Oct
26
2009
US State Department’s Merida Initiative Human Rights Report: Unconvincing Whitewash
Posted by Kristin Bricker – September 29, 2009 at 12:21 am
US Likely to Release Millions in Training and Military Hardware to Mexico Despite Failure to Comply with Human Rights Conditions
This past August, the US State Department issued a report entitled “Mexico–Merida Initiative Report.” The report is in response to two Congressional Appropriations bills, one signed into law in 2008 and the other in 2009, which form part of the funding of the Merida Initiative. The Merida Initiative provides training, equipment, and armament to Mexico’s military and federal police for that country’s increasingly violent but consistently ineffective war on drugs. With the report, the State Department hopes to release tens of millions of dollars in Merida Initiative funding that, up until now, has been held up due to Mexico’s non-compliance with certain conditions attached to the bill.
The US Congress included so-called human rights conditions in two tranches of Merida Initiative (alternatively known as Plan Merida or Plan Mexico) funding. The conditions apply to between $85 million and $100 million, or less than 15%, of Merida Initiative funding. The Merida Initiative as a whole has cost US taxpayers over one billion dollars so far. In order for the Mexico portion of the funds to be released, the US State Department had to certify that Mexico is:
- improving the transparency and accountability of federal police forces and working with state and municipal authorities to improve the transparency and accountability of state and municipal police forces through mechanisms including establishing police complaints commissions with authority and independence to receive complaints and carry out effective investigations;
- establishing a mechanism for regular consultations among relevant Mexican Government authorities, Mexican human rights organizations and other relevant Mexican civil society organizations, to make recommendations concerning implementation of the Merida Initiative in accordance with Mexican and international law;
- ensuring that civilian prosecutors and judicial authorities are investigating and prosecuting, in accordance with Mexican and international law, members of the federal police and military forces who have been credibly alleged to have committed violations of human rights, and the federal police and military forces are fully cooperating with the investigations; and
- enforcing the prohibition, in accordance with Mexican and international law, on the use of testimony obtained through torture or other ill-treatment.
Sep
3
2009
Español/English/Français
Reporteros sin Fronteras
Comunicado de prensa
1° de septiembre de 2009
MEXICO
OAXACA NEWSPAPER EDITOR GOES INTO HIDING AFTER SHOOTING ATTACK ON HOME
The police and judicial authorities investigating a shooting attack on the home of Guillermo Soto Bejarano, the regional weekly Nuevo Milenio’s editor and columnist, on 30 August in Salina Cruz (in the southern state of Oaxaca) should work on the assumption that it was linked to his journalist activities, Reporters Without Borders said today. Continue Reading »
Aug
13
2009
Jul
25
2009
A pretty solid piece by the LA Times on the situation. – http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-mexico24-2009jul24,0,3640271.story
“And yet, the cartels cannot serve as an excuse for the country’s security forces to commit abuses with impunity. A modern and moral state demands the rule of law.”
The end is especially strong, although FoBW would press for a stronger approach of withholding not just the 15% but all the money of Plan Mexico:
“Mexico’s legislature has become more powerful in recent years, and Calderon has begun to reform a judicial system that has been weak and often corrupt. We’d like to see that continue, matched by a more holistic approach to the drug war that includes real training, professionalization and pay for the country’s police forces. Ideally, we’d like to see Mexican institutions act on their own to address the abuse cases and hold the Mexican military accountable, without U.S. pressure. No country should have an army that is above the law, a condition that’s poisonous to democracy. But until Mexico acts, the United States should make the case for justice by trimming a symbolic 15% from its aid package.”
Jul
23
2009
This is absolutely ridiculous. Over 2000 abuse claims have been made, yet denial and US dollars continue:
Mexican military defends record on human rights
By NACHA CATTAN
Associated Press
2009-07-24 07:22 AM
“The Mexican military defended its human rights record Thursday, saying most abuse complaints against soldiers prove unfounded and are filed in an effort to discredit the government’s battle against drug cartels. Continue Reading »
Jul
21
2009
Last month, Congressman Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 (H.R. 2410), a wide-ranging legislation aimed at improving U.S. foreign policy efforts. Among many things, this bill seeks to modernize the Foreign Service and to provide the State Department with resources for operations abroad. Within these reforms are a number of requirements aimed at “enhancing” the Merida Initiative (aka Plan Mexico) and ensuring that the $1.6 billion allocated to Mexico and Central America are appropriately spent. These measures include the creation of a “Merida Coordinator” in charge of designing and tracking all Merida related efforts, the addition of the Caribbean to the overall Initiative, and the authorization of 5% of Mérida money to fund evaluation of the program’s performance. This evaluation would include the reporting of “accusations of serious human rights abuses committed by the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of recipient countries” and a description of Mérida-recipient governments’ efforts to investigate and prosecute these allegations.
While Friends of Brad Will are encouraged by such reforms of the Merida Initiative that aim to enhance it, we continue to demand the immediate end of the Merida Initiative as a whole and the implementation of a policy based on the improvement of the Mexican police and justice systems, anti-corruption programs, and drug rehabilitation and prevention on both sides of the border. Friends of Brad Will, many other organizations and the US government are well aware of the fact that stipulations such as these requiring the Mexican government to track and prosecute human rights violations are merely superficial and do not lead to actual change. When the final version of the Merida Initiative was enacted in June 2008 it contained a series of conditions based on Mexico’s human rights issues that stipulated that 15 percent of Merida funds would not be granted to Mexico until the Mexican government showed significant improvement in the accountability and transparency of federal police forces, and investigations of human rights charges.
