US Embassy: The Embassy of the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide funding over the next three years to support local Mexican organizations working in the area of crime and violence prevention in Mexico. The funding is part of the Merida Initiative, a historic cooperation mechanism that acknowledges the shared responsibilities of the United States and Mexico to counter drug-fueled violence threatening citizens on both sides of the border.
USAID/Mexico is partnering with four local organizations to support crime and violence prevention efforts in Mexico. The work by these organizations will focus on two objectives: 1) Generating opportunities for at-risk youth to contribute productively in their communities; and, 2) Supporting efforts to facilitate the replication of successful crime prevention models through strategic partnerships. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label Merida Initiative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merida Initiative. Show all posts
Nov 11, 2015
Oct 22, 2015
A message to Mexico on abuses
mySA: The United States, in the interest of bilateral harmony, has been looking the other way too long when it comes to Mexico’s human rights abuses. That the State Department found it could do so no longer says something about our southern neighbor’s continuing slide into that morass under the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.
The U.S. is withholding only a fraction — $5 million — of the $195 million in Merida Initiative funding to aid in the fight against vicious drug cartels. This is meant to send a message that the United States will no longer take Mexico’s assurances on human rights at face value. Read more.
The U.S. is withholding only a fraction — $5 million — of the $195 million in Merida Initiative funding to aid in the fight against vicious drug cartels. This is meant to send a message that the United States will no longer take Mexico’s assurances on human rights at face value. Read more.
Oct 20, 2015
U.S. Cuts Off $5 Million in Security Aid to Mexico
WSJ: Signaling disapproval of recent human rights violations in Mexico, the U.S. government is withholding $5 million in funding for the country’s security and judicial system, officials have confirmed.
The money is a small fraction in funding that was to be disbursed by the State Department this year under the eight year old Merida Initiative, through which the U.S. Congress so far has appropriated more than $2.3 billion in aid earmarked to train and equip Mexico’s security forces and to improve its judicial system.
The money is a small fraction in funding that was to be disbursed by the State Department this year under the eight year old Merida Initiative, through which the U.S. Congress so far has appropriated more than $2.3 billion in aid earmarked to train and equip Mexico’s security forces and to improve its judicial system.
Aug 24, 2014
Mexico says 2012 attack on US Embassy vehicle was a "Crass" error
Borderland Beat: A 2012 incident in which Mexican federal police raked an armored U.S. Embassy vehicle with gunfire was the result of a “crass error” in judgment by the officers but was not an ambush ordered by organized crime, the nation’s top security czar said Wednesday.
In the Aug. 24, 2012, incident, federal police attacked a U.S. Embassy vehicle, riddling it with at least 152 rounds of assault weapons fire in what U.S. diplomats later termed an “ambush.”
The attack occurred along a mountain road southwest of the capital. Read more.
In the Aug. 24, 2012, incident, federal police attacked a U.S. Embassy vehicle, riddling it with at least 152 rounds of assault weapons fire in what U.S. diplomats later termed an “ambush.”
The attack occurred along a mountain road southwest of the capital. Read more.
Sep 20, 2012
U.S. Shifts Mexico Drug Fight
On Tuesday, the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the Mexican Chancellor Patricia Espinosa in the fourth meeting of the High-Level Consultative Group on the Merida Initiative. The meeting was used to endorse the relationship between the two countries, and recommend the new Mexican presidency to continue the strategy against transnational organized crime. This article below, published before their meeting, highlights changes in this U.S.-Mexico strategy over time, however, toward strengthening institutions of justice.
Wall Street Journal. Sept. 17, 2012. By Nicholas Casey. MEXICO CITY—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets her Mexican counterparts at a security summit in Washington Tuesday to discuss the next phase in the drug war: how to train the judges and prosecutors that will be trying suspected drug lords.
The Merida Initiative, the U.S.'s $1.9 billion assistance program to Mexico, began mostly as a means to buy military hardware like Black Hawk helicopters for Mexico. But over the past two years, it has entered a new phase, in which purchases for the Mexican military are taking a back seat to measures to mend the branches of Mexico's civilian government.
The former director of Colorado's penitentiary system has trained more than 5,000 Mexican prison officials in recent years. Mexican jurists are running mock trials with visiting American judges to prepare for a transition to oral hearings that will replace Mexico's enigmatic closed-door meetings where sentences are handed down.
"Different things have come to the fore at different times, but strengthening the rule of law in Mexico is the area that's crucial right now," says Roberta Jacobson, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
Officials in both countries increasingly believe the root of Mexico's problem lies in creating an honest police force, professional judges and a prison system comparable with that in the U.S. Read more.
