Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a press release to announce that she will be meeting with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency to talk about drug trafficking in Honduras.
“Obtaining an assessment from DEA about the situation on the ground is of increasing importance in light of recent developments in Honduras and reports of possible Zelaya drug ties.
“The drug network is like a spider web extending into arms trafficking and used to finance such extremist groups as the FARC. It undermines our regional security and stability. It is critical that we understand the full scope of the problem and the players involved in order to combat it effectively.” [Emphasis mine]
These “reports of possible Zelaya drug ties” have come from none other than the newly-minted Honduran “Foreign Minister” Enrique Ortez. He claimed in an interview that “Every night, three or four Venezuelan-registered planes land without the permission of appropriate authorities and bring thousands of pounds … and packages of money that are the fruit of drug trafficking.”
Ortez, as those who have been following this situation are well aware, was dressed down by the United States Ambassador to Honduras for frequently invoking the racially charged pejorative “negrito” to refer to President Obama. At one point, Ortez described the president of the United States as “this little black man (negrito) who has no idea where Tegucigalpa is.”
In any case, it would seem that Ros-Lehtinen is interested in highlighting these allegations, and in so-doing she is giving succor to the Congressional Coup Caucus as they widen their campaign of support for a military-backed government in America’s back yard.