Report: Guns used in Mexico lawyer's murder traced to Operation Fast and Furious :: 05/04/2012

By Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Times El Paso Times

Firearms connected to Operation Fast and Furious were used in the 2010 slaying of the brother of the former Chihuahua state attorney general, according to a U.S. congressional report.

The report said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced two of the weapons suspected in the murder of lawyer Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez, but did not report this fact to the Mexican government until eight months after the tracing.

The joint congressional staff report "The Department of Justice's Operation Fast and Furious: Fueling Cartel Violence" was prepared for U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., two lawmakers who are spearheading an ongoing investigation into the ATF's controversial operation.

"On October 21, 2010, drug cartel members kidnapped Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez from his office," according to the 2011 congressional report. "At the time of the kidnapping, his sister Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez was the attorney general of the state of Chihuahua."

Mexican officials said Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez was already on her way out because the new governor had been installed and a new state prosecutor was going to be appointed.

"A few days after the kidnapping," the congressional report said, " a video surfaced on the Internet in which Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez sat handcuffed, surrounded by five heavily armed men wearing masks, dressed in camouflage and bullet-proof vest."