DAY THREE: Trial Against Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez
/What Happened Today:
Testimonies from DEA Special Agent Brian Fairbanks (continued on from yesterday) and DEA Special Agent Greg Mervis
Witness Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga began to testify for the government
Key Details That Surfaced:
Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez (GFR) worked with Los Cachiros cartel to transport and provide security for several shipments of cocaine from eastern Honduras to western town of El Espíritu, Copan. He also received drug shipments in coordination with drug traffickers and Honduran National Police near the Ulúa river in Progreso, Yoro.
GFR had several contacts in the Cortés Department inside the Honduran National Police. When an individual working with the Cachiros cartel leader, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga (now a government witness) was arrested during a drug shipment, GFR called the mayor of the northern city of Choloma Leopoldo Civelli, nicknamed ‘Polo’ [now running as a pre-candidate for Congress for the Liberal Party under Yani Rosenthal’s stream. Civelli has also been accused of fraud, falsifying documents, amongst other charges]. Mayor Civelli called the police and had the worker released.
Los Cachiros drug cartel leader, Rivera Maradiaga was told that GFR could kill anyone that Rivera Maradiaga wanted. To gain his trust, GFR kidnapped a boat driver that had been making fun of Rivera Maradiaga, and took him to the Guatemala-Honduras border and killed him.
What Will Happen Tomorrow:
Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga will continue on the stand
It’s possible that another witness may be called if Rivera Maradiaga finishes testifying
Photo: Pro-Honduras Network. From left to right - Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga (top), Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez (bottom), Leopoldo Crivelli (center), and Juan Orlando Hernandez (right)
More Details
Special Agent Fairbanks Continues From Yesterday (Cross-examination)
Agent Fairbanks did not investigate why Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez (GFR) was visiting the US and later, was arrested in Miami. According to the defense, GFR was in the US selling wood shims to US companies in Florida and GFR’s son has a granite business.
Agent Fairbanks never spoke to ‘Comanche’ (mentioned yesterday in the chats found on GFR’s cell phone)
The defense attempted to poke holes in Agent Fairbanks’ witness testimony from yesterday. The agent was unable to say who was holding the guns in the pictures presented yesterday by the government; and was unable to confirm whether GFR had actual contact with any of the military and police contacts in GFR’s phone except with Police Commissioner Martinez.
DEA Special Agent Gregg Mervis (Government Witness):
Agent Mervis is a DEA Staff Coordinator. He began working with the DEA in 1997, first as a linguist translating English to Spanish. He then attended the DEA Special Academy in 1998 and underwent 4 months of training (in surveillance, wire taps, legal training, confidential source management, complex conspiracy training, etc) to become a Special Agent. He was later stationed in Imperial County, California for 6 years investigating narcotics shipments from Mexico into California then stationed in Venezuela. He worked on a DEA Latin America team from March 2014 to the summer of 2015 and investigated narcotics trafficking in Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. He left that job in 2015 and went to work with the Special Operations Unit in the US.
How Is Cocaine Produced?
Colombia is the greatest producer of cocaine - 90% of the cocaine produced in Colombia makes it to the US. It’s primarily produced in labs. It’s processed using the coca leaf, chemicals, a heating process, and other steps involving the application of chemicals and drying before it is pressed into bricks weighing approximately 1 kilogram (approx. 2.2 lbs or 8,000 doses of cocaine)
How is Cocaine Transported?
Cocaine usually isn’t sent directly to the United States. It generally moves from Colombia to Venezuela then passes through the “Central American route” via air to the eastern part of Honduras, then onto western Guatemala into Mexico and finally, the United States.
The “Central America” route is the primary route. This route emerged in the early 2000s which occurred because the US started to work with the Colombian government that began to extradite drug traffickers. The new route provided a buffer or an additional layer of protection for drug traffickers from law enforcement.
The cocaine can be sent via sailing route or “go-fast” vessel - a speed boat modified with extra motors. These go-fast vessels move faster, are smaller, and are less likely to be detected. Cocaine is also sent by air in small aircraft.
