US Lawmakers Rally in Opposition to Funding Mexico's Human Rights Abuses teleSUR
go to original August 11, 2016

Dozens of U.S. lawmakers are calling on the State Department to consider the Mexican government's history of violating human rights before signing off on an aid package that could end up funding such abuses.

The letter, addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry and signed by 69 lawmakers, points out that despite public commitments made by the Mexican government, “having good laws on the books does not ensure justice.”

Congressman Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach, who drafted the letter, cited thousands of unresolved cases concerning disappeared people, torture during criminal investigations, sexual assault committed by security forces, police violence and the slow pace of judicial reform. Kerry, the letter states, should also bring up specific concerns with Mexico, including the lack of accountability after the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa teachers and the police crackdown that killed at least eight strikers against education reform.

The aid in question, conditional on the State Department’s evaluation of Mexico's human rights situations, accounts for 15 percent of the Merida Initiative, launched in 2007 to boost security cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico with the stated purpose of fighting organized crime, drug trafficking and money laundering. Congress has allocated US$2.5 billion to Mexico since 2008 under the plan, which is often compared to Plan Colombia of 2000, which helped further militarize that country's war on drugs.

A desire to fight organized crime should not lead the U.S. government to overlook Mexico's poor human rights record, according to Maureen Meyer, senior associate for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America.

Read the rest at teleSUR

Related: Latino Politicians in US Ignore Human Rights Abuses in Mexico (teleSUR)

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