School of the Americas Watch Calls for Suspension of Mexico's Plan Merida Nidia Bautista - CIP Americas
go to original July 22, 2015

Participants of the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) delegation in Mexico called for the suspension of Plan Merida last month after meeting with Mexican social movements and human rights organizations in Mexico City, Guerrero, and Chiapas. The visits, organized with groups actively working to end militarization and state violence in the country, took place from June 21 to July 1 and culminated in an urgent call for an end to all U.S. aid to Mexico.

The delegation began in Mexico City, where they met with journalists and experts to discuss topics ranging from the effects of the new reforms on Mexican civil society to militarization. There they also visited Nestora Salgado, a U.S. citizen and leader of the community police in Olinala, Guerrero arrested in 2013, now held in Mexico City and considered a political prisoner by many international organizations. The group then traveled south to Guerrero where they met with the community police of Olinala, the Human Rights Center of the Mountain (CHRM) “Tlachinollan” in Tlapa de Comonfort, and the parents of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa. In Chiapas, they met with human rights defenders and visited the Zapatista autonomous community of Morelia, ending the trip in Tapachula on the southern border.

The tour was organized by SOAW, a U.S. grassroots movement that seeks to close the military training school, now officially called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). The U.S. Department of Defense institute provides military training to Latin American military and police officials. Among the graduates over i
ts 60-year history are notorious dictators and human rights abusers in countries throughout the hemisphere.

Founded in 1990, SOAW allies with people in Latin America and the Caribbean to demilitarize U.S. foreign policy. In past years it has called to end the Merida Initiative, the US aid to Mexico to fight the drug war.

Arturo Viscarra, an immigration lawyer, serves as the Advocacy Coordinator for SOAW. In an interview with the Americas Program, Viscarra talked about the importance of building people power against militarization because Plan Merida supports government forces responsible for crimes like that of Ayotzinapa, Tlatlaya and the violation of Central American migrant rights.

“It is our taxes that pay for these violations of human rights and mass disappearances. So our government is complicit with organized crime and the mass graves, assassinations, and violation of human rights,” he said.

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