Wall Street Journal. Sept. 17, 2012. By Nicholas Casey. MEXICO CITY—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets her Mexican counterparts at a security summit in Washington Tuesday to discuss the next phase in the drug war: how to train the judges and prosecutors that will be trying suspected drug lords.
The Merida Initiative, the U.S.'s $1.9 billion assistance program to Mexico, began mostly as a means to buy military hardware like Black Hawk helicopters for Mexico. But over the past two years, it has entered a new phase, in which purchases for the Mexican military are taking a back seat to measures to mend the branches of Mexico's civilian government.
The former director of Colorado's penitentiary system has trained more than 5,000 Mexican prison officials in recent years. Mexican jurists are running mock trials with visiting American judges to prepare for a transition to oral hearings that will replace Mexico's enigmatic closed-door meetings where sentences are handed down.
"Different things have come to the fore at different times, but strengthening the rule of law in Mexico is the area that's crucial right now," says Roberta Jacobson, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
Officials in both countries increasingly believe the root of Mexico's problem lies in creating an honest police force, professional judges and a prison system comparable with that in the U.S. Read more.
Aug 20, 2012
In Mexico’s murder city, the war appears over
Washington Post: By William Booth. CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — When this city was among the most murderous in the world, the morgue ran out of room, the corpses stacked to the ceiling in the wheezing walk-in freezers.
Medical examiners, in plastic boots, performed a dozen autopsies a day as families of victims waited outside in numbers sufficient to require a line.
For all this, Mexico has not made much sense of one of the most sensational killing sprees in recent history, which has left 10,500 dead in the streets of Juarez as two powerful drug and crime mafias went to war. In 2010, the peak, there were at least 3,115 aggravated homicides, with many months posting more than 300 deaths, according to the newspaper El Diario. Read more.
Medical examiners, in plastic boots, performed a dozen autopsies a day as families of victims waited outside in numbers sufficient to require a line.
For all this, Mexico has not made much sense of one of the most sensational killing sprees in recent history, which has left 10,500 dead in the streets of Juarez as two powerful drug and crime mafias went to war. In 2010, the peak, there were at least 3,115 aggravated homicides, with many months posting more than 300 deaths, according to the newspaper El Diario. Read more.
Jul 13, 2012
US Senate report challenges Mexico’s reliance on military to fight drug violence
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee says use of military in Mexico to combat drug violence has been largely ineffective. A report of theirs recommends Congress to provide at least $250 million a year for the next four for the Merida Initiative, which should include spending for judicial and police reform to prevent corruption and human rights violations.
AP: WASHINGTON — Mexico’s reliance on the military to combat widespread drug violence and crime has been largely ineffective and has led to increases in human rights violations, according to a congressional report released Thursday.
The majority staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which traveled to Mexico in April for extensive interviews with U.S. and Mexican officials, said in the study that the administration of President Felipe Calderon has made progress in confronting organized crime bosses, but the stopgap use of the military to pick up the slack for the police has had limited success.
“Heavy reliance upon the military to quell lawlessness and directly confront the narcotics syndicates appears to have been largely ineffective — and in some instances to have exacerbated the violence suffered by civilians,” the report said. Read more.
AP: WASHINGTON — Mexico’s reliance on the military to combat widespread drug violence and crime has been largely ineffective and has led to increases in human rights violations, according to a congressional report released Thursday.
The majority staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which traveled to Mexico in April for extensive interviews with U.S. and Mexican officials, said in the study that the administration of President Felipe Calderon has made progress in confronting organized crime bosses, but the stopgap use of the military to pick up the slack for the police has had limited success.
“Heavy reliance upon the military to quell lawlessness and directly confront the narcotics syndicates appears to have been largely ineffective — and in some instances to have exacerbated the violence suffered by civilians,” the report said. Read more.
May 25, 2012
Ciudad Juarez Mayor Says US Drug War Aid Package Failed His City
Fox News Latino: CIUDAD JUÁREZ, MEXICO - Hector Murguía, the outspoken mayor of this border city besieged by a five-year drug war, says the Merida Initiative, the $1.4 billion U.S. aid package intended to support Mexico's war on drugs, has failed to make an impact at the local level.
"We don't see any benefit of Merida," Murguía said from his third floor office, two blocks from the U.S. border with El Paso, Texas, one of the safest cities in the U.S.
The Merida Initiative, signed by Congress in 2008, stipulated that no money would be sent directly to Mexico, coming instead in the form of training and equipment.
The package also calls for Mexico to enact judicial reform, strengthen government institutions, respect human rights and the rule of law -- reforms that many argue have yet to occur.
