A new report by the Offices of Inspector General of the US Justice and State Departments established that the DEA repeatedly lied to Congress about killing civilians in the remote village of Ahuas, Honduras. On May 11, 2012 four passengers in a river boat were killed when they were shot from helicopters during a joint antinarcotics operation by the Honduran police and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The victims included two pregnant women. Three others were injured and several children were left orphaned.
Days after the 2012 attack, a commission organized by COFADEH (the Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras) visited La Ceiba and La Moskitia to document the attack and take testimony from the victims.
The Inspector General’s report confirms that in an attempt to cover up its responsibility for the killings, the DEA lied to Congress claiming the victims were armed drug smugglers that they fired on the helicopter from their boat. The new report vindicates the testimony of the victims.