Cocaine usually leaves from the Apure area of Venezuela from clandestine landing strips. It lands in Honduras before going into Guatemala. In Honduras, cocaine is often transported in livestock trailers connected to tractor trailers that are frequently used in remote areas in the country.
From 2009 to 2020: The Sinaloa cartel was the largest cartel in Mexico. “El Chapo” Guzman was the leader of the cartel.
Cocaine Value Shifts As It Travels North
There is not a huge consumer market for cocaine in the countries that cocaine passes through. Honduras has a small population of approx. nine million people
Cocaine prices per country/region per kilogram:
Colombia: Approx. $2500 to $3000
Honduras: Approx. $7500 to $9000
Mexico (near Guatemala): Approx. $12,000 to $16,000
US (pre-Covid-19): Approx. $30,000 to $35,000
New York (pre-Covid-19): Approx. $30,000
Cocaine prices were lower in 2009.
Strategies Used to Target Drug Traffickers
OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control): This allows the US government to sanction drug traffickers. Usually a press release is published on the OFAC website. The idea is to warn the drug traffickers they have been sanctioned but also any businesses that do business with them.
The DEA cannot ask Honduran banks to seize assets. The DEA cannot arrest anyone or seize assets in Honduras.
Airplanes are registered by country. US registered planes have numbers that begin with ‘N’ and are registered by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).
Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga (Government Witness)
Rivera Maradiaga is from Honduras. He was not extradited by the Honduran government and instead handed himself over to the US in 2015. He was a drug trafficker in Honduras located in the Colon region and part of the ‘Los Cachiros’ drug cartel along with his brother, Javier Rivera Maradiaga. He stopped trafficking drugs in 2013 when he began to work with the DEA. Rivera Maradiaga estimates that he trafficked approx. 100 tonnes of cocaine during his drug trafficking years.
Rivera Maradiaga plead guilty in the US to conspiracy to traffic drugs, money laundering, possession of military weapons, homicide, and being the head of a drug trafficking organization. The guilty plea was made under a cooperation agreement. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life plus 30 years.
How Rivera Maradiaga Got Into the Drug Business
He started trafficking small amounts of drugs (approx. 1 kilo of cocaine) in 2002. By 2009, the Rivera Maradiaga brothers received boats of cocaine coming from Colombia and Venezuela. They received the boats and transported the cocaine to other parts of Honduras.
The cocaine would arrive to: Gracias a Dios [department] and Sico Valley region. Sometimes to Cortés and taken by car to El Espíritu and later, delivered to buyers in Guatemala.
Approximately 2000 kilos would arrive in a large planes and 400-600 kilos in small planes. Approx. 1500 to 3500 kilos of cocaine were trafficked in small boats.
His Drug Business
The Cachiros used drug money to pay politicians, the Preventative National Police, the Honduran miltiary and members of the MS13 gang to help them escort and protect the cocaine across Honduras.
Their drug profits were laundered through front companies that were given contracts from the government including to their company Inmobiliarias Rivera Maradiaga (INRIMAR). They formed an agricultural company to plant ricee and other products and then sold the products to launder drug money. They also had a livestock company to sell cattle to meat packing companies to also launder drug money.
Rivera Maradiaga used AK47s, AR-15s, grenade launchers, pistols, RPG-7s, and semi-automatic rifles with converting switches to traffic drugs
How He Met Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez (GFR)
Rivera Maradiaga met GFR in approximately 2009 -2010. They later had a drug trafficking arrangement together in approximately 2011 to 2013. GFR assisted Rivera Maradiaga by escorting shipments of drugs from Department of Colon to El Espíritu, Copan [close to the Guatemala border and the major drug operation location and home of the Valle Valle cartel headed by the Valle brothers - Luis and Arnulfo Valle. Both are now in prison in the US].
Their relationship ended when an argument that arose between GFR and Rivera Maradiaga. The Rivera Maradiaga brothers found out that GFR and his business partner wanted to kill them.
