dismissal this month. Those requests
Speaker 1: were denied, but it remains uncertain whether any of the
Speaker 1: information from that corruption probe will actually surface in the
Speaker 1: separate murder case against David. The only way that would
Speaker 1: happen is if prosecutors charged David with something called illicit association.
Speaker 1: This is a legal term used to describe a group
Speaker 1: of people who have come together for one underlying reason
Speaker 1: to commit crimes. Annie Bird is a Washington, d c.
Speaker 1: Based human rights activist who's been investigating the awah's ark
Speaker 1: A project since. She says that in this case, the
Speaker 1: criminal group would be the Dessa executives, and she says
Speaker 1: the crimes would include all of the violations the Anti
Speaker 1: corruption Panel highlighted as the company pursued the dam essentially
Speaker 1: they're breaking so many laws in the process of trying
Speaker 1: to get it implemented that it's a it's a criminal enterprise.
Speaker 1: She and others have been trying to convince Honduran prosecutors
Speaker 1: to include illicit association charges in David's murder case. Those
Speaker 1: efforts haven't worked, and she believes that's because the state
Speaker 1: is afraid to go after those at the very top
Speaker 1: of Dessa's corporate pyramid, its investors. From the beginning, what
Speaker 1: we've seen is the tendency to protect the hires up
Speaker 1: from prosecution. While David Castillo has awaited trial, Verta's family
Speaker 1: and Copaine have very publicly been going after Death's investors
Speaker 1: in court and out of it. The Ahwazarka project cost
Speaker 1: about sixty four million dollars and its funding came from
Speaker 1: two principal sources. First was international development banks, second was
Speaker 1: a family of private investors inside Honduras. Roughly forty million
Speaker 1: dollars for the project came from three different development banks.
Speaker 1: They included one from Honduras, one from Finland, and one
Speaker 1: from the Netherlands named f M. O. Berta had publicly
Speaker 1: criticized all of those banks, and she fought to get
Speaker 1: them to withdraw funds from the project. She believed that
Speaker 1: Dessa violated the human rights of the community members near
Speaker 1: the Gualcrt River, and she thought the banks were complicit
Speaker 1: by giving money to the company. Berta and others in
Speaker 1: Copeine reached out to Hannah sam Caldon, a Dutch human
Speaker 1: rights lawyer. They wanted to force AMO to stop their
Speaker 1: involvement in the Aguasara project. Berta wasn't able to follow through,
Speaker 1: but after she was murdered, her colleagues in Copeine called
Speaker 1: sam Caldon again and in they filed suit against f
Speaker 1: m O. That case alleges that the bank had ignored
Speaker 1: the reports of human rights violations that bear to herself
Speaker 1: had filed. The idea of the lawsuit has been to
Speaker 1: establish that FAMO shouldn't have govern involved in the project
Speaker 1: in the first place, and when they made the decision
Speaker 1: to support the project and they did get involved, after all,
Speaker 1: they should have properly monitored and tried to use their
Speaker 1: influence to prevent further human rights violations locally. In other words,
Speaker 1: they're arguing that FMO was negligent. She says, if the
Speaker 1: bank had seriously investigated the complaints of human rights violations
Speaker 1: by Dessa, then they certainly wouldn't have backed the project.
Speaker 1: She says. The bank's negligence was a contributing factor to
Speaker 1: Berta's death. It's been a particular issue. Indeed that had
Speaker 1: Amo taken adequate action timely, then her death probably would
Speaker 1: not have occurred. FMO denies wrongdoing. A spokesperson for the
Speaker 1: bank declined to comment on the suit, but directed me
Speaker 1: to nearly two dozen documents the bank has released related
Speaker 1: to the case. These include summaries of the fact finding
Speaker 1: trips where the bank sent delegations to Rio Blanco. These
Speaker 1: were thorough reviews, the bank says, and they didn't reveal
Speaker 1: a history of abuses. The Dutch bank, along with those
Speaker 1: from Finland and Honduras, pulled out of the AWA's Arka
Speaker 1: project after Barts's murder. David Castillo says FMO and the
Speaker 1: other banks forgave Dessa and its shareholders all of their
Speaker 1: debt to them loans from the show two the shareholders
Speaker 1: and to the Osaka project. We're raised they don't have
Speaker 1: to be paid back because the financial institutions behind it.
