Steven Dudley

Co-Director and Co-Founder

InSight Crime
Washington DC
sdudley@insightcrime.org

March 24, 2017

Dear Mr. Dudley,

Re: InSight Crime article on Drug Trafficking in Honduras

The article by Tristan Clavel entitled Cachiros Leader Links Late Honduras Tycoon to Drug Trafficking and published on
your website on 22 March 2017 contains many absurd, inaccurate and misleading statements about the founder and
former Executive President of Corporacin Dinant, the late Miguel Facusse Barjum.

Dinant is a family-owned consumer marketing and agribusiness that farms or preserves extensive areas of land and natural
forest, some of which are located in remote and isolated parts of Honduras. Unfortunately, like many others based in rural
regions, we have been victims of drug traffickers who have used our property illegally and without our knowledge,
cooperation or permission to move their contraband undetected around the country.

We strongly condemn the use of our property to carry out illegal activities in connection with drug trafficking. We will
continue to do everything in our power to assist the Honduran and US authorities in their efforts to combat drug trafficking
by reporting immediately any illegal activities that we find to have occurred on our facilities, as we have done in the past.

By hiding behind such phrases as according to, and suspicions of, Mr. Clavel has the freedom to say whatever he
likes about Mr. Miguel Facusse Barjum without recourse or proof. There is a reason, as Mr. Dudley states at the end of his
article, that Mr. Facusse was never formally charged with involvement in drug trafficking or organized crime, and that is
because the allegations made against him are false and none are backed up by any evidence. As such, this article is simply a
rehash of old and discredited false rumors that even our most extreme opponents have long since abandoned.

I invite you and Mr. Clavel to visit Dinants African Palm plantations in the Bajo Agun region, as well as the rest of our
operations sites, to witness firsthand the results of the extensive resources that we have invested in community
engagement, and environmental and social management, and to see for yourselves why Dinant is regarded as a benchmark
for doing business the right way in challenging parts of the world. In the meantime, I kindly ask that you publish this letter
next to Mr. Clavels original article so that your readers can be made aware of Dinants perspective on these important
issues.

Yours sincerely,

Roger Pineda Pinel

Corporate and Banking Relations Director, Corporacin Dinant
Barrio Morazan, Frente a Plantas Tropicales, Boulevard Suyapa
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Tel: +504 2239-8271/8800 | roger.pineda@dinant.com | www.dinant.com

cc. Tristan Clavel, tristancvl@gmail.com