Thread by @innercitypress

OK - #NarcosHonduras trial Day 2, with DEA Agent Fairbanks still on the stand. Geovanny Fuentes' lawyer is cross-examining him. Yesterday, Commissioner Martinez was trained by the UN (asking UN today). Inner City Press will live tweet - thread below

Fuentes' lawyer has asked DEA Agent Fairbanks if he is aware of Fuentes saying JOH should be replaced.
The Assistant US Attorney objected.
Judge Castel (to DEA Agent) - "Does this refresh your recollection?"

Fuentes' lawyer: Did Fuentes call for the resignation of the president Juan Orlando Hernandez?
DEA Agent Fairbank: Yes. Then Comanche said-
Judge Castel: That's not what is being asked.
Fuentes' lawyer: Do you remember why Fuentes said the president should resign?

Agent Fairbanks: No, I don't.
Fuentes' lawyer: Look at this photo. Do you know where it was taken.
Agent Fairbanks: We took it from defendant's phone. But I don't know the location shown in the photo.

Fuentes' lawyer: Do you know what his son Geo does in Florida, for work?
Agent Fairbanks: I believe he said he worked in granite.
Fuentes' lawyer: Nothing further.

AUSA on re-direct: What does this message say?
Fairbanks: San Pedro Sula, $2500 each.
[Referring to an exhibit Inner City Press has asked for]

Next US witness is DEA Special Agent Greg Murvis. He gets sworn in.
AUSA: After Quantico, where were you stationed?
Murvis: Imperial County, near San Diego, Mexicali, Baja California. Then in Venezuela, coordinating with Colombia law enforcement.

AUSA: So when you got to the Bilateral unit, you coordinated with Colombian law enforcement, but not Honduras?
Agent Murvis: No, not with Honduras.

Now Agent Murvis is describing Go-Fast boats from Colombia to Honduras. Now turns to cattle trailers.
[In Tony Hernandez trial, there was testimony about a purported TV news vehicle being used to move cocaine]
Now Murvis, in this trial, just mentioned Chapo

Jury is back from mid-morning break. Now cross-examination of Agent Murvis.
Fuentes' lawyer: You told Leo Rivera whom to record?
Agent Murvis: I was not his handler. I participated in an interview.

Fuentes' lawyer: Leo Rivera did not assist in any seizure of narcotics from Geovanny Fuentes?
Murvis: Not that I'm aware of.

OK - it's on. Next witness is... Devis Lionel Rivera.
AUSA: May Mr Rivera remove his face mask while he is in the box?
Judge Castel: Yes.
Rivera: Buenas tardes, senor.

AUSA: Mr. Rivera, where to you live right now?
Leo Rivera: En prision en Estados Unidos, senor.
AUSA: How did you arrive in the US?
Leo Rivera: Me entrege a los Estados Unidos en 2015, senor

Leo Rivera: Era un narco-traficante, senior, cocaina del sector de Colon.
AUSA: What's your mandatory minimum for your guilty plea?
Leo Rivera: Vida mas trenta anos, senor.

AUSA: What was the name of the group you worked with?
Leo Rivera: Los Cachiros.
AUSA: Did you commit murders? How many?
Leo Rivera: 78, senior.

AUSA: Do you know Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez?
Leo Rivera: Si, senor.
AUSA: What was your role in the Cachiros?
Leo Rivera: Lider, senior. Con Javier Rivera, mi hermano.

AUSA: How much would a typical boatload of cocaine be?
Leo Rivera: 1500 hasta 3000 kilos, senor.

AUSA: Did you buy businesses with the drug money?
Leo Rivera: Construction company, we got contracts with the government of Honduras.

AUSA: How would you use the companies to launder drug money?
Leo Rivera: We invested in castle, in growing rice - then came the cosecha, we sold it to legal business for checks. The money was laundered.

AUSA: Did the Cachiros used weapons? What kinds?
Leo Rivera: Armas de guerra. AR-15s, AK-47s, machine guns, grenade launchers, revolvers, among others

AUSA: Why was your relative called Metro?
Leo Rivera: Because he hung around with the metropolitan police.
AUSA: Involved in drugs?
Leo Rivera: Yes.
AUSA: Who did he say had been in Miami, and worked with authorities in Honduras on drugs?
Rivera: Geovanny.

AUSA: Where did you meet Geovanny?
Leo Rivera: First at a disco in Choloma. Then in a gas station I had, called Brisas del Mar.