Speaker 1: They know that there was no wrongdoing from the shareholders
Speaker 1: maybe the banks had forgiven the shareholders, but Barton's family
Speaker 1: and their lawyers have not. We met David Castillo around
Speaker 1: the maybe two thousand and ten, and uh he was
Speaker 1: looking for investors in his project. This is Danielle Atala.
Speaker 1: He and his family own a number of businesses throughout
Speaker 1: Honduras and provide financial backing for even more. As as
Speaker 1: an investor group, we saw the potential in an individual
Speaker 1: like David Castillo. We really liked his his curriculum, his
Speaker 1: his profile. We thought that who is going to be
Speaker 1: a good investment. At that moment, Danielle would become Death's
Speaker 1: chief financial officer. His father, Jose Eduardo Atala Zabla, is
Speaker 1: a board member and also a shareholder, as are two
Speaker 1: of Danielle's uncles. In Honduras, some people like to say
Speaker 1: that a small number of wealthy families really control the country.
Speaker 1: It's impossible to prove, but a lot of people believe it.
Speaker 1: Many of Berta's supporters think that the Atala Zablas are
Speaker 1: one of those families. I met them in the offices
Speaker 1: of a John Dear dealership they own in Tegusagalpa. The
Speaker 1: room was full of trophies, from the soccer club Motagua,
Speaker 1: one of the country's most popular teams. Jo Say Eduardo
Speaker 1: is the executive president of that team. He also served
Speaker 1: as the president of the Honduran American Chamber of Commerce,
Speaker 1: and he was a past board member of that same
Speaker 1: Honduras based development bank that partly financed the Ahazarka project.
Speaker 1: He had left that position years before Dessa was formed,
Speaker 1: but both he and Danielle bristle at the idea that
Speaker 1: the family enjoys any political influence, much less runs the country.
Speaker 1: We don't have private jets, we don't have helicopters, we
Speaker 1: don't have nothing. I have the same car during the
Speaker 1: last eight years. Not not the wealthiest family in the
Speaker 1: country by by farm. We have, you know, a strong
Speaker 1: investment group, but it's we don't have the love being capacity.
Speaker 1: We don't have the fund capacity. We don't have the
Speaker 1: funding capacity we were. It's a extremely limited and we
Speaker 1: and the investment that we have lost, as you know,
Speaker 1: made a big dent in in our in our finances.
Speaker 1: But they say they risk losing even more their good name.
Speaker 1: These days, if you drive around La Speranza, you don't
Speaker 1: have to look too hard to find the Itala name.
Speaker 1: It's spray painted on walls all over town, often next
Speaker 1: to words like assassins. At Copeine rallies now there are
Speaker 1: almost always banners that say the members of the family
Speaker 1: should be in jail. One reason behind that anger has
Speaker 1: to do with the text messages that are being used
Speaker 1: against David Castillo. The Atala Zablas participated in some of
Speaker 1: those message strings. When the conflict with Copine started in
Speaker 1: Danielle used racial slurs to describe the protesters and question
Speaker 1: the legitimacy of their indigenous identity. In another text exchange
Speaker 1: from Danielle references Berta and two other Copeine activists who
Speaker 1: were charged by police for inciting unrest in Rio Blanco.
Speaker 1: He wrote, quote, it cost a lot of money and
Speaker 1: political capital to get these three arrest warrants. Danielle says
Speaker 1: he was talking about spending money on lawyers to pursue
Speaker 1: legal action against Copaine. We don't really have any political
Speaker 1: capital to spend. We just hadn't. It was it wasn't.
Speaker 1: It was like a base comments and it didn't really
Speaker 1: mean a lot. What I really wanted to emphasize was
Speaker 1: that we were spending a lot of money on it,
Speaker 1: and we were not sure it was gonna work, and
Speaker 1: it really wasn't in the budget, and I had to
Speaker 1: do a lot of convincing with within the board too
Speaker 1: to acquire the funds for for that, for that, you know,
Speaker 1: legal legal expenditure. There are other messages in October. There
Speaker 1: was one from Daniel's uncle that seemed to be referencing
Speaker 1: protesters from Copeine. He wrote, let's send a message that
Speaker 1: nothing will be easy for those s O b s.
