T

echnicians from the Attorney General’s office began to verify information extracted from telephones of the suspects in the Berta Cáceres murder trial. Two of the phones were encrypted and the technicians were unable to retrieve any information that had been erased from the phone.

One of these phones appears to belong to Daniel Atala. Per request of the public prosecutors, the technician presented two messages. In one from 2013, Atala speaks hatefully to his wife about Aureliano (presumably COPINH leader Aureliano Molina) and his plans to leave the country; Atala laments that he will not be able to confront Aureliano if he leaves. In another 2013 message, Douglas Bustillo requests money from Atala to pay an informant.

The defense lawyers of Sergio Rodriguez objected strongly to the presentation of the information given an agreement that was made to only present messages of group chats between DESA employees. The tribunal allowed the presentation of the information given that the messages were included in the technician’s report about the extraction of information from the phone. Also, the agreement refers to presentation of the analysis of the messages, which will be done by another technician later in the trial.

A financial analyst stated that at the beginning of 2016, Bustillo bought a car for L. 165,000 lempiras (roughly $6,800) that did not correspond with his income in 2015 or at the beginning of 2016. Sergio Rodriguez made a similar vehicle purchase in 2016 that could not be justified given his income.

The financial report also revealed that Sergio received salaries from three companies from 2013 to 2016 – PEMSA, ConCASA, and DESA - along with income from a contract with the World Bank. PEMSA, DESA and ConCASA shared an office space, legal representation and connections with David Castillo.