“The stipulations that the US places on Mexico have proved to be worthless because there has been no follow through. A year after the Merida Initiative, the Mexican government has done nothing in the name of human rights, yet continues to receive funds from the US that will merely add to its ability to violate them,” said Angelina Garneva, Human Rights Associate Intern of Friends of Brad Will. “While the conditions set up by this Act are just more empty rhetoric for human rights, the money that it provides and the violence it supports are real and legitimate.”
Jul
13
2009
MEDIA ADVISORY * MEDIA ADVISORY * MEDIA ADVISORY
PROTEST AT MEXICAN CONSULATE!
FRIENDS OF SLAIN U.S. JOURNALIST BRAD WILL RESPOND TO RAILROADING OF OAXACA ACTIVIST JUAN MANUEL MARTINEZ MORENO!
juan-manuel-protest-flier
WHAT: Protest against Mexican judicial corruption and the practice of impunity
WHERE: Mexican Consulate in New York City, 27 East 39th Street.
WHO: Friends of Brad Will
WHEN: Monday July 13 at 4 pm
Contact:
Mark Read: 917-776-8847
Harry Bubbins: 646- 648-4362
Spanish Speaking Contact:
Salvador Pantoja: 646-257-6178
July 13th, NYC–On Wednesday, July 8th, Judge Rosa Perez reversed course from her January ruling. She now accepts hearsay testimony previously determined to be “deficient” as factual evidence in the case against local activist Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno for the 2006 murder of U.S. journalist Brad Will. It was also ruled that Moreno will remain indefinitely imprisoned pending a verdict in his case.
The case is being closely monitored by international human rights organization such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and was even singled out by the U.S. Congress when they passed the funding bill for the Merida Initiative in July 2008, calling in that bill for “progress in conducting a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation to identify the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice.”
Despite an independent report from Physicians for Human Rights debunking the government’s case against Moreno, and a condemnation of the case by Mexico’s own National Commission for Human Rights, the government has refused to investigate the most likely suspects—Mexican government officials who were videotaped and photographed openly firing on protesters, including Will. Instead, the judge has accepted the testimony of two “witnesses” that, according to their own words, were not present at the murder of Brad Will. These two “witnesses” are the heart of the case against Moreno.
“The Mexican government has to come up with a conviction in Brad’s case because the U.S. Congress told them they had to,” says Mark Read, a friend of Will’s. “If they want those U.S. taxpayer dollars, they have to put somebody away, but the real killers walk around with impunity while the government proceeds with this bogus case against one of the people that Brad was there trying to report on, an activist who rose up against corrupt government rule. This recent reversal makes it pretty clear that the Mexican government intends to railroad Moreno despite all the best evidence. It’s corruption, pure and simple.”
Jul
8
2009
A reporter flees the biggest cartel of all—the Mexican Army.
A vivid report on a journalist’s flight from the Mexican military to the United States. This is the same Mexican military which the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress are funding even more than Bush did!
Jul
8
2009
Below is a quote (and then a link to the original document) from the Lawyers Collective (or Colectivo de Abogados), a Colombian non-governmental organization. It raises the obvious question about the Merida Initiative (aka Plan Mexico): namely, why are some Mexicans ‘nationalists’ objecting to end-use monitoring of lethal aid funding for militarization (including surveillance) to Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean under Plan Mexico instead of opposing it outright?
Quote: “Colombian history demonstrates the State’s security agencies have considered as enemies those from society who are committed to the defence and promotion of human rights. Additionally, since February 2004, the DAS has substantially increased its persecution of human rights organisations. In this respect, it created special strategic-intelligence groups with the purpose of structurally persecuting human rights organisations as they were considered to be “a threat or risk to national security.”
Within this context, the DAS decided to undertake intelligence activities against CAJAR through a very laborious, extensive and sophisticated operation called OPERATION TRANSMILENIO, the funds for which came out of a heading designated for RESEVERED EXPENSES. This OPERATION TRANSMILENIO has consisted in gathering information on the Lawyers’ Collective and its members, and specifically information on activities relating to human rights defence work, international cooperation, and the organisation’s financial records. During this time, the DAS has carried out diverse intelligence activities against members of CAJAR, including the identification of their nuclear families and the gathering of biographical economic, financial and work-related information. Political and psychological profiles were also developed and fingerprint records were kept. The DAS kept track of the members’ routines and travel routes and surveillance was carried out throughout the country (along with ongoing surveillance at set points by way of apartment rentals). Photographs and video have also been taken of the lawyers and their families at home and in their places of work. Telephone conversations and email communication have also been intercepted on a massive scale. Lastly, records have been kept on their migratory movements and their national and international contacts have been cross-referenced. The DAS has obtained this information from the government protection program for human rights defenders, public and private institutions, and what were called “human and technical sources.” The Colombian State Employs the Administrative Department of Security Against Human Rights Organizations”
The rest of this frightening document by the Lawyers Collective here.
Jul
2
2009
From this excellent piece by Todd Miller published by NACLA:
“Washington is funding both sides of the drug war. U.S. military aid to this corrupt system has flowed rapidly under the Obama administration.”
Here’s the synopsis:
The July 5 mid-term election in Mexico will continue narcotraffickers’ creeping reach into all sectors of the country’s political life. The army and police are already drenched in narco-scandals, while reports show that political campaigns and government offices have also been infiltrated or co-opted by traffickers. But Mexico is not a failed state, such extensive corruption and illicit wealth creation actually depends on the state.
The rest here.
