US-MEXICO: Rights Group Urges Review of Aid in Light of Abuses

[Judi Lynn]

Source: IPS News

US-MEXICO: Rights Group Urges Review of Aid in Light of Abuses
By Marina Litvinsky

WASHINGTON, Jul 13 (IPS) - The U.S. State Department should not certify Mexico's compliance with the Merida Initiative's human rights requirements so long as the Mexican army continues to commit human rights abuses without proper investigation and punishment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, released Monday.

The letter expresses concern over the rapidly growing number of serious abuses committed by the Mexican military during counternarcotics and public security operations, including rapes, killings, torture, and arbitrary detentions, and the failure to bring those responsible to justice.

The Mérida Initiative is a 1.4-billion-dollar, multi-year regional aid package to help address the increasing violence and corruption of heavily armed drug cartels that President George W. Bush requested in June 2007.

The U.S. Congress mandated that 15 percent of funds to be provided to Mexico should be withheld until the secretary of state reports to Congress that the Mexican government has met four human rights conditions. They include the requirement that military abuses be investigated and prosecuted by civilian rather than military authorities.



Read more: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47643

[Flaneur]

1. Will we let those pesky human rights get in the way of our drug war?

The US is funding the Mexican military and police to the tune of $1.4 billion over three years to prosecute the drug war there. Complaints of ugly human rights abuses by the military are piling up. Are we paying for torture, rape, and murder?

The Mexican experience is a good example of why we don't want the military acting as law enforcement.