Rivera Maradiaga was introduced to GFRs by Melvin Sanders [later murdered. Sanders was the ex-President of Atlético Choloma, a local soccer team in Choloma, Cortés]. Melvin Sanders was nicknamed “El Metro” because of his close relationship with the Honduran Metropolitan Police. Rivera Maradiaga met “El Metro” through Rubén Santos [ex-police officer and family member of the Rivera Maradiaga] who worked with Los Cachiros. Metro started to work with Los Cachiros in 2003.
Metro told Rivera Maradiaga that GFR sold drugs in Miami and that he wanted to work with Rivera Maradiaga to help him transport drugs.
Specific Meetings with GFR (Who, What Guns Were Present, What Was Discussed, etc)
MEETING ONE: Rivera Maradiaga first met GFR in the northern city of Omoa, Cortés in a gas station owned by Rivera Maradiaga called ‘Brisas del Mar.’ They met inside a car in the parking lot. All men were heavily armed (GFR was armed with a semi-automatic pistol, a Glock, and 2 sawed-off AR-15s; Metro was armed with a semi-automatic pistol, and a gold 92X; Rivera Maradiaga armed with 9 mm and 93R)
In this meeting, GFR told Rivera Maradiaga that he had contacts in the police and military and he could help transport cocaine. Rivera Maradiaga understood this to mean that GFR worked with the police.
GFR asked Rivera Maradiaga to be a partner in the drug lab that belonged to GFR. GFR told him that he and Metro [Melvin Sanders, later murdered by Rivera Maradiaga] had been working in the drug lab for two months and he had 20-30 armed people securing the lab. They were armed with AR15, AK47s, grenade launchers, and were dressed in police and military uniforms.
MEETING TWO: In ‘Torres Servicio’ mechanical workshop in San Pedro Sula where Rivera Maradiaga expressed interest in GFR’s police contacts.
MEETING THREE: Approx. 3 to 6 months following meeting two. They met in a dance club in Choloma that was owned by Metro. Rivera Maradiaga was told that Metro was having a party and that GFR wanted to speak with him.
GFR, Metro and their security team, and Rivera Maradiaga and his security were at the meeting.
They were all armed (R15s, 9 mm, and Rivera Maradiaga’s body guards had a grenade launcher on the first level of the dance club)
They discussed a boat mechanic that GFR claimed had been making fun of Rivera Maradiaga. The boat mechanic owned Rivera Maradiaga approx. $40,000 that Rivera Maradiaga had given him to buy two engines for a boat that was in repair. GFR had called a police official who was a friend of GFR and asked him to stop the mechanic at a police checkpoint. The mechanic was detained at a checkpoint and GFR took him close to the Corinto border [Guatemala-Honduras border]. GFR tortured him, cut off his finger, beat him in the face, and then shot him twice in the head. GFR showed Rivera Maradiaga a picture of the dead boat mechanic. Rivera Maradiaga never asked GFR to kill the man but he understood that GFR was trying to gain his trust so that he would give GFR work moving cocaine.
In the same meeting, Metro told Rivera Maradiaga that it was good to have GFR on their side.
GFR’s Relationship with the Honduran Police & the Current Mayor of Choloma, Leopoldo Crivelli
GFR had contacts with the police who he could call to get police checkpoints along the road taken down so that drug shipments could move freely.
Rivera Maradiaga met with Metro in the ‘Torres Servicio’ mechanic workshop in San Pedro Sula to discuss GFR’s contacts with the Honduran police. Rivera Maradaga was told that GFR had various contacts with the National Police in San Pedro Sula that worked with drug trafficker ‘Paico’ and that were also working with GFR. Metro mentioned the names of the police: Colonel Motiño; Police Commissioner Martinez [a high-level officer in the Honduran National police]; Official Nuila; Official Roja.
These police officers would work with Rivera Maradiaga, Metro, and GFR to escort cocaine shipments and do anything else that was needed.
The police contacts used by the drug traffickers were located in all parts of Honduras.
