Univision News' Fast and Furious Investigation Prompts Congressional Inquiry

Oct 4, 2012— -- On Tuesday, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) pressed the Department of Justice to provide information about 57 Fast and Furious weapons found at Mexican crime scenes, which were first exposed by a Univision News special investigation on September 30.

In a letter obtained by Univision News and sent to Attorney General Eric Holder, Issa and Grassley inquired about the previously unreported Fast and Furious guns that were linked to violent crimes and featured in the Univision News report. The letter pays special attention to three firearms connected to an ATF gun-tracing operation that were used in a massacre of 15 teenagers in Villas de Salvarcar.

"The three Fast and Furious weapons allegedly used in the [Villas de Salvarcar] attack were not referenced either in your September 9, 2011 or your June 7, 2012 letters responding to our requests for information on recoveries, and particular recoveries associated with violent crimes," Darrell and Issa write to Holder.

The letter includes ten questions about this particular crime and about how Operation Fast and Furious was related to violent crimes in Mexico. The answers to those questions are expected "by no later than October 14, 2012."

On September 30, Univision News aired a special edition of "Aquí y Ahora" (Here and Now), which focused on the consequences of the ATF's gun-walking operations outside the United States, and more specifically on the repercussions across the Mexican border.

"Our relationship with Mexico is deep," Issa told Univision News in an interview for last Sunday's show. "It's strong and it's essential. I can understand why the Mexican government has been reserved publically. But I believe privately it has hurt our relationship. It has created a lack of trust."