Speaker 1: And then there was another sent after Berta's murder where
Speaker 1: Danielle wrote that the Honduran security minister had reported that
Speaker 1: the murder was being pursued as a Leo de Faldi's
Speaker 1: or a skirt problem, that is that it was a
Speaker 1: crime related to a love affair. Copeine's lawyers say this
Speaker 1: is evidence that the Itala Zabla family was in close
Speaker 1: contact with senior Honduran authorities. Danielle and Jose Eduardo say
Speaker 1: this isn't true. So well, that was bullick. I mean
Speaker 1: that that's noth That wasn't you know, privileged information that
Speaker 1: that was that was public and that's why everybody was
Speaker 1: saying that was like the initial theory in the news
Speaker 1: and everything. These and other messages have put a target
Speaker 1: on the backs of the Atala Zablas. That was Bart's
Speaker 1: oldest daughter, Olivia, leading a chant at a press conference
Speaker 1: in She was calling out the Atala Zabla family by name,
Speaker 1: labeling them assassins. She said they were the hidden force
Speaker 1: behind her mother's death. The Atala Zablas say these claims
Speaker 1: are baseless and dangerous. They generally have the same view
Speaker 1: of the situation that David has, that Dessa had nothing
Speaker 1: to do with the murder, that the AWA's ark A
Speaker 1: project was accepted the community, and that the texts have
Speaker 1: been misinterpreted and mishandled. They emphasize that the courts and
Speaker 1: other proceedings related to Berta's murder have explicitly stated that
Speaker 1: they've seen no evidence suggesting Dessa desas employees or its
Speaker 1: shareholders financed Berta's murder. The family members suggest they've been
Speaker 1: the victims of a smear campaign, and they say the
Speaker 1: international activist groups aligned with Berta have made things worse.
Speaker 1: Is amazing how they can coordinate all the informations, all
Speaker 1: the round, informations just to make feel like we are
Speaker 1: the the empire in the are the rebels in the
Speaker 1: Star Wars saga. But Jose Eduardo says, if anyone represents
Speaker 1: Darth Vader's empire in Star Wars, it's those leading the
Speaker 1: international campaign against the family. Danielle agrees that is the
Speaker 1: story that sells, you know, that's the story that people
Speaker 1: want to hear. They want to hear about how the
Speaker 1: you know, poor indigenous communities, uh, you know stood up
Speaker 1: to the bad businessmen. They read about, for example, the
Speaker 1: bear Ta Casserous Human Rights and Honduras Act. It's appending
Speaker 1: bill in the U. S. Congress. The references barts murder
Speaker 1: and would withhold military and security aid to Honduras until
Speaker 1: quote perpetrators are brought to justice. And they see images
Speaker 1: of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meeting with the Cassarus family
Speaker 1: in Washington and during a trip to Honduras. The Atala
Speaker 1: Zablas say, when it comes to political capital and influence,
Speaker 1: they're the underdogs. This is a message that Dessa has
Speaker 1: consistently tried to exp us that the international activists, not
Speaker 1: the business interests behind the dam hold the power. They
Speaker 1: say international activists and NGOs have more money than they do,
Speaker 1: and they argue that those interest groups have used Barton's
Speaker 1: murder to enrich themselves, to exploit a tragedy to raise funds.
Speaker 1: The activists working for those NGOs shake their heads in
Speaker 1: disbelief when they hear this. Annie Bird has been one
Speaker 1: of the most persistent of Death's opponents from that community.
Speaker 1: I spoke to her in the office of her human
Speaker 1: rights nonprofit in Washington, d C. It's in a cramped
Speaker 1: room on the second floor of an old house. The
Speaker 1: stairs are creaky, the furniture is worn, and there's a
Speaker 1: malfunctioning burglar alarm that likes to go off at random intervals.
Speaker 1: If she's well funded, it doesn't really show. That's the
Speaker 1: discourse in hunderus that they referred to Berta and Copeine
Speaker 1: as extortionists. It's almost as if they're unable to believe
Speaker 1: that people could operate for any other motivation than financial
Speaker 1: and you know, obviously it's it's it's a ridiculous assertion.