During drug shipment #3 (see below), one of Rivera Maradiaga’s workers was arrested on the highway while heavily armed as a drug shipment was underway. He was arrested by a grou pof Honduran police in a patrol vehicle
In response, GFR called Police Commissioner Martinez to ask him to call the official that arrested him, to have him released. He didn’t answer
Then GFR called “Polo” Crivelli or Leopoldo Crivelli [the current mayor of Choloma, and a pre-candidate for Congress for the Liberal Party] to ask the official to release the man. The worker was released and was given his weapon back.
The mayor of Choloma, Leopoldo Crivelli, would also give GFR information about when the Direccion de Lucha Contra el Narcotrafico (DLCN, The Directorate for the Fight Against Drug Trafficking, the Honduran equivalent of the DEA] was coming from Tegucigalpa or San Pedro Sula to conduct operations in Choloma. With this information, GFR was able to move any weapons from his house so he wouldn’t have a problem if they raided it.
The Drug Lab Investments
GFR asked Rivera Maradiaga to invest between $300,000 to $500,000 to help bring cocaine base [an ingredient of cocaine] from Colombia to use in the drug lab. Rivera Maradiaga told GFR that he would think about it but that he wasn’t interested because it was an additional risk getting the cocaine base into the country because it could be seized. Buying the base didn’t make sense as Rivera Maradiaga only imported finished cocaine. In that same first meeting when the drug lab investment was discussed, Rivera Maradiaga purchased two cars from GFR to ‘help him out’. The cars were valued at $20,000/each but Rivera Maradiaga paid him ~$70,000 in US dollars in $20 bills.
GFR, Metro and Rivera Maradiaga had other conversations about the drug lab investment in other meetings in San Pedro Sula at a mechanic workshop called ‘Torres Servicio.’ Rivera Maradiaga met with other drug traffickers in that workshop that was the location where special compartments sometimes with false bottoms (known as ‘calletas’) were added to vehicles (cars, trucks, crates, etc) to transport drugs.
Police Began to Investigate The Drug Lab
At an unspecified date, Metro arranged another meeting with Rivera Maradiaga to discuss the drug lab located in the hills in the Cortés department. They met in Cemcol (a business) in San Pedro Sula where GFR told Rivera Maradiaga that he was worried that the police in San Pedro Sula were investigating the lab that was located on the property of a local business man named Fuad Jarufe [see yesterday for more information on Jarufe].
GFR had learned of the investigation through the Choloma mayor’s son, ‘Polito Crivelli’ and that he had met with another drug trafficker, “Chepe” Handal [full name: Jose Miguel Handal Perez, sanctioned by the US, convicted in Honduras of money laundering] who said he would handle the police who were investigating the drug lab. Handal also said he would partner with GFR.
GFR asked Rivera Maradiaga to investigate through his police contacts about the police lab investigation as well. Rivera Maradiaga called his contact in the Investigative police, Carlos Valladares. Valladares said he would look into it. Rivera Maradiaga later found out that the lab had been raided (testimony ends there and will be continued tomorrow)
Receiving Drug Shipments
Metro [Melvin Sanders, now deceased] said that the National police worked with drug trafficker “Paico” in San Pedro Sula and GFR, to receive cocaine shipments near the Ulúa river in El Progreso, Yoro.
GFR lived in the department of Cortés and Rivera Maradiaga wanted to work with GFR because of his police contacts in Cortés. Each drug trafficker respected each department where each cartel was located. Rivera Maradiaga had been told about GFR from another drug trafficker located in Francia, Colon as well.
Drug shipments were received in various parts of the country. According to Rivera Maradiaga, the shipments arrived to the departments of Cortés, Gracias a Dios, Yoro, areas in Santa Rosa de Copan [department of Copan] including in El Espíritu, Copan; San Esteban, Olancho; among others.
