CONVICTED HONDURAN NARCO-CONGRESSMAN PANCHAME

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001611 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CEN, INL/LP, AND INR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM KJUS ASEC SOCI PINR HO SUBJECT: CONVICTED HONDURAN NARCO-CONGRESSMAN PANCHAME MURDERED IN PRISON REF: A. TEGUCIGALPA 01622 ¶B. TEGUCIGALPA 00381 ¶1. On July 11, Armando Avila Panchame (52),a Honduran National Party ex-Congressman serving a 20-year sentence at the National Penitentiary (PN) in Tamara for narcotrafficking, was murdered by another prison inmate, Juvernal Alvarado Diaz (23). Diaz, sentenced in January 2004 to 12 years in prison for homicide, reportedly brandished a 38-caliber revolver hidden beneath his clothes and proceeded to shoot Panchame at close range four times, killing him. According to press accounts, Diaz claimed he murdered Panchame because he had worked for Panchame for seven months and had not been paid his salary. It is not clear whether this murder was in connection with Panchame's narcotrafficking activities. Nevertheless, authorities suspect the Atlantico Narco-trafficking Cartel, with whom Panchame was allegedly associated, ordered him killed fearing that Panchame would cooperate with Honduran law enforcement authorities. ¶2. On July 20, the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) was scheduled to review Panchame's narcotrafficking conviction. According to a source quoted in the Honduran press, Panchame had stated that, if his sentence was upheld, he would tell all he knew and implicate the "big people." Catholic Priest Maximiliano Orellana told Honduran press that Panchame had felt threatened in the days before his murder. According to police sub-commissioner Leonel Sauceda, Panchame had been warned not to put himself at risk by walking in certain areas of the prison. Sauceda reported that Panchame indicated he had never had a problem with any of the inmates at the prison and had never informed authorities he felt threatened in any way. ¶3. Panchame was arrested July 6, 2003, while attempting to flee the scene of a drug trafficking airplane crash in the eastern department of Olancho. He was charged with drug trafficking (though no drugs were seized) and attempted murder (for running his car through two police roadblocks) and was sentenced on February 19 to 20 years in prison and a fine of roughly 60,000 USD. (ref A). Panchame was the third political figure to be arrested on drug trafficking charges in 2003, and his sentence was the first time a Honduran court has convicted a legislator on drug trafficking charges (ref B). ¶4. The murder of Panchame brings the number of prisoners killed during the year in the Tamara prison by firearms or small knives to more than 20, including Jorge Anibal Echevaria-Ramos (alias Coque) also linked with the Atlantico Cartel. The Attorney General's office is investigating Panchame's death, believing the death to be linked to organized crime. Johnny Handal, the first vice-president of the National Congress, also introduced a motion to order an investigation into the causes of Panchame's assassination and to create a maximum security policy for the country's jails. ¶5. COMMENT: Security at Honduran prisons is notoriously lax. Corrupt prison guards are easily bribed, allowing prisoners to escape, leave the prison for a few hours during the day, or import banned weapons. Many prisoners continue to run illegal operations in their prison cells. While the GOH is aware of the problem, scarce resources continue to hamper effective measures to shore-up prison security. END COMMENT. Palmer