AUSA: Who was with you?
Leo Rivera: Just Metro and the defendant.
AUSA: Did the defendant have anything?
Leo Rivera: A Glock and two little rifles. Cut-down AR-15s. They were on the rear seat.

AUSA: What did you have?
Leo Rivera: A nine millimeter 93-R, sir.
AUSA: Were there other armed men?
Leo Rivera: Yes. Each of us had security.

AUSA: What did the defendant tell you?
Leo Rivera: That he had good contacts in the police, that he could arrange security for any cocaine I wanted to move.
AUSA: Did you make you a proposal?
Leo Rivera: Yes.
Judge Castel: We'll break here & leave you in suspense

OK - the jury is not yet back in, but Leo Rivera has been brought into the courtroom by U.S. Marshals. He's wearing a bright yellow jump suit and mask, which he'll take off once in the witness box. Whenever it comes, the cross examination should be something...

AUSA: After your meeting in the gas station, did you have another meeting?
Leo Rivera: Metro asked me if I wanted to invest in the business that the defendant had proposed to me.
AUSA: Where was this?
Leo Rivera: In San Pedro Sul in a mechanics shop called Torres

Leo Rivera: We installed traps in the vehicles we would to transport the cocaine... Metro told me about the National Police officers who worked with drug traffickers, he said "Geovanny's contacts are good."

Leo Rivera: Metro named, as a police official working with Geovanny, Commissioner Martinez.
[He's the one who was United Nations-trained - no answer on this today from UN to Inner City Press' written questions]

AUSA: When you met with the defendant at Metro's disco, who was there?
Leo Rivera: The 3 of us, and our security.
AUSA: Were any of those men armed? Who?
Leo Rivera: All of us.

AUSA: Where was your grenade launcher?
Leo Rivera: My security had it, down by the cars.
AUSA: What did the defendant tell you?
Leo Rivera: He greeted me and showed me a photo. Of a mechanic that owned me money.

AUSA: What did the defendant say?
Leo Rivera: He asked if I knew the man in the photo. I said yes. Then he said, Mira primo, esta senor esta hablando mal del dueno de la gasolinera

Leo Rivera: Then the defendant told me that the mechanic was now dead, taken to the border of Honduras and Guatamala, finally finished off with two mercy shots to the head. He showed me a photo: "boca arriba," and bloody.

AUSA: Had you asked the defendant to do anything about the mechanic?
Leo Rivera: No. I asked no one to do that. But the defendant wanted to earn my trust, to work with him on cocaine.

Leo Rivera: So the defendant told me, if the cocaine ran into a police road block, he would just call Commissioner Martinez and get the check point removed. Plus, he said, Primo, we carry grenade launchers

AUSA: Who were the heads of the Valles?
Leo Rivera: Luis Valle, and Anulfo Valle.

Judge Castel calls a break. Leo Rivera is led back to the cell block. His feet are shackled and he has on black shoes or slippers.

We're back.
AUSA: Did you engage in drug trafficking with Fredy Najera?
Leo Rivera: Yes. At his air strip.
[Background, with questions pending: Nájera served in Honduras National Congress for the Liberal Party from 2006 until his extradition in March 2018]

AUSA: How was the cocaine transported?
Leo Rivera: The defendant took it by truck to the Valles.
AUSA: Then what?
Leo Rivera: The Valles would deliver it to the cocaine trafficker "Jack." The defendant told me it arrived.

AUSA: And how were you paid?
Leo Rivera: 10% of the cocaine. And from that I paid the defendant and Metro.
Judge Castel: Let's stand up and stretch.

AUSA: What did you learn about the mayor of Chaloma from the defendant?
Leo Rivera: The mayor of Choloma would given them information when the drug authorities would come. In advance. That way the defendant would remove the weapons from his house.

AUSA: What was the name of the mayor of Chaloma?
Leo Rivera: Polo Chivelli.
AUSA: What was his real first name?
Leo Rivera: Leopoldo Chivelli.
[Quick check by Inner City Press: linkedin.com/in/leopoldo-cr…

Judge Castel: Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to call it a day. Don't do any internet research.
[Jury leaves]
Fuentes' lawyer: We don't have the subpoena information about this witness yet.
Judge Castel: My leaning is, it would be a recall situation.

Judge Castel wishes everyone a good evening and adjourns. Inner City Press is at work on follow-up story - watch this feed, InnerCityPress.com and patreon.com/posts/48353776