Joya Grande, the zoo that hid a trafficking and power network

The history of Joya Grande did not begin with a conservation purpose or an ideal of environmental education.

The zoo was the obsession of Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga , a drug lord whose desire to emulate other bosses led him to set up an “animal paradise” in Santa Cruz de Yojoa , an area that he and his clan controlled with unquestionable authority.

Inspired by the extravagances of Pablo Escobar and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán , Rivera Maradiaga imported exotic animals from all corners of the planet to build his own beast kingdom.

Fascination and power

Over the years, drug traffickers have shown a unique fascination with exotic animals.

Bosses like to surround themselves with predators and beasts, creatures that in their natural habitat represent authority and dominance.

Joya Grande was, in a way, a reflection of that predatory instinct. By opening a zoo, Los Cachiros were not only displaying their wealth, but also challenging law and order by importing exotic species that, in another context, would have been impossible to obtain.

The Rivera Maradiagas were not only looking to show off, but also to open a profitable avenue for animal trafficking and importation, sometimes also hiding drugs in containers of exotic animals.

Joya Grande, where luxury met cruelty

Without planning or structure, the zoo was built as a crude copy of the La Aurora Zoo in Guatemala .

Although the spaces at Joya Grande were initially limited, the maintenance of the animals began with sufficient resources.

However, following the administration of the Office for the Administration of Seized Assets (OABI) , basic needs were neglected, and the welfare of the animals deteriorated considerably.

Since the fall of Los Cachiros, diseases have multiplied among animals due to uncontrolled and inadequately supervised reproduction, a practice that had previously been held up as a symbol of the cartel’s power.

Big Boy , a giraffe donated by a circus from Guatemala, became the symbol of Joya Grande.

This noble animal was the adoration of Rivera Maradiaga, who every morning, from his private cabin, would caress it before walking around the zoo to visit his “cats.”

But Big Boy’s fate reflected the general neglect that gripped the zoo following the absence of his former owners.

The giraffe died due to neglect, a victim of the lack of attention and the decay that enveloped Joya Grande after the fall of Los Cachiros.

Downhill

The Cachiros’ heyday began to crumble in 2013, when Honduran authorities seized their assets, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Rivera Maradiaga brothers, handed over to the US authorities, left a zoo in the hands of the State, without the opulence or the funds that once supported it.

The zoo faced a monumental challenge: sustaining a structure that was generating exorbitant expenses without the illicit revenue that once financed it.

With an accumulated deficit of millions of lempiras, Joya Grande became a problem that not even the State could handle.

Monument to crime and vanity

The story of Joya Grande is more than a tale of drug trafficking and ostentation. It is an example of the destructive power of greed and vanity.

Once the symbol of a criminal organisation, this zoo now languishes under the weight of its own excesses.

Big Boy the giraffe, sick tigers and dilapidated cages are silent witnesses to a dark chapter in the history of Honduras.

Joya Grande, the “great jewel” of Los Cachiros, went from being a symbol of power and wealth to a monument of decay and abandonment.

The story of this “great jewel” is a reflection of how criminal opulence can turn into ruin, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

A trail that, despite attempts to silence it, will continue to be remembered as evidence that criminal luxury never lasts forever.