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