Another department official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. is focused on firming up the rule of law in Honduras and helping officials “resolve high-profile murder cases, reform Honduran police and strengthen human-rights institutions.”
“Regarding the May 11 incident,” the spokesman said, “as we have confirmed previously, DEA agents were involved in a supporting role, and did not fire their weapons.”
An independent August 2012 report, meanwhile, has helped to spur the ongoing congressional interest in the incident.
The report produced by the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research think tank and the human-rights group Rights Action was critical of the Honduran investigation.
“Measures such as the interviewing of key witnesses have not been carried out, even though a former U.S. police detective employed by the U.S. Embassy provided technical support to the investigative team,” the organizations said upon releasing the report. “DEA agents that participated in the May 11 operation have not been questioned, nor have ballistics tests been performed on their weapons.”
The report itself said that “eyewitness accounts suggest that U.S. agents were present at different stages” of the operation and that one witness account suggested that “a U.S. agent was manning a door gun on at least one of the helicopters” involved.
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Guy Taylor rejoined The Washington Times in 2011 as the State Department correspondent.
As a freelance journalist, Taylor’s work was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Fund For Investigative Journalism, and his stories appeared in a variety publications, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to Salon, Reason, Prospect Magazine of London, the Daily Star of Beirut, the ...
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