Stop "Plan Mexico" Before it Starts

Say NO to the Merida Initiative

Witness for Peace, Mexico

February 6, 2008

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Tomorrow, the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the House of Representatives will hold a hearing on the Merida Initiative, popularly known as Plan Mexico. The initiative would destine 1.4 billion dollars to Mexico over a two to three year period, with the stated purpose of fighting drug trafficking and organized crime.  The requested $500 million of funding for this year is dominated by $206 million worth of military aircraft and $133 million of drug interdiction equipment and training. 

We at Witness for Peace know that arming foreign militaries will not solve our drug problem, a fact now painfully obvious in Colombia. After eight years and over five billion dollars of Plan Colombia, the massive anti-drug experiment has failed remarkably. The single goal of U.S. drug policy in Colombia was to see a 50 percent reduction in the production of coca, the raw material for cocaine. Today there is as much coca growing in Colombia as there was the year Plan Colombia began.  There is no reason to believe that sending helicopters to stop drug traffic in Mexico will work any better than sending helicopters to stop drug production in Colombia.  Let's learn from our mistakes instead of repeating them.  (For further background and analysis please see our recent alert and the talking points below.)

TAKE ACTION NOW! 

To prevent passage of this senseless military package, we need to pressure our Congressional representatives NOW. This week is an especially strategic time to do so, given the House hearing on the initiative tomorrow.  (Of course, pressure will be needed beyond this week as well.)   

Taking action against the Merida Initiative is simple:

1.    Call the office of your representative and ask that the representative oppose the Merida Initiative. Use the talking points below. To reach the office, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to your House or Senate member (give your state and zip code if you're not sure who it is).

2.    Encourage key Congress members to take a stand against the Merida Initiative:

House

• Representative Elliot Engel (D-NY), Chair of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee: 202-225-2464
• Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), Chair of the Foreign Affairs committee: 202-225-4695
• Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chair of the Foreign Operations subcommittee: 202-225-6506

Senate

• Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chair of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee: 202-224-2823
• Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), Chair of the Foreign Relations committee:   202-224-5042
• Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Foreign Operations subcommittee: 202-224-4242

Talking Points for Opposing the Merida Initiative

A. The initiative would not effectively combat drug-trafficking

The Merida Initiative would fail to have a lasting impact on drug trafficking for three key reasons:
 
1.    Military interdiction efforts have a "balloon" effect.  In Colombia, U.S. military efforts to stop coca production and trafficking in key locations have simply shifted production and trafficking to new locations.  The resulting proliferation is evident: the number of coca-producing states in Colombia has jumped from 8 to 24 over the course of Plan Colombia.  The Merida Initiative would likely have a parallel effect on drug trafficking.  As stated by the Centro Pro, a national human rights organization in Mexico City, "History has proven time and time again that such law enforcement efforts merely divert trafficking routes, creating a geographic shuffle of social and criminal problems."

2.    The Merida Initiative ignores a root cause of the problem: U.S. demand.  Widespread drug use in the U.S. makes drug trafficking a lucrative business.  Colombia has taught us that so long as demand remains high, even a multi-billion dollar military solution will fail.  Even the right-wing RAND Corporation has concluded that far-flung attempts to stop drugs at their source is 23 times less cost effective than domestic drug treatment at home.  Yet, according to the current budget, the Merida Initiative destines a mere three percent of its funds to state-side drug demand reduction programs. 

3.    The Merida Initiative model also fails to recognize poverty as another root cause of drug trafficking.  Fifty million people in Mexico live in poverty, creating conditions for intense migration and powerful black markets. Minimum wage is barely five dollars per DAY, which is by all standards unlivable, and many people don't even make that. The U.S. has played a role in shaping this desperate reality through structural adjustment and trade policies that have exacerbated unemployment and added to the cost of living for many.  So long as such poverty persists in Mexico, some Mexicans will continue to choose drug-running as a lucrative alternative to migration or unemployment.  So long as the U.S. implements policies that perpetuate Mexico's poverty, it will be working at odds with its own counter-narcotics initiatives. 

   B. The initiative further threatens human rights

Numerous Mexican and international human rights organizations have expressed concern that counter-narcotics aid for Mexico's military and police constitutes a recipe for unchecked human rights violations.  According to Centro Pro, "Past experience has shown policies like the Merida Initiative to be financially costly and to broaden the mandate of military operations, violating the human rights of civilians, all the while failing to achieve sustainable gains in human security."  At root is the fact that counter-narcotics operations in Mexico have a recorded history of human rights abuses.  Amnesty International reports that over the last decade it has documented "abuses committed by military personnel in counter-narcotics operations in Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas and Coahuila."  Espacio Civil, a civil society coalition comprised of 52 Oaxacan organizations, adds that in 2007 "the army committed severe human rights violations in their supposed counter-drug operations. We are concerned that the funding from the U.S. government will ultimately make this situation worse.

C. The initiative could likely be used to suppress legitimate political expression

Many Mexican groups fear, with good reason, that the US military hardware and training in the Merida Initiative would be used directly against citizens participating in acts of legitimate political expression.  Mexican military and public security forces have consistently been deployed to stop and often brutally repress popular protest.  Perhaps the most alarming example of late is the crackdown of the Oaxacan social movement that began with a teacher's strike in 2006.  Both federal and state security forces brought an iron fist down on the demonstrations, leaving a wake of human rights violations that include over 20 assassinations (including U.S. journalist Brad Will), hundreds of arbitrary detentions, and torture. The cases against the security forces, which have been well documented by Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, remain unresolved in Mexico. A sizeable portion of the money from the Merida Initiative would support the very security forces responsible for these violations. Many in Oaxaca fear that with this support, legitimate protest in Mexico will continue to be answered with repression.

Our representatives need to know what you now know.  Please do not delay in contacting them.  Thank you for calling for a more just U.S. policy towards Mexico.  Feel free to contact the Mexico team with questions (mexico@witnessforpeace.org). 

WFP Mexico
Witness for Peace
202-547-6112
www.witnessforpeace.org