"The U.S. is the biggest consumer of drugs and their aid package is not enough for us to do what they expect us to do, yet the American media is so critical of Juárez,” said a frustrated Murguía. “These people need to be more responsible and not criticize what they don’t know.” Read more
Apr 6, 2012
The Merida Initiative: Expanding the US-Mexico Partnership
The US Department of State recently published a document summarizing Merida Initiative efforts since 2008, claiming that "Based on principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, and respect for sovereign independence, the two countries’ efforts have built confidence that is transforming the bilateral relationship."
The document lists the four "pillars" of the project as:
1. Disrupting Organized Criminal Groups
2. Strengthening Institutions
3. Building a 21st Century Border
4. Building Strong and Resilient Communities
One of the Merida Initiative's more recent project is a 30-month Crime & Violence Prevention project that aims to "strengthen Mexico’s capacity to develop and communicate crime prevention policy at the federal, state, and community level." The document claims that the project will "Support to localities will assist with the design and implementation of crime prevention plans, urban and social planning, and community policing." See original
The document lists the four "pillars" of the project as:
1. Disrupting Organized Criminal Groups
2. Strengthening Institutions
3. Building a 21st Century Border
4. Building Strong and Resilient Communities
One of the Merida Initiative's more recent project is a 30-month Crime & Violence Prevention project that aims to "strengthen Mexico’s capacity to develop and communicate crime prevention policy at the federal, state, and community level." The document claims that the project will "Support to localities will assist with the design and implementation of crime prevention plans, urban and social planning, and community policing." See original
Dec 5, 2011
Merida Initiative: Clinton Urged To Press Mexico On Migrants' Safety
Fox News Latino: "A group of 33 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to pressure Mexico over the plight of Central American migrants and make respect for their human rights a key element of U.S. bilateral assistance.
"We believe that strengthening Mexico's efforts to evaluate performance and increase the accountability of its security forces, including the Federal Police and the INM (National Migration Institute) should be key elements of U.S. assistance to Mexico,"" read more
"We believe that strengthening Mexico's efforts to evaluate performance and increase the accountability of its security forces, including the Federal Police and the INM (National Migration Institute) should be key elements of U.S. assistance to Mexico,"" read more
Nov 9, 2011
Drug War: US official: Drug traffic may return to Caribbean
Well, now, let's see. The U.S. pushed the narcos out of the Caribbean and into Mexico and Central America. Now it may be pushing them back into the Caribbean. How is this a strategy? It sounds like the game of Whack-a-mole or, as they prefer to call it in Latin America, the cockroach effect. Whack 'em in one place and they just move to another.
Boston.com: "A top U.S. State Department official said Tuesday that drug traffickers may return to old Caribbean smuggling routes as law enforcement pressure builds against them in Mexico and Central America.
Boston.com: "A top U.S. State Department official said Tuesday that drug traffickers may return to old Caribbean smuggling routes as law enforcement pressure builds against them in Mexico and Central America.
William Brownfield, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement, said the Caribbean routes used to ship cocaine and other drugs in the 1970s and 1980s are the most logical for traffickers. Those routes led most often to South Florida but also to other Southern U.S. states. "I do not see it right now, but simple logic and common sense tells you that you probably are going to see it in the next two or three years," Brownfield said in an interview. "They are going to look for alternative routes."" read more
Oct 24, 2011
Mexico Drug War: U.S. advisory personnel behind the scenes in Mexico
From InSight Crime, a partial recap of publicly acknowledged U.S. advisory personnel behind the scenes in Mexico:
*More than 50 U.S. State Department personnel are reportedly facilitating the Merida Initiative inside Mexico. This is said to be more than double the old number of liaisons when U.S. assistance to Mexico's anti-trafficking effort was down around the $40-million-a-year level.
*Since July 20, 2009, hundreds of U.S. law enforcement officers have cycled through Mexico, teaching Mexican police in three-week shifts at a training center 450 miles south of the border.
*U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) personnel are in Mexico to help vet new military and federal police candidates and instruct Mexican Army special forces.
*NORTHCOM has reported steady sending of counter-insurgency training teams into Mexico, an average of 20 teams a year with 4 to 5 soldiers each, on short missions involving no field operations.
*U.S. military commanders are said to meet twice yearly with Mexican Army area commanders.
*In three Mexican states, elite anti-kidnap squads are trained by U.S. officers—and also by police specialists from Colombia.
*A stream of bi-national working groups moves through both countries.
*Allegations in the Mexican press that the U.S. had placed a special permanent intelligence official in Ciudad Juarez actually referred to an envisioned proposal, not an established fact.
