QCOSTARICA – The Costa Rica model, Kathia Adriana Corella Rojas, despite affirming her innocence and that she was promised freedom by the First Lady, will be going to trial in Nicaragua, along with four others, on March 15.
In the meantime, Corella was ordered on Thursday by the Juzgado Noveno del Distrito Penal de Audiencia de Managua to held in detention for the next two months.
The Tica (Costa Rican) model told the Court that Nicaragua’s First Lady and wife of President Daniel Ortega, Rosario Murillo, told her over the phone she was free to go.
“I am innocent, because they let me free and took me to the Barcelo (hotel). Hence the Minister of the Ministry of the Family spoke with the First Lady of the country, who put her on the speaker and said, ‘you are free, go out in the morning flight, be calm,’ and now I’m going through this process unfairly. They involved me in a story that has not been well told,” said the model to judge Indiana Gallardo and reported by La Prensa in Nicaragua.
Defence attorney Carlos Chavarria, has requested that his client be assessed by a forensic psychiatrist, alleging “suicidal thoughts” by the trauma experienced by the death of husband in front of their young child.
“El Cacique”
Corella apparently involved in an international drug trafficking network called “El Cacique” and allegedly in charge of receiving and safe keeping of the money coming from the group’s operations in Guatemala.
The model was arrested on December 5, 2015, after a police operation in which her husband, Walter Mauricio Pereira Castillo, shot himself in the head – in front of her and their 5 year-old daughter – after being cornered by Nicaraguan authorities. Corella’s daughter was returned to Costa Rica on December, in the custody of her family, after being in the care of Nicaragua’s Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (Pani).
In the raid, authorities seized 285 kilos of cocaine, which were hidden in the fuel tanks two trailers. One the trucks was driven by a Costa Rican identified as Gustavo Artavia Vega. In a compartment of a pickup, driven by the Costa Rican Pablo Castillo Quesada, police found US$871,000 in cash. Charged also is a Guatemalan identified as Llendy Pérez. A fifth suspect is on the run.
According to Nicaraguan media, Pereira was suspected as being one of the leaders of the gang, and to oversee the transfer/movement of illegal drugs through Nicaraguan territory and custody of the proceeds.
According to Nicaragua authorities Castillo was being investigated since 2013 and apparently linked to the Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas.
Photos of Costa Rica model, Kathia Adriana Corella here!