Speaker 1: All of us who have been involved in this work,
Speaker 1: including Berta, have chosen paths that compensate us in other ways.
Speaker 1: The quest by the Cassara's family's lawyers to go after
Speaker 1: the money has gone beyond the private investigators and the banks.
Speaker 1: They're also trying to uncover information about David Castillo's personal finances.
Speaker 1: Last year, those lawyers filed paper hers to subpoena bank
Speaker 1: records so David and his wife Tanya. The matter is
Speaker 1: with a court in Mississippi because that's where the bank
Speaker 1: that holds the mortgage is based. The lawyers wanted to
Speaker 1: find out how the couple paid for their one point
Speaker 1: six million dollar house in Houston. They bought it months
Speaker 1: after Barta's murder. Court records say Barta's family wants to
Speaker 1: present that financial information to the court in Honduras to
Speaker 1: quote helped secure Castillo's conviction. David describes those efforts as
Speaker 1: a fishing expedition, just one more way Copine is harassing
Speaker 1: him and his family. Tanya, David's wife, filed an affidavit
Speaker 1: last year related to that Mississippi case. She says the
Speaker 1: money came from companies that David owned, and she stated
Speaker 1: David is a loving husband and a good father. He
Speaker 1: worked hard to be a good provider and take care
Speaker 1: of our family. David this year told me he believes
Speaker 1: that all of these accusations against him will come to nothing.
Speaker 1: That he'll be able to walk free and pick up
Speaker 1: the pieces of the life he was forced to abandon
Speaker 1: two and a half years ago when he was arrested.
Speaker 1: I have faith that the day will come in which
Speaker 1: I will be able to rejoin with my family, and
Speaker 1: I will be able to hug my wife, hug my
Speaker 1: three beautiful daughters, and my mother, and and I will
Speaker 1: be able to join them. But after the first episodes
Speaker 1: of this podcast air, Tanya independently reached out to me,
Speaker 1: and she painted a picture that was very different from
Speaker 1: what David told me. In November, Tanya filed for divorce.
Speaker 1: Her petition sites discord or conflict of personalities. David has
Speaker 1: resisted her filing. He countered in court, denying Tanya's accusations
Speaker 1: of discord and demanding proof. He says he and his
Speaker 1: wife are still working on reconciliation. Tanya says that's not true.
Speaker 1: She says she's cut all ties to David. She and
Speaker 1: I never spoke directly, but she sent me a recorded statement.
Speaker 1: She says she was glad to hear we were making
Speaker 1: this show and investigating Bart's murder case. She deserves justice.
Speaker 1: Cases of violence against women and hunters occur far too often,
Speaker 1: and I, as a hunter and woman, pray that justice
Speaker 1: is served for all those involved in this case. As
Speaker 1: for my relationship with Vi Castillo, I fouled for divorce
Speaker 1: over eight months ago on November two, and I've had
Speaker 1: no involvement with this defense since before that filing. It
Speaker 1: is important to me that people know this divorce is
Speaker 1: not a legal strategy of any kind. I left David.
Speaker 1: We are not in a really sationship anymore and will
Speaker 1: never be again. It's now Wednesday, August, exactly a week
Speaker 1: before David could be released if no trial is set
Speaker 1: for procedural reasons. The newly appointed judge must make a
Speaker 1: decision today on whether or not the case will go forward.
Speaker 1: It's a tense day on social media. Both sides worry
Speaker 1: that the system is working against them, but the court
Speaker 1: is silent. Then, minutes before five o'clock in the afternoon,
Speaker 1: the word comes down David's case will go to trial.
Speaker 1: Barton's supporters cheer. Her daughter, Bartita Isabel writes on Twitter,
Speaker 1: we did it. Barta's mother, Austra, is with Barta's brother
Speaker 1: Gustavo at home in Lasperanza. They break into tears when
Speaker 1: they hear the news. I reached them the following morning
Speaker 1: on a zoom call. An sadly also, Barta's mother describes
Speaker 1: the past four and a half years as a tireless fight,
Speaker 1: one that takes aim against the economic powers that be
Speaker 1: in Honduras, powers that she says, can no longer resist
Speaker 1: the will of the people. David's side has condemned to
Speaker 1: the courts actions. They vowed to keep fighting and say
Speaker 1: that all of the eleventh hour flurry of activity in
Speaker 1: the past weeks seemed to develop under quote mysterious circumstances.
