F.A.I.R.: NYT, WaPo Let Unnamed U.S. Officials Spin Honduras Killings

[EFerrari]

NYT, WaPo Let Unnamed U.S. Officials Spin Honduras Killings
Posted on 05/18/2012 by Peter Hart

The details are somewhat murky, but we know the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is heavily involved in counternarcotics in Honduras. A shooting incident last Friday reportedly left four innocent people dead–including two pregnant women. Questions are being raised about whether they were shot by DEA agents who were apparently going after a boat carrying drug smugglers.

The story has become a scandal in Honduras, as the New York Times reports today (5/18/12)

Residents of the isolated Mosquito Coast of Honduras have burned down government buildings and are demanding that American drug agents leave the area immediately

With a story like this, evidently the Times thinks it can get important information from–what a surprise–unnamed U.S. officials:

While acknowledging that the circumstances of a middle-of-the-night firefight are murky, an American official briefed on the matter cast doubt on the local account.

What follows is a long, detailed account of what the United States says happened–which, for whatever reason, a named government official cannot say. And, according to the official, the whole town where the shooting happened is suspicious:

The official also expressed doubts that villagers would be out fishing in the middle of the night, near where helicopters had landed an hour or so earlier. The official added that the large number of people seen in surveillance video unloading the plane showed that many members of the impoverished community of Ahuas were involved in drug trafficking.

http://www.fair.org/blog/

(Sorry, no permalink)

[JHB]

1. Permalink here

http://www.fair.org/blog/2012/05/18/nyt-wapo-let-unnamed-u-s-officials-spin-honduras-killings/

EFerrari: on the FAIR blog page, click the entry titles for the permalinks.

[EFerrari]

2. Thank you! I've never figured that out. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. NYT and Honduras Killings, Take Two

NYT and Honduras Killings, Take Two

Posted on 05/21/2012 by Peter Hart

On Friday (5/18/12) we noted that the New York Times and Washington Post had long pieces about a drug war shooting in Honduras that reportedly killed four innocent bystanders, including two pregnant women. The story got increased attention here in the U.S. because of the apparent involvement of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Honduran officials and sources claimed the dead were civilians. The Times and Post, though, granted anonymity to U.S. officials to claim that the dead were maybe not civilians at all; in fact, according to some of these unnamed officials, the whole town where the shooting occurred was involved in the illegal drug trade, and it was downright suspicious that a boat would be out on the water at that time of night.

On Saturday (5/19/12), Times reporter Damien Cave, the author of one of the pieces we criticized, offered another take, which included a hospital interview with one of the shooting victims. He also reported that, contrary to the story peddled by anonymous U.S. officials, it would not have been all that unusual for boats to be out in the early morning hours.

It's a strong piece that sheds considerable light on a story that is obviously still unfolding. The headline is unfortunate–"From a Honduras Hospital, Conflicting Tales of a Riverside Shootout"–in the sense that it suggests equal weight be given to the version of events as presented by U.S. officials.

More:
http://www.fair.org/blog/2012/05/21/nyt-and-honduras-killings-take-two/

[EFerrari]

5. Thanks for this, Judi Lynn. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. Survivor: Honduran police fired on passenger boat

Survivor: Honduran police fired on passenger boat
ALBERTO ARCE, Associated Press
Updated 12:48 a.m., Monday, May 21, 2012

LA CEIBA, Honduras (AP) — Lucio Adan Nelson dozed on a riverboat ferrying him home from a visit with his mother when helicopters appeared overhead and started shooting. He and about a dozen other passengers traveling in the middle of the night jumped into the water for cover.

Nelson was hit in the arm and back, but says he couldn't seek help. "I had to stay in the water for some time because they kept shooting," he said Sunday from a hospital bed.

Honduran police, who with DEA agents were aboard U.S. helicopters for an anti-drug operation, have said they were shooting at drug traffickers who fired first from a boat in the Patuca River in the remote Mosquitia region near the Caribbean coast.

~snip~
Honduran military intelligence is investigating, said Col. Joaquin Arevalo, a military spokesman. He referred The Associated Press to two Honduran commanders at the Caratasca Naval Base and a U.S. Joint Task Force installation in Mocoron in the heart of the Mosquitia. The area, which is near the Nicaraguan border, saw heavy U.S. military presence in the 1980s when the U.S. was backing Contra rebels fighting the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

More:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Survivor-Honduran-police-fired-on-passenger-boat-3572908.php#ixzz1vWiAZxY5