Mexico welcomes Merida, without human rights restrictions

President Felipe Calderon on Friday welcomed the U.S. Congress' approval of the Merida Initiative a day earlier, an aid injection from the United States that is aimed at helping Mexico in its fight against  powerful drug cartels.

The bill has dropped a controversial requirement that Mexico meet certain human rights standards in order to receive the aid. Mexicans had objected to the human rights provision, saying that it amounted to outside meddling by the United States in Mexican affairs. But dropping the human rights requirements seems certain to anger numerous opposition groups to the aid package -- see this La Plaza post on the issue. Writes the Associated Press:

Calderon said the bill "was an important step in the fight against international organized crime." He said its passage was due in part to Mexico's insistence that the United States share the burden in the fight against drug trafficking.

Quoted in the New York Times, José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, says of the approved package: “The big victory is for the rule of law. This will push the security forces in Mexico to a higher level of professionalism.”

Read on...

Mexico's Interior Secretary and Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa stressed that the anti-drug aid would include equipment, systems and training, not cash, and that no U.S. soldiers would be allowed to operate in Mexico as part of the plan.

"Mexico will not accept the presence of U.S. military personnel in Mexico," Espinosa said.

Meanwhile, Mexico's raging drug war claimed the lives of six more police officers, ambushed on patrol in the marijuana-rich state of Sinaloa, authorities said Friday.

The attack followed the slaying Thursday of a senior police commander, part of a long string of killings apparently aimed at eroding public confidence in the government's ability to challenge drug gangs, reports the L.A. Times' Tracy Wilkinson.

Last week, a report in the Christian Science Monitor questioned Calderon's use of the military in the fight against the country's drug cartels -- see that post here.

Read on...

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Comments

[carl]

Here we go again with the same BS, another decade. When will the U.S. government realize that prohibition doesn`t work. And when will the government listen to its people. Democracy is for the people by the people, but in the U.S. this is not the case. what the people think and want does not matter. Polititians do whatever they like and don`t care. It really is time for a revolution to start anew. This democracy doesn`t work anymore.
Another thing is, when Mexico screams "it meddles with our soveriently" "we don`t want human rights restrictions" it just means I`ll do what I want and I don`t want you to know the truth about how I use the money. Just give me the money stupid gringo.

It is really time to change our government.

[jsknow]

MORE WASTE OF MONEY AND LIVES... LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE DRUG WAR!
It's time to remove all the politicians that promote prohibition.
How many more lives have to be needlessly devastated or lost?
Prohibited drugs are way easier for kids to get than regulated drugs!
Prohibition never works it just causes crime and violence.

The USA spends $69 billion a year on the drug war, builds 900 new prison beds and hires 150 more correction officers every two weeks, arrests someone on a drug charge every 17 seconds, jails more people than any nation and has killed over 100,000 citizens in the drug war.

In 1914 when there were no prohibited drugs 1.3% of our population was addicted to drugs, today 1.3% of our population is still addicted to drugs but there’s way more crime and violence because of the huge profits prohibition generates. Drugs today are more potent, more readily available and less expensive than they were in the early 70’s when Richard Nixon started the war on drugs. Every time you look at the news you see more and more drug busts involving bigger and bigger quantities of drugs, not less and less... doesn't that call for change?

“Jury Nullification”, learn more here: http://fija.org If you are called for jury duty and you don’t agree with the law the person is charged with, you have the right to vote not guilty, no matter what evidence is produced. Jurors implementing this right in all non-violent drug cases will shut down the ridiculous laws of prohibition. One juror in each case is all it takes. The bottom line is a juror has the right to judge not only the accused person but the law the person is accused of breaking. Don’t be intimidated stick to your position.

There’s only been one drug success story in history, tobacco, by far the most deadly and one of the most addictive drugs. Almost half the users quit because of regulation, accurate information and medical treatment. No one went to jail and no one got killed.

The right; to freedom of religion, free speech, a free press, to keep and bear arms, to be secure in your person, house, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure, to life, liberty and property, to be protected from having your property taken by the government without due process of law and without just compensation, to confront the witnesses against you, to be protected from excessive bail, excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment, to vote and many others have been denied to millions of Americans in the name of the drug war.

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[Stephen]

Well...the US Congress caved to the corrupt Mexican government....as I knew it would. The American taxpayer will be fleeced once again. When will the US understand that when a Mexican politician screams about "sovereignty" and "interference in domestic affairs" he really is saying "SHOW ME THE MONEY!" A large percentage of the millions of dollars will never be seen by the Mexican agencies charged with fighting the cartels. That is the sad reality in Mexico and every Mexican knows it.

[Juan Rivera]

I have been following your exceptional coverage of this issue, compared to other sources, you provide a wider balance of views and greater depth. Congrats. This is so disappointing, but expected I suppose from a Congress who is no longer providing oversight to the Executive branch or real input in our foreign policy. What is not expected is how some organizations like Human Rights Watch get quoted touting a military aid package, when there are still massacres and murders well documented and outstanding. It speaks volumes tat the DC "human rights" clique couldn't even get tepid measures into this, though the first step should have been to outright derail it. Now, like Plan Colombia, we could be in for more murders of Labor activists and indigenous peoples. paid for by the good ole US of A.