DAY FOUR: Trial Against Honduran Drug Trafficker, Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez

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Updated: April 16, 2022 to correct an error in the identity of the assassin known as ‘Vaquero’ who is believed to be Jorge Guifaro, not Bayron Argenis Martínez Lambour, who is another Honduran assassin with the nickname ‘Vaquero’.

What Happened Today:

  • Confessed drug trafficker and government witness, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga continued to testify

Key Details That Surfaced:

  • Rivera Maradiaga testified how Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez (GFR) and others, kidnapped and brutally tortured the police officer that had raided and investigated GFR’s drug lab located in the department of Cortés. When the police had raided the lab, ‘Chepe’ Handal [drug trafficker José Miguel Handal Pérez, convicted in Honduras for money laundering] informed GFR beforehand about the raid.

  • A former Honduran government treasurer during the Micheletti regime, ‘Javier Choloma’ [full name: Javier Hernandez Mejia, accused in Honduras for money laundering] was involved in coordinating a drug shipment(s) from Colombia along with Los Cachiros and GFR.

  • GFR met with drug trafficker Juan Guzman, the cousin of ‘El Chapo’ Guzman (head of the Sinoloa cartel) in San Pedro Sula. GFR and Metro had sold at least three shipments of cocaine to Guzman.  

  • Gang members were paid by Rivera Maradiaga to murder drug rivals including GFR’s business partner, ‘Metro’ [nickname for Melvin Sanders, deceased] and also traffic drugs. In at least one occasion, GFR provided the gang members and assassins with police and military police uniforms to murder his enemies. Many of the weapons that GFR used were provided by an active member of the Honduran military.

  • Los Cachiros bribed President Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH) with $250,000 in approx. 2012. The money was given to JOH’s sister, Hilda Hernandez. Los Cachiros paid Manuel Zelaya in approx. 2016, $500,000 asking him to name their cousin as the Minister of Security. Also, Los Cachiros paid $500,000 to current Vice President Ricardo Alvarez, at the time he was campaigning to be President, and also paid $50,000 to Tony Hernandez (JOH’s brother).

  • Rivera Maradiaga had encountered, unintentionally, GFR in a US prison where they, at one time, were both jailed. GFR told Rivera Maradiaga that shortly before his arrest, JOH had tried to purchase GFR’s company for $13 million. GFR also told Rivera Maradiaga that in another occasion, GFR had met JOH and businessman Fuad Jarufe in a house in Choloma where GFR had attempted to bribe JOH with approx.. $18,000 in exchange to avoid being arrested.

What Will Happen Tomorrow:

  • The cross examination of Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga will continue

  • Another witness will be called

Photo from Pro-Honduras Network

Photo from Pro-Honduras Network

More Details

Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga (continued from yesterday)

The Police Raid of the Drug Lab & The Murder of Police Officer in Charge of the Investigation

  • Approximately 3 or 4 months after the raid of the drug lab (mentioned yesterday), Metro [Melvin Sanders, later murdered] arranged a meeting with GFR at Cemcol (a business) in San Pedro Sula. GFR, Metro and their security were all armed. GFR told Rivera Maradiaga that the drug lab had been raided but that Chepe Handal [a Honduran drug trafficker, sanctioned by the US and convicted in Honduras on money laundering] had told him that law enforcement was going to raid it. GFR removed the cocaine from the lab and law enforcement didn’t find any. GFR told Rivera Maradiaga this to continue to earn his trust and to remind Rivera Maradiaga of his contacts in law enforcement. GFR told Rivera Maradiaga that the police continued to investigate the drug lab.

  • GFR told Rivera Maradiaga that he had caught the police officer that was investigating the drug lab and carried out the operation. The police officer had been drinking one night in Metro’s nightclub in Choloma.

  • GFR and others took the police officer to Ticamaya, a small town between San Pedro Sula and Choloma. They took him to a vacant place near the Ticamaya lagoon. He was tortured, beat him up, a plastic bread bag was put over his head like a hood. The police cried and asked them not to kill him because he had a small daughter. GFR and others put pins through his fingers and Metro told Rivera Maradiaga that GFR had hit him in the head and hands with his rifle. The police officer was shot in the head three times and killed.

  • While being tortured, the police officer confessed that he was investigating GFR, Metro, and the owners of the property where the lab was located. The police officer said that the businessman who owned the property was not involved in the lab and had just rented the land. GFR was happy that Fuad Jarufe (the owner of the land) was not being investigated.

The Murder of Metro’s Brother

  • In approx. 2012, Metro asked Rivera Maradiaga to help him investigate his brother’s murder. Metro said that his brother had been murdered because he had taken some cocaine on consignment and he hadn’t paid for it. Metro was using GFR’s police contacts to investigate. Rivera Maradiaga also investigated through his police contacts in San Pedro Sula but did not receive any information.

