Fonseca-Samaritan's Purse connection

Written by Biloxi

I'm still diving in the Inspector General Glenn Fine report again. I saw this piece of information that certainly connects the dots to why former OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores hired Hector Rene Fonseca.

Last week, Washington Post wrote that Flores told the inspector general that he had hired Fonseca, a former Columbian military official, because of his ties to the faith-based community through a group called Samaritan's Purse. Well, it happens that Fonseca's wife, Deborah Moss Fonseca, was the government relations representative for Samaritan's Purse International. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I wrote last year in an article concerning Mr. Fonseca's wife, Deborah DeMoss-Fonseca's strong political backgrounds and ties to Senator Jesse Helms and his wife's political ties and career in Latin American affairs for political and faith-based initative agenda. Let's connect the dots:

In March 2, 1999, Mr. Fonseca testified to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, Narcotics and Terrorism as a eyewitness to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch in Central America.

Here is an excerpt of the transcript from the subcommittee chairman:

"Rene is here as a private citizen. He does not represent the Honduran government. He is a businessman who owns and operates several companies in several Central American countries."

According to the transcript of the hearing, it listed Fonseca's occupation as President of Consultants International in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Now why would a businessman of several companies in Central America take a day job contracting for the OJJDP division? In addition, Fonseca added in his testimony about his wife's work in Central America:

Mr. Fonseca: "Mr. Chairman, I thank you for inviting me to testify today about the devastating Hurricane Mitch which destroyed so much of Central America, particularly in Honduras, my home country. It is an honor for me to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for more than one reason. As you have mentioned, I would have not met my wife Deborah DeMoss if this committee had not had so much important work to do in Central America back in the 1980's."

"My wife Deborah is the director of Samaritan's Purse in Honduras, so I am more familiar with their substantial commitment, particularly in the areas of housing, medical brigades, and community social services. I highly commend both these institutions to implement certain projects in the country." And let me add that the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was Senator Jesse Helms, Deborah DeMoss Fonseca's former boss and Fonseca and his wife were married in 1994.

Samaritan's Purse organization was one of the major relief organizations to aid victims the Hurricane Mitch. Deborah Moss Fonseca was the government relations representative for Samaritan's Purse International.

Former President Bush wasn't the person to initiatively push for faith-based initiative agenda into foreign aid. It was the late Senator Jesse Helms, Ms. Fonseca's boss.

In an article in the Washington Times in January 2001, Helms proposed the concept of "compassionate conservatism" to foreign aid. He recommended that the new Bush administration shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and shift assistance abroad through private and faith-based organizations. In March 2001, USAID has provided almost $10 million to a certain number of U.S. non-governmental organizations in grant for "construction of temporary shelter and for the purchase and distribution of relief commodities." One of the recipient of the grants was Samaritan's Purse.

In addition, in October 2004, Samaritan Purse won another grant award from Bush's $15 billion Emergency plan for AIDS Relief. The political influences of Deborah Moss-Fonseca not only flowed into the USAID but into OJJDP.

According to the DeMoss Group website, a public relations firm that focus on faith-based organizations and enterprises, one of their clients happens to be Victory Outreach, a church-oriented Christian ministry organization that Flores was pushed through for a grant.

So, for Flores to say to the inspector general that he hired Fonseca because his ties to the faith-based community Samaritan's Purse. Flores certainly told a fib. He left out the part that Fonseca's wife was the director of Samaritan's Purse in Honduras, the country where Fonseca is from. I wouldn't think that Hector Rene Fonseca got the job at OJJDP on his own. So, this Flores-Fonseca agreement worked out at that time. Everyone tried to get what they wanted. Certainly Flores' motto with his political and religious buddies in his six-year tenure was 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mines.'