Speaker 1: David's lawyer issued a statement suggesting that US politicians have
Speaker 1: pressured Honduras for a conviction against David for years. He
Speaker 1: says those foreign officials have mounted an irresponsible intervention in
Speaker 1: Honduran judicial affairs and due process. He says isn't under
Speaker 1: pressure just from an outside government. He says that more
Speaker 1: than five hundred NGOs have been harassing the country's courts.
Speaker 1: It's not hard to imagine why they feel besieged and outnumbered.
Speaker 1: The groups that have aligned themselves against Dessa in this
Speaker 1: murder case represent a variety of causes, and they're not
Speaker 1: always unified ones. They include self described opponents of the
Speaker 1: Honduran government, as well as prosecutors from inside that government itself.
Speaker 1: There are groups that campaign against what they label the
Speaker 1: imperial influence of the United States, and they've been joined
Speaker 1: by members of the U. S government. There are church
Speaker 1: based organizations and others that rail against the influence of
Speaker 1: religious groups in Latin America. In all sorts of matters,
Speaker 1: these groups might not get along, but in this case
Speaker 1: they've been unified by one thing. Barretton Her campaign started
Speaker 1: as a struggle alongside a small river in western Honduras
Speaker 1: against a relatively small hydro electric dam. Now her brother
Speaker 1: says it has become something much larger than that. La
Speaker 1: was the struggle our sister undertook cross the borders of Honduras,
Speaker 1: through Europe the United States, and for that reason, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of people in the US who view all
Speaker 1: of this with concern. It can't be the case that
Speaker 1: you can get away with killing people for defending natural
Speaker 1: resources and nature. This gets at an idea that Berta's
Speaker 1: supporters have embraced, that Berta's message did not die with her,
Speaker 1: but instead has been amplified and the small band of
Speaker 1: protesters it fought alongside her by the river has grown
Speaker 1: into an international movement. They've turned it into a rally thought.
Speaker 1: You hear it at demonstrations outside of court buildings in
Speaker 1: Honduras and even on the radio. They seeing Berta didn't die,
Speaker 1: she became millions. You're the gas Lavandola poly sea. If
Speaker 1: you go to the Gualcarque River near Rio Blanco today,
Speaker 1: you'll find a swift stream twisting through the mountains. You
Speaker 1: won't see any boat traffic here. Rapids boiled over huge boulders.
Speaker 1: It's very hard to walk along the banks for any
Speaker 1: length of time. They're too steep. In some places, you
Speaker 1: might find a suspension bridge dangling from one side to
Speaker 1: the other. There are gaps in the splintery boards where
Speaker 1: water shines through underfoot. A short walk from the river
Speaker 1: through a small grassy pasture, you'll find DESA's old work site.
Speaker 1: Once there was a dormitory complex here for the workers.
Speaker 1: Now cinder blocks crumble in the sun, weeds push through
Speaker 1: wide cracks and cement foundations. Nature seems to be reclaiming
Speaker 1: the site. The exact date of the trial will likely
Speaker 1: be set in the coming days. The trial itself might
Speaker 1: last a couple of weeks as all of this unfolds
Speaker 1: in the courtroom. This case will no doubt evolve, and
Speaker 1: so will this podcast. We'll follow any new turns that arise.
Speaker 1: Blood River, We'll be back, m M. Blood River is
Speaker 1: written and reported by me Monte Reel Top Foreheads is
Speaker 1: our senior producer. Maya Cueva is our associate producer. Our
Speaker 1: theme was composed and performed by Senia Rubinos. Thanks to
Speaker 1: Laura Carlson, Magnus Hendrickson, Carlos Rodriguez, Bob Blow, Katie Boyce,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rutcoff, Jackie Kessler, Cynthia Hoffman, Randy Shapiro, Jed Sandberg,
Speaker 1: and apple Gate Maps. Francesco Levy is the head of
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Podcasts. This is a last episode in our season,
Speaker 1: but be sure to stay subscribed. We'll be back for
Speaker 1: more episodes as the trial proceeds. If you like our show,
Speaker 1: please leave us a review. It helps others find us.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.