US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA1611

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