  • Approx. 3-5 months later, GFR, Metro, Rivera Maradiaga, Metro’s security and a police officer, Juan Manuel Avila Meza [a former Honduran police officer waiting to be sentenced in the US on drug trafficking-related charges. Meza worked with Rivera Maradiaga to help traffic drugs coming in from Colombia headed to El Espíritu, Copan] met to discuss the assassins that had killed Metro’s brother.

  • Shortly after, Metro found his brother’s killers. GFR, Metro and ex-police Avila Meza used their vehicles to surround the vehicle that the assassins were traveling in They were taken from their vehicle to the region of Naco, Cortés where they were tortured and killed. Metro’s brother’s assassins were tied up, beaten up, and GFR poured a container of gasoline on them and set them on fire.

  • GFR later asked Rivera Maradiaga to help him pay $20,000 for the assassins and the police officer that had killed Metro’s brother. He did this as a way to continue to earn Rivera Maradiaga’s trust and to continue to work with him. Rivera Maradiaga paid between $20,000 to $40,000

One of GFR’s Boats He Used To Traffic Drugs

  • GFR brought cocaine base by boat to Honduras. Rivera Maradiaga saw one of GFR’s boats parked at the ‘Encantilado Marine’ in Cortés department when Metro, women invited by Metro, GFR, the Rivera Maradiaga brothers, and their security met. Rivera Maradiaga also had a boat parked there, which he used to go fishing.

  • GFR showed Rivera Maradiaga where the boat’s secret compartment were located. The boat had once belonged to Rivera Maradiaga but Javier Rivera Maradiaga had bought it from GFR. GFR then gave it to Rivera Maradiaga as a gift. But Rivera Maradiaga didn’t like how choppy it was when on the water, so he gave it to the Guatemala drug trafficker ‘Jack’ (who was mentioned in day three of the trial)

Airplanes Used to Traffic Drugs

  • The plane that received the shipment of drugs on ‘El Compita’s’ landing strip [SHIPMENT #3, see yesterday’s notes] was registered in the US because it’s registration number began with ‘N’.

  • The planes that Rivera Maradiaga and Guatemalan drug trafficker ‘Jack’ used to transport drugs were registered in the US.

Coordinating a Drug Shipment & Involvement of Honduran Government Treasurer

  • In approx. 2013, GFR asked Rivera Maradiaga if he would loan him $1 million for a 2000 kilo shipment of cocaine coming from Colombia.

  • Metro, the Rivera Maradiaga brothers, and GFR met in person along with ‘Javier Choloma’ [Full name: Javier Hernandez Mejía, the Honduran government Treasurer during the Micheletti regime, an administrator for Los Cachiros, and accused in Honduras for money laundering. As of 2018, he was in prison in Honduras]

  • Rivera Maradiaga said he would think about lending him the money. He later spoke to Javier Hernandez Mejía who told him that GFR had squared up the details about receiving the drugs coming from Colombia in Puerto Cortés. GFR had made this arrangement with businessman Fuad Jarufe (see yesterday’s notes). Javier Hernandez Mejía told Rivera Maradiaga that he didn’t think he should invest in it.

  • Javier Hernandez Mejía told Rivera Hernandez that Metro was considering transferring him the ownership rights of the Atletico Choloma soccer club because of the problems they were having over the drug lab. This occurred after the murder of the police officer involved in the investigation but the DLCN (Direccion de Lucha Contra el Narcotrafico). {Directorate for Fight Against Drug Trafficker, the Honduran equivalent of the DEA) from Tegucigalpa were after Metro and GFR.  Javier Hernandez Mejía knew about the murder of the investigative police from San Pedro Sula.

  • At this time, the relationship between GFR and Rivera Maradiaga was not very good. GFR was mad that Rivera Maradiaga did not want to lend him $1 million.

Meeting with the Cousin of ‘El Chapo’ Guzman from the Sinaloa Cartel

  • In approx.. 2013 in San Pedro Sula, Metro arranged a meeting with Juan Guzman (the cousin of El Chapo Guzman), Javier Hernandez Mejia (aka. Javier Choloma), one of GFR’s workers, Metro, and the Rivera Hernandez brothers. GFR and Metro sold several shipments of cocaine to Juan Guzman.

  • The purpose of the meeting, according to Rivera Maradiaga, was because he was looking for a customer to buy cocaine he was selling.

  • Juan Guzman said he had bought cocaine from GFR on 3 occasions. In the two shipments, GFR and Metro had sold him approx. 1000 kilos total. The third shipment was for 1600 kilos. On the third shipment, Juan Guzman said that various kilos of the cocaine were wet. This lowered the drug’s price. Guzman said the cocaine had been taken to Mexico.

‘Pluto’s’ Assassination & Plotting to Kill GFR’s Business Partner, Metro

  • Rivera Maradiaga trafficked drugs with ‘Pluto’ [Edgar Rios, not much is known about him]. Pluto also worked with GFR but told Rivera Maradiaga that GFR wanted to kill him because he had given Pluto 100 kilos of cocaine on consignment. Pluto had given the drugs to another drug trafficker and they had refused to pay him because the 100 kilos of cocaine were wet. Pluto asked Rivera Maradiaga to talk to Metro and GFR so that they wouldn’t kill him.

