Members of the Cachiros Cartel offered half a million dollars for Xiomara Castro’s presidential campaign in 2013.
By Jeff Ernst and David C. Adams (InSight Crime) / Confidencial
HAVANA TIMES – InSight Crime has obtained a video in which some of Honduras’ top drug traffickers met with a member of the first family and offered to give over half a million dollars to help Honduras’ ruling party in an unsuccessful run for office by now-President Xiomara Castro.
The meeting, which happened during Castro’s failed 2013 bid for the presidency, was attended by Carlos Zelaya, Castro’s brother-in-law. Carlos Zelaya admitted to journalists during an impromptu press conference on August 31 that he went to San Pedro Sula at the invitation of several “businessmen” and spoke to the drug traffickers.
It is not clear what prompted Zelaya’s confession, but the stunning admission came just days after InSight Crime spoke with a person who attended the meeting. Still, Zelaya — who also announced during the August 31 gaggle that he was resigning from the legislature, and leaving his post as the powerful secretary of Congress — claimed he only knew one of the people who were at the meeting. He denied that he ever received any money from the traffickers.
“There never was any money delivered, at least not to me,” he said.
The 34-minute video tells a slightly different story. Although taken from a spy camera embedded in a watch worn by one of the traffickers, the pictures and audio are clear enough to show the drug traffickers reminisce about previous contributions allegedly paid to former President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, the husband of Castro, brother to Carlos, and founder of the ruling Libre Party.
They later decide how much they would collectively give “Mel,” an amount they confirm with Carlos Zelaya once he arrives, before determining when and how it would be delivered to the brothers. Carlos also negotiates for the traffickers to rent as many as 10 vehicles for the party to use in the waning days of the campaign.
In 2021, Castro rode to a sweeping victory on a promise to combat drug trafficking and corruption, typified by her predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in March in a US court on charges he conspired with drug traffickers. Today, Mel Zelaya is President Castro’s principal advisor, sitting beside her at the head of the table during cabinet meetings.
The video is another startling piece of evidence that reveals the depth of drug traffickers’ infiltration of the political class in Honduras. It confirms long-held suspicions that the current ruling party of Honduras was no more immune to the influence of drug money than politicians like Hernández, just as campaigns ramp up for the 2025 election.
The mere existence of the video may have put a wrench in already strained relations between Washington and the Castro administration. As InSight Crime was preparing to publish the video, Castro announced on August 28 that she would seek to end an extradition agreement that allowed for Honduran nationals to be brought to justice in the United States for drug trafficking crimes. Castro said that she was canceling the agreement due to comments made by the US ambassador in Honduras. The publication of the video may complicate things further.
In his statement to the press, Carlos Zelaya said that he had acted unilaterally, but he did not answer additional questions. Mel Zelaya has previously been accused in court testimony of receiving bribes from traffickers, which he has denied.
“My life is public, I’ve never had secrets,” said Mel Zelaya in response to a request for comment. “I’ve never received money from drug traffickers.”
President Castro did not respond to a request for comment before publication, but gave a short address to the nation on the night of September 3 a few hours after the publication of this article in which she appeared to blame the release of the video on a coup plot hatched by the US embassy and Honduras’ opposition parties.
“In relation to the video from 2013 published on networks, I condemn any type of negotiation between drug traffickers and politicians,” Castro said in the address.
Money for Mel Zelaya’s Administration
The video begins with several men conversing while seated in the living room of an opulent home. It was taken in November 2013. At the time, Devis and Javier Rivera headed the Cachiros, the country’s most notorious trafficking group, but were facing unprecedented law enforcement efforts at home and abroad.
Honduras had recently passed a constitutional reform that paved the way for its citizens to be extradited on drug trafficking charges for the first time ever. In September 2013, the US Treasury Department had sanctioned the Cachiros, and shortly thereafter, Honduras seized millions in alleged Cachiros’ properties.
In anticipation of a looming US indictment and seeking leverage for a possible cooperation deal with US prosecutors, the Rivera brothers began recording meetings with traffickers and politicians using spy cameras. This included the meeting with Carlos Zelaya and the other traffickers, which took place just weeks before the election.
Some time after the Riveras struck a deal with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in December 2013, they delivered the video to US authorities, who placed it under seal. The video has never been released publicly before because none of the traffickers who appeared went to trial upon being charged in the United States. InSight Crime received a copy of the video from a source who asked to remain anonymous. Two sources who had previously seen the video confirmed its authenticity and that it was recorded by Devis Rivera. They spoke to InSight Crim