[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2445-S2446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASSACRE AT AHUAS, HONDURAS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, 10 years ago today a joint counternarcotics 
team of Honduran security agents and U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration--DEA--officers opened fire on a water taxi as it 
approached Ahuas, a small town located in the remote Mosquitia region 
of northeastern Honduras.
  The canoe-like taxi was carrying families traveling between the 
indigenous Miskito villages that populate the shores of the Patuca 
River when it was shot at repeatedly by the counternarcotics officers, 
leaving two women, a teenage boy, and a 21-year-old man dead and 
several other passengers injured. While the Honduran police announced 
that a ``successful'' drug interdiction mission had taken place, 
journalists and human rights advocates reported the victims were 
unarmed and had no known links to drug trafficking.
  Instead of taking responsibility, assessing their mistakes, and 
examining their methods and partnerships with Honduran security forces, 
DEA and State Department officials obstructed U.S. and Honduran 
investigations of the incident and falsely reported to Members of 
Congress, including my staff, that the boat's passengers had fired on 
security forces. They also insisted that the DEA bore no responsibility 
for the discharging of weapons and had only played a supportive and 
advisory role during the mission. After the horrifying events of May 
11, 2012, the DEA continued joint operations using battlefield tactics 
in the area that resulted in two more fatal shootings. Following one of 
these incidents, the Honduran police team leader was reported to have 
been instructed by his superiors to plant a weapon into evidence.
  It was only thanks to a joint Department of Justice and Department of 
State Inspector General investigation report--published 5 years ago--
that Congress was able to learn the truth about Ahuas and the two other 
fatal shootings. DEA agents had in fact played a central, leading role 
in the lethal operation. They had ordered a Honduran machine gunner to 
open fire on the water taxi and never verified whether DEA weapons had 
been discharged. The DEA's repeated assertions that someone on the boat 
had fired a weapon were found to not be credible.

[[Page S2446]]

  As senior DEA officials obstructed the work of the inspector 
generals, it was not until 5 years after the Ahuas shooting that the 
victims were finally cleared of any wrongdoing. But justice for the 
victims and their families remains elusive. Though the lives of those 
left behind have been shattered, some by debilitating injuries and 
others by the loss of parents and breadwinners, they have not received 
fair compensation, and they have languished in dire poverty. The 
wrongful actions that resulted in their injuries or the death of their 
loved ones have not been punished in any way. Those who misled 
Congress, willfully concealing their agencies' deadly errors, were not 
disciplined at all, and one senior official even received a promotion. 
The U.S. Embassy and the DEA coordinated this operation with the 
Honduras National Police Director Juan Carlos Bonilla. Today, Bonilla 
is in custody after being extradited to the U.S., charged with ordering 
assassinations in support of drug traffickers protected by former 
President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
  In honor of these and other victims of deadly errors committed by 
U.S. counternarcotics agents abroad, it is imperative that we hold 
ourselves and our institutions accountable and that we recognize our 
mistakes and correct them. If we claim to believe in justice and the 
rule of law, we cannnot allow Federal officials to misrepresent the 
facts and cover up their wrongdoing when reporting to Congress.
  We must also provide support to victims of the so-called drug war, 
not stigmatize and slander them, and examine the impact that our 
approach to drug interdiction has on areas like the Moskitia. It was 
obvious soon after the massacre that those who had directed and carried 
it out had minimal knowledge of the people and communities of that 
isolated area. They rushed to judgment, assuming that anyone traveling 
that river, no matter how impoverished, must be in some way involved in 
trafficking drugs and therefore a legitimate target of lethal force. 
Those who pay the price for militarized policing and for the corruption 
and violence drug trafficking organizations use to protect their 
activities are the most vulnerable: indigenous communities like Ahuas 
and the human rights activists who defend the rights of those caught in 
the crossfire.
  I wish I could say that the DEA and the State Department have learned 
the lessons of Ahuas. But that will not be possible until those who 
fired on those innocent people and lied about it are brought to justice 
and until the victims are properly compensated and cared for. That is 
the shared responsibility of the U.S. and Honduran Governments.

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