Activists: U.S.-Mexico Partnership May be Contributing to Human Rights Abuses Jean Guerrero - KPBS
go to original July 18, 2016

San Diego-based human rights activists meet in Mexico City, June 14, 2016. (Benjamin Prado)

Human rights activists have returned to San Diego after a two-week fact-finding mission in Mexico. They were looking into human rights abuses south of the border and say a U.S-Mexico partnership to fight organized crime may be contributing to those abuses.

Listen: Human rights activists from San Diego and other cities embarked last month on a fact-finding mission in Mexico to show how U.S. policies, military aid and arms sales contribute to human rights violations. (KPBS)

The activists interviewed more than 60 people who allege they experienced abuse at the hands of Mexican authorities, including kidnappings and killings of relatives. They will release some of these interviews to the public after determining which can be published without endangering lives.

Benjamin Prado, program coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, said the U.S. Merida Initiative is to blame for some of the abuses because it provides military training and weapons to Mexican security forces. The U.S. State Department describes the initiative as "an unprecedented partnership between the United States and Mexico to fight organized crime and associated violence while furthering respect for human rights and the rule of law."

“While they are training and professionalizing security forces, these security forces seem as though they are actually attacking people," Prado said.

Read the rest at KPBS

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!