Colllateral Damage: State Department releases and withholds aid to Mexico

This is from our partners at Just the Facts, a joint project of the Center for International Policy, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, and the Washington Office on Latin America. 

This report points out the State Department is also required by Congress to come up with a "coordinated, multi-year, interagency strategy to address the causes of drug-related violence and other organized criminal activity in Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean." We can hardly wait to see that report!

State Department releases and withholds aid to Mexico: Last Friday, the Department of State released the report saying that the Mexican government has met the human rights requirements necessary to release $36 million in previously withheld Merida Initiative funds. These funds were initially appropriated by the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-32) and by the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Relate Programs Appropriations Act of 2010 (Division F of P.L. 111-117).

At the same time it released $36 million in funds to Mexico, the Department of State also announced that $26 million in aid for Mexico appropriated in the 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act would continue to be withheld until the Government of Mexico enhances the authority of the National Human Rights Commission, and limits the authority of military court cases involving abuse of civilians.

As brought up in the Washington Post last week, the decision to put the funds on hold "will have little practical effect, because U.S. and Mexican officials have barely begun planning how to spend it." The 2010 Supplemental also stipulates that these INCLE funds for Mexico "may be made available only after the Secretary of State submits a report to the Committees on Appropriations detailing a coordinated, multi-year, interagency strategy to address the causes of drug-related violence and other organized criminal activity in Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean." This report has yet to be submitted, therefore, the funds were technically already "on hold."

This is the first time the State Department has withheld Merida Initiative funds due to human rights concerns, and some human rights groups and non-profits view it as a positive step. However, many groups believe that all funds should have been withheld, including the $36 million from the 2009 Supplemental and 2010 Foreign Operations Acts. According to Nik Steinberg of Human Rights Watch, "Mexico is simply not meeting the human rights requirements. ... There are widespread and systematic abuses by the military, for which they have total impunity." Sept. 9, 2010