  • Soon after, Pluto was murdered. GFR had used the assassin ‘Vaquero’ [believed to be Jorge Guifaro] who worked with GFR to murder him. Hector Emilio [Hector Emilio Fernandez Rosa or “Don H”, jailed in the US on drug trafficking related charges] had told Pluto to meet with Rivera Maradiaga.

  • Vaquero told Rivera Maradiaga that GFR and Metro had killed Pluto because Pluto didn’t want to pay GFR for the 100 kilos of cocaine.

  • Vaquero told Rivera Maradiaga that Metro and GFR were trying to kill him and his brother because he didn’t lend GFR $1 million.

  • Vaquero killed Metro upon orders from Rivera Maradiaga. He used gang members and went into Metro’s house dressed in uniforms of the Honduran Preventative police and military police that GFR had given him {at a different moment]. Many of the weapons that GFR used were provided by someone inside the Honduran military.

  • GFR’s killing was also ordered but when assassins including Vaquero and gang members had gone into GFR’s house to murder him, 25-30 heavily armed men were inside GFR’s house waiting for them. The men fired at the gang members (assassins) and they were unable to kill GFR. Three assassins were injured in the attack.

  • GFR later contacted Rivera Maradiaga and they both agreed to avoid further problems with one another.

Bribing President Juan Orlando Hernandez, former President Manuel Zelaya and Vice President Ricardo Alvarez

  • Los Cachiros bribed Juan Orlando Hernandez in approx. 2012 with $250,000. The money was delivered in cash to JOH’s sister, Hilda Hernandez [died in 2017 in a suspicious helicopter accident. Hilda Hernandez has been named in several corruption cases involving the embezzlement of public funds amongst other charges]. In exchange, Rivera Maradiaga expected to be protected, not extradited, and to continue receiving contracts from the government for money laundering purposes.

  • Rivera Hernandez met with Tony Hernandez [JOH’s brother, waiting to be sentenced in the US]. in 2014. Tony Hernandez promised to pay contracts to INRIMAR. Rivera Hernandez gave him $50,000 in cash in Tegucigalpa in a Denny’s restaurant.

  • Los Cachiros bribed Juan Manuel Zelaya Rosales in 2006. They paid him $500,000 and Zelaya agreed to put one of Rivera Maradiaga’s cousins as Minister of Security but this did not happen when Zelaya took office.

  • In approx. 2012, Los Cachiros paid $500,000 to Ricardo Alvarez [current Vice President, member of the National Party] when he was running for President. Alvarez promised that he would not extradite Los Cachiros to the US. Alvarez promised to keep giving them contracts to their front companies and to eliminate the extradition law between Honduras and the US. Alvarez did not win the elections.

Los Cachiros Begin to Cooperate With the DEA

  • Shortly after the attempt to murder GFR, Rivera Maradiaga began speaking with the DEA

  • The Rivera Maradiagas were sanction by OFAC (U.S. Office for Foreign Assets Control) and various of their companies used to launder drug money.

  • Once listed by OFAC, they stopped trafficking drugs. Los Cachiros were worried.

  • In approx. 2015, Rivera Maradiaga was charged. He faces a minimum sentence of 10 years. He pleaded guilty to 5 charges.

  • Rivera Maradiaga hopes to get a 5K1 letter that will be given to a judge which outlines the charges he has pleaded guilty to and his cooperation with the government. The judge will impose the sentence

Rivera Maradiaga Runs Into GFR In Prison … Twice

  • Rivera Maradiaga went into the jail’s (unknown exactly where) shower area inside the unit where GFR was housed. He did not expect to see GFR. When GFR saw him, they greeted one another, said some prayers together, and GFR began crying. He started cursing President JOH because he blamed JOH for his imprisonment.

  • Right before his arrest, GFR said that he had met with Police Commissioner Martinez and a military officer from the Honduran Armed Forces that had been sent by JOH. The military officer told GFR that JOH wanted GFR to sell him the money laundering company he had and that JOH would pay him $13 million for it.

  • GFR also said that he had met JOH in a house in Choloma, along with business man Fuad Jarufe. GFR had given JOH 450,000 Lempiras [~18,000 USD]. In a second meeting with both JOH and Fuad Jarufe, GFR and Jarufe travelled to Tegucigalpa to give JOH another bribe. GFR told Rivera Maradiaga that he hoped JOH would protect him and that he wouldn’t be arrested in Honduras.

Cross Examination by the Defense (This will continue tomorrow)

  • The defense asked several questions to establish that Rivera Maradiaga was a murderer and to make him look bad. They pointed out that Rivera Maradiaga could easily recall details when asked questions by the prosecutors but not when asked by the defense.

  • Rivera Maradiaga confessed that the murder of journalist Anibal Barrow had been an error and that Barrow was mistaken for another person.

  • The defense asked several questions about Rivera Maradiaga’s role in the murder of two Honduran counternarcotics law enforcement: General Aristides Gonzalez and Alfredo Landaverde.