Merida Initiative Needs Evaluation?

‘Mexico faces an arduous, long fight’
Engel says Merida Initiative has to be reevaluated.

 

Washington DC - The Mexican government faces an “arduous and prolonged fight” against drug traffickers, and it would be hasty to declare their strategy “ a failure,” Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the U.S. House of Representatives, told the news agency Efe on Thursday.

“It is an arduous and prolonged fight… I would not call it a failure yet, it is something difficult, and these drug cartels are fighting to the death and will, unfortunately, use everything within their means,” Engel said.

The congressman added that the Merida Initiative, a three-year long anti-drug plan with an investment of $1.4 billion, has to be reevaluated “in a year or two, to assess if it is the right way to go.”

Engel, who is well aware of the discontent of the Mexican population in regards to the increasing drug-related violence, defended the efforts of the government of President Felipe Calderón because, in his opinion, “he has invested a substantial amount of capital” in fighting drug trafficking.

According to Engel, President Calderón “is doing his best to prove to the drug cartels that they cannot try to take control of the country. I believe that we cannot judge his success immediately. This is something that will take time, but I do believe that the United States should give Mexico all possible support.”

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A U.S. Connection to the Juárez Student Massacre

Senseless Savagery: A U.S. Connection to the Juárez Student Massacre.

By: Billie Greenwood

All Voices

The U.S. corporations reap the profits; Mexico reaps the corpses.

Sixteen Mexican youth were gunned down at a high school party by multiple, heavily armed killers, who reportedly filed away in silence. A horrified world views photos of Sunday morning streets running red with innocent blood. And the neighboring United States watches silently, with widened eyes, wondering: "How do we respond to this? How should we respond?"

Clearly, violence in El Paso's twin city has escalated to an unbelievable level. Known in 2007 for the murder of women, the city of Juárez now claims a dubious record: first in the world in homicides per capita with 2,600 assassinations just last year. And with 227 assassinations already this year, 2010 stands a good chance of topping anything we've seen yet.

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Merida Initiative for 2010

U.S asks congress for 310 million dollars under Merida Initiative.

Washignton DC - On Monday, the United States Government solicited congress for the allocation of 410 million dollars to Latin America for the fiscal year 2011, starting October 1st. The money would be used to support counternarcotics efforts in Mexico and Central America under the Merida Initiative.

Deputy Secretary of State, Jacob Lew, noted in a press conference that Mexico would receive 310 million dollars and Central America the rest, manifesting the need to advance to the next stage of the Initiative.

“We are working very closely with the Mexican government”, he said, also indicating that there exists efforts to strengthen institutions and law enforcement while supporting activities that improve human rights.

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Who Answers to the Juarez Violence?

The Mexican Senate requests Galván and García Luna to answer to the massacre in Juarez.

The senators also call the Attorney General of the Republic, Arturo Chavez to explain what is the strategy for fighting organized crime after the massacre that occurred in Ciudad Juárez over the weekend.

Mexico City - The Standing Committee of the Congress observed a minute of silence in memory of the teenagers who were killed Sunday in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, by a group of armed commandos during a reunion to celebrate a football victory.

In response to the recent massacre in Ciudad Juárez and the deaths in Torreon, the Senate requested the immediate appearance before the committees of the Secretary of Defense General Guillermo Galván Galván, Navy Adm. Francisco Mariano Saynez Mendoza, the head of the PGR Arturo Chavez and Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, to explain the strategy in the fight against organized crime and to provide an assessment of their results.

The points of agreement that were approved but rejected by the political party PAN, were made by Senator Arturo Escobar, of the PVEM and the coordinator of the PT Ricardo Monreal.

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No Return No Deposit; Merida Initiative

Mexico City - Washington DC - Mexico is currently engaged in a vicious drug war that according to last year (2009) statistics, it is losing miserably. It has become a bloody conflict that has claimed the lives of 7,724 people throughout the country, 2,657 in Ciudad Juarez alone.

This drug war that is being waged in the streets of Mexico has cost the U.S. taxpayers $465 million so far through the Merida Initiative Agreement that was signed by former U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. So now, the United States has a stake in Mexico's brutal drug war for it will  provide $1.4 billion over the next three years .

On the surface it does not appear we are getting our return in our investment. It is fair to say that the $465 million has really not done enough to help reduce the violence that is crippling Mexico and the border cities like Juarez.

The crime statistics are not good enough results to merit the continual of blind spending, because if we look real closely, we can see that the violence is beginning to cripple Juarez. I am starting to believe that the U.S should not spend another dime until the U.S. makes an assessment on why the Mexican government has failed to slow down the violence.

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U.S. gives Mexico 5 Helicopters

US gives Mexico 5 helicopters to aid drug war.

Associated Press

U.S. Assistant to the President Barack Obama for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John O. Brennan, left, and U.S. Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr. watch a helicopter during a ceremony in Mexico City, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009. The U.S. government has given Mexico five helicopters to use in its fight against drug cartels.

MEXICO CITY—U.S. officials delivered five helicopters to Mexico on Tuesday to help the country in its fight against drug cartels.

The aircraft are part of more than $604 million worth of vehicles and equipment that the U.S. plans to give Mexico in the coming months.

"The helicopters that we are handing over today are very important substantively and symbolically in our cooperation, but they are only a part of the chain of many important milestones in meeting these challenges," said John Brennan, assistant to President Barack Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism.

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Going Beyond Security to Strengthen U.S.-Mexico Relations

Laura Carlsen

Mexico is the United States' closest Latin American neighbor and yet most U.S. citizens receive little reliable information about what is happening within the country. Instead, Mexico and Mexicans are often demonized in the U.S. press. The single biggest reason for this is the way that the entire binational relationship has been recast in terms of security over the past few years.

From a neighbor and a trade partner, Mexico has been portrayed as a threat to U.S. national security. Immigrants are no longer immigrants, but criminals, "removable aliens," and even potential terrorists. Latinos, mostly Mexicans, are now the largest group of victims of hate crimes in the United States.

Although Mexico-bashing has been a favorite sport of the right for years, this terrible conversion of Mexico, from an ally to a "failed state" and narco-haven in the media and policy circles, began in earnest under the Bush administration and has only intensified since then. The Merida Initiative and the militarization of Mexico are the direct outgrowth of the national security framework imposed on bilateral relations.

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U.S. Gives Mexico Keys to Open Border and Amnesty

San Diego County Political Buzz Examiner

Congressman calls for investigation on Sutton and House of Death

Mexico’s culture of corruption is synonymous with the drug dealers, Federales as well as the government. It is no secret business south of the border is handled with a greasy handshake full of money, but what’s surprising to most Americans are the major trade deals cut to benefit our neighbor to the south.

Why has America bent over backwards to create free trade and open borders with such an uncooperative neighbor? What has Mexico given up for the sake of our benefit? Still thinking? It could take awhile.

Mexico is a country filled with natural resources. There is plenty of fertile land for crops, it lays claim to a massive amount of oil and contains thousands of miles of sandy beaches for tourists to frolic on. So why does this country, so close to the successes of its North American neighbor continue to stagnate in corruption and remain an oligarchy?

For the meantime America is the sole superpower. But unlike the past, American administrations have made mistakes and those blunders translated into some bad deals for the American people.

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