Economy & Trade, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, North America

MEXICO: Rights Groups Protest Release of US Anti-Drug Funds

Emilio Godoy

MEXICO CITY, Aug 21 2009 (IPS) - Human rights groups criticised the decision by the U.S. Congress to release a portion of the funds for the Mérida Initiative – an anti-drug aid package – to Mexico despite concern over accusations that the army has committed serious human rights violations in the fight against drugs.

"Unfortunately, the United States has consistently demonstrated that bilateral relations with certain countries matter much more than taking a position conducive to getting countries that receive military aid to respect human rights," Amnesty International special adviser Javier Zúñiga told IPS from London.

Adrián Ramírez, director of the non-governmental Mexican League for the Defence of Human Rights, told IPS that "we are concerned that part of the U.S. Congress, which wanted to block the aid, was disdained in a somewhat political manner."

At a forum Thursday on the Mérida Initiative, held in the northeastern city of Monterrey, John Feeley, charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, reported that the Senate had authorised the release of 64 million dollars in aid against drug trafficking.

The Mérida Initiative is a 1.4-billion-dollar, three-year regional aid package to help address the increasing violence and corruption of drug cartels in Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic. It was launched in 2008 by the administration of George W. Bush (2001-2009).

Fifteen percent of the 2008-2009 funds to be provided to Mexico were delayed pending a State Department report that the Mexican government has met several specific human rights conditions, including a requirement that military abuses be investigated and prosecuted by civilian rather than military authorities.

Since conservative President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006, the military's involvement in the war on drug cartels has been stepped up, with thousands of troops deployed nationwide. But drug-related violence has soared in the last few years. On Monday alone, there were 57 murders linked to organised crime, according to the El Universal newspaper.

Complaints of abuses by soldiers have also risen.

Last week, the U.S. State Department sent members of key congressional committees the required report on the question.

But Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State Department and Foreign Operations, complained that the report "is most notable for how little it says about the key issue – impunity within the Mexican military."

He argued that releasing the funds would be "premature" because the human rights requirements had not been met.

Because the U.S. Congress is on its traditional August recess, the official announcement is expected in the first days of September.

Mexico is to receive a total of 420 million dollars in Mérida Initiative funds this year. With the aid disbursed on Dec. 3, the government purchased gamma ray inspection equipment, armoured vehicles, a document verification system and ballistic identification equipment.

Military abuses up

The National Human Rights Commission, a state body, registered 1,230 citizen complaints against the military in 2008 – for abuses including unwarranted searches, arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual violence – up from 182 in 2006.

The Defence Ministry's director general of human rights, General Jaime López, reported on Jul. 23 that since 2006, the army has sentenced 12 members of the military for human rights violations.

But the cases all date back to over a decade ago.

On Aug. 10, Mexico's Supreme Court upheld the jurisdiction of military courts to try troops accused of crimes against civilians, in relation to a March 2008 case in which an army unit opened fire on a vehicle carrying six unarmed civilians in the northwestern state of Sinaloa. Four of the men were killed.

Human rights organisations criticise Mexico's military justice system, which was described by Senator Leahy as "manifestly ineffective." Activists also complain about the lack of transparency with which the Defence Ministry's director general of human rights handles cases.

"Many organisations have asked the U.S. government to require evidence from the Mexican government that torture is not used, and to press for the creation of an independent mechanism for investigating these complaints," said Zúñiga.

For his part, Ramírez said "If military justice cases cannot be made public and there is no access to the files, it isn't easy to know if justice is being done."

The U.S. Congress decision coincided with the State Department's announcement that it was extending the Mexico travel alert until February 2010.

The new alert issued Friday says that "While millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year…violence in the country has increased. It is imperative that travelers understand the risks of travel to Mexico".