Four dead in DEA-involved shooting in tribal area of Honduras

Thursday, May 17, 2012  

Tribes in Honduras demanded the Drug Enforcement Agency leave their territory after four people were killed in a shooting last Friday.

The leaders of the Masta, Diunat, Rayaka, Batiasta and Bamiasta tribes said the four people -- including two pregnant women -- were not involved in drug trafficking. A local official also said the victims were innocent.

“These innocent residents were not involved in the drug problem, were in their boat going about their daily fishing activities ... when they gunned them down from the air,” Lucio Vaquedano, the mayor of of Ahuas, told the Associated Press.

The DEA confirmed that it was assisting law enforcement in Honduran on an anti-drug mission in Honduras. Agents claimed they were fired on first by the occupants of a boat on the Patuca River.

The DEA agents and the Honduran officers fired on the boat from a U.S.-owned helicopter, the AP reported.

Get the Story:
Angered by deadly drug operation shooting, Honduran Indians burn offices, demand DEA leave (AP 5/16)