Joint review concludes DEA lied about civilian shootings during Honduran drug operation

By Christen Smith

In this May 21, 2012, file photo, Honduran Navy officers patrol in Patuca river, near Ahuas, a remote community in La Mosquitia region, Honduras. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration misled the public, Congress and Justice Department officials about an aggressive strategy that led to a series of deadly confrontations involving agents in Honduras, government watchdogs wrote in a scathing report released May 24, 2017. (Photo: AP Photo file)
A joint review concluded last month the Drug Enforcement Administration mishandled an internal probe of civilian shootings during its 2012 “Operation Anvil” in Honduras.
The Office of Inspectors General for both the State Department and Department of Justice said the agency’s “significantly flawed” examination of the May 11, 2012 incident, and two others that same year, proved to be little more than “paper exercises” to quell public concern.
The joint probe comes five years after Honduran law enforcement shot and killed four civilians and wounded four others aboard a water taxi on the Patuca River, claiming drug traffickers fired first in an attempt to recover cocaine seized during a joint U.S.-Honduran raid earlier that day.
The raid was one of many conducted during the DEA’s “Operation Anvil,” a joint mission with Honduran law enforcement to intercept

Source: Guns.com