The Operation Fast and Furious scandal may hurt President Barack Obama’s re-election chances with Hispanic voters in November, conservative group American Future Fund thinks.
On Monday, American Future Fund (AFF) released two new Spanish-language political ads — “Confienza” and “Cuentas” — that the group says will run on television and radio in Albuquerque, N.M.; Raleigh, N.C.; Washington; Las Vegas and Denver.
“December 2010,” an anchor reads in the television ad, “U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry is gunned down along the Arizona-Mexico border.”
“Under Fast and Furious, President Obama’s Justice Department puts thousands of weapons in the hands of dangerous drug cartels,” the anchor continues. “More Than 1,700 guns lost. … Many linked to violent crimes and killings, including Agent Terry’s murder. Obama denies any accountability — instead blaming others.”
The ad quotes how Obama falsely told Univision earlier this month that Fast and Furious started under the George W. Bush administration. “The Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration,” Obama incorrectly told Univision’s Jorge Ramos in an interview.
“But an official report proves the program began under Obama’s administration,” the anchor continues. “Why did President Obama make a false claim? The facts are clear. In November, hold President Obama accountable.”
Watch the ad:
The radio ad makes a similar point.
AFF founder Nick Ryan said in a release that with Fast and Furious, the “facts are clear.”
“President Obama may continue to make false claims but there is no question his administration was responsible for this failed operation which has resulted in terrible acts of violence,” Ryan said. “It is time President Obama is held accountable.”
These Spanish-language ads come after Univision released a bombshell investigative report on Fast and Furious. Among other revelations, Univision connected the program’s weapons to “massacres” of innocent Mexican civilian teenagers. Univision also discovered that Juarez drug cartel carnage king Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez — better known as “El Diego” — had Fast and Furious weapons on his person when authorities took him into custody.
El Diego was, until he was taken into custody, the leader of the Juarez drug cartel’s La Linea — or “enforcement arm.” According to the El Paso Times, El Diego told Mexican authorities after his capture that La Linea’s mission was, among other things, to “eliminate the members of the Sinaloa cartel in Ciudad Juárez.”
Mexican authorities have alleged El Diego is responsible for the murders of at least 1,500 people in Juarez and Chihuaha City, Mexico, according to the El Paso Times.