DRUG SHIPMENT #1: [NOTE: The Prosecutors went into extreme detail outlining at least three major drug shipments that GFR was involved in. They used these examples to show the quantities of cocaine that were trafficked, the weapons that were used to move the cocaine; and where the cocaine was sent to]. In 2011, Rivera Maradiaga contacted GFR through Metro to tell him that cocaine was coming from Venezuela and to let GFR know so he could escort the load. This would be GFR’s first job with Rivera Maradiaga
The drug plane carrying approx. 425 to 530 kilos of cocaine landed in the Sico Valley in the department of Colon, was brought to a finca [a ranch] in the village of El Tigre in the department of Colon. It was then taken to El Espíritu, Copan.
The cocaine was then taken to the ranch in El Tigre. Rivera Maradiaga met GFR, Metro, the truck driver, Metro’s security, and a Colombian [“Yuco”] in charge of loading the cocaine. The Colombian worked with Renteria [a Colombian drug trafficker].
All men were armed (GFR: An AR-15, a green Glock with a selector switch; Metro: A grenade launcher and a gold handgun; Rivera Maradaiga: AR15 and a 93R; both security teams were also armed). GFR was also carrying a small grenade launcher referred to as “El Moñito” or “The Monkey” to help protect the drugs.
Metro brought a car with secret compartments that were filled with weapons in order to provide security for the drug shipment. The cocaine was counted in the finca and put into secret compartments inside the NPR (type of truck which are usually approx. 12 feet long). GFR had three or four additional vehicles for security and he said he would ride behind the truck. If he ran into a police checkpoint, he would call his contacts, specifically Police Commissioner Martinez to get the police to remove the checkpoint.
The shipment was delivered to the Valle Valle brothers (Luis and Arnulfo Valle) in El Espíritu, Copan in their finca [ranch] and Rivera Maradiaga confirmed the Valles had received it. Rivera Maradiaga paid Metro and GFR approx. $60,000 to $70,000 in person for this shipment.
DRUG SHIPMENT #2: Occurred approx. 3-4 months after shipment #2. Rivera Maradiaga contacted GFR through Metro asking him to come to Tocoa to receive another shipment.
The drug plane was carrying approximately 500 to 700 kilos of cocaine.
It arrived in San Esteban, Olancho, to a clandestine airstrip controlled by Fredy Nájera [a former Congressional representative who pleaded guilty in the US. Riviera Maradiaga trafficked drugs with Fredy Nájera]. The cocaine was sold to Rivera Maradiaga by Rafael Sierra, one of the Renteria cartel leaders. The cocaine was then sold to the Valle Valle brothers and delivered to them in El Espíritu, Copan.
Upon arrival, the drugs were taken to a ranch in Zamoro, Colon. GFR, Metro, the truck driver, and the Renteria Colombian man (“Yuca”) was there. The drugs were taken to El Espíritu, Copan to the Valle brothers.
Rivera Maradiaga paid GFR in cash and delivered the money to them in person. Rivera Maradiaga met them in the same mechanic workshop in San Pedro Sula.
DRUG SHIPMENT #3: In 2012, another plane with cocaine was coming in from Colombia and Rivera Maradiaga wanted GFR to receive it.
The plane was carrying approx. 425 to 500 kilos of cocaine and was arriving at a clandestine landing strip by the river in Baracoa, Cortés in an area known as ‘Tapon de los Ojos’ that was under GFR’s control but was owned by ‘Compita’. The drugs were being received for ‘Jack’, a Guatemalan drug trafficker who was then going to sell it to Mexicans that were going to sell it in the US.
The plane landed on the strip and GFR transported it by truck to the Valle brothers in El Espíritu, Copan who then delivered it to ‘Jack.’ Jack paid Rivera Maradiaga 10% of the cocaine. He then used the cocaine to pay GFR and Metro. They were then going to sell it.
The Drug Plane Business
Rivera Maradiaga worked with the Guatemalan drug trafficker ‘Jack’ as partners in an airplane business. Jack bought planes from the US. He would pay $500,000 and Rivera Maradiaga would pay the other half ($500,000). They would then send the planes to Venezuela where various drug traffickers would load them with cocaine. Once the planes with cocaine got to Honduras, ‘Jack’ and Rivera Maradiaga would split it into equal portions.
Other drug traffickers used the same planes to traffic drugs to the US as did the Colombian Renterias.