*The U.S. has 12 consulates in Mexico, plus its massive main embassy in Mexico City, a block-wide fortress that is the largest U.S. embassy in Latin America. Three people connected to the U.S. Consulate in Juarez were murdered March 13, 2010, and a 500-person investigation effort then convened on the U.S. side of the border. When two ICE agents were attacked in northeast Mexico on February 15, 2011 (agent Jaime Zapata was killed; agent Victor Avila badly wounded), they were reportedly bringing security equipment to a consulate. U.S. reprisal for this attack came in the form of Operation Bombardier, working on U.S. soil against operatives of the attacking cartel, the Zetas, and bringing 676 arrests.
*An inanimate U.S. presence is also notable. In March 2011 it was acknowledged that for two years, at the request of the Mexican government, unmanned U.S. spy drones had been flying over Mexico, helping to track cartel gunmen.
Drug War: The Scorpion and the Frog: A New Phase in Mexico's Drug War
A detailed look at a change in Mexico's military strategy in the drug war, and its possible reflection of changes in the kind of aid provided by the U.S. through the Merida Initiative--providing intelligence support and counter-insurgency training.
InSight Crime: "The Mexican government has become more effective at hitting high level cartel targets, even while the U.S. has dragged its feet on handing over aid money from the Merida Initiative."
On October 12, Mexico saw its second high-level drug-lord arrest in eight days. And both arrests, on different sides of Mexico, came wrapped in the same snappy, tantalizing language. Official communiques called them "precision operations ... without a shot fired." The wording seemed to boast that as of mid-2011 something in the Mexican drug war had changed. These were not old-style mega-busts.
InSight Crime: "The Mexican government has become more effective at hitting high level cartel targets, even while the U.S. has dragged its feet on handing over aid money from the Merida Initiative."
On October 12, Mexico saw its second high-level drug-lord arrest in eight days. And both arrests, on different sides of Mexico, came wrapped in the same snappy, tantalizing language. Official communiques called them "precision operations ... without a shot fired." The wording seemed to boast that as of mid-2011 something in the Mexican drug war had changed. These were not old-style mega-busts.
The new-style arrestee on October 12 is "La Rana," the Frog (Carlos Oliva Castillo), who is said to be the third-highest leader of the Zetas cartel. His "precision" capture, in the northeast Mexican city of Saltillo, came as part of something called Operation Scorpion, whose sting hides a long history. Tracing the shadowy pedigree of Operation Scorpion illumines the drug war as a whole." read more
Oct 5, 2011
Drug War - Merida Initiative: Congress Testimony on Merida Initiative Points to "Terrorist" Cartels, Dropping Cocaine Prices
The Pan-American Post: "During a Congressional hearing on the Merida Initiative, Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) called once again for Mexican drug cartels to be formally designated as “terrorists.” “The drug cartels intimidate and coerce the civilian population, affect the conduct of the Mexican government and threaten the national security of the United States. This is the very essence of ‘terrorism,’” said McCaul during his opening statements for the Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.
McCaul first introduced legislation to designate the Mexican drug cartels “foreign terrorist organizations” in March. Since then the bill has stalled in Congress, and it’s likely to stay that way. If the U.S. government should list criminal syndicates like the Zetas alongside designated terrorist groups like the FARC and the AUC, it would create significant diplomatic tensions with Mexico. The other question is what would change, in terms of policy, if the U.S. began categorizing the Mexican cartels in such a way. "
McCaul first introduced legislation to designate the Mexican drug cartels “foreign terrorist organizations” in March. Since then the bill has stalled in Congress, and it’s likely to stay that way. If the U.S. government should list criminal syndicates like the Zetas alongside designated terrorist groups like the FARC and the AUC, it would create significant diplomatic tensions with Mexico. The other question is what would change, in terms of policy, if the U.S. began categorizing the Mexican cartels in such a way. "
Sep 12, 2011
U.S.-Mexico Relations: New U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Swearing In Remarks
Excerpt from New U.S. Ambassador to Mexico in Remarks
Mexidata Info: "Today, we are working together to address a series of daunting challenges to assure the well-being of the citizens of Mexico and the United States - issues ranging from public health to the environment, from natural disasters to crime and security. Indeed, our collaborative efforts to provide security for citizens and communities on both sides of the border through the Merida Initiative remain a central focus of our shared agenda."
Mexidata Info: "Today, we are working together to address a series of daunting challenges to assure the well-being of the citizens of Mexico and the United States - issues ranging from public health to the environment, from natural disasters to crime and security. Indeed, our collaborative efforts to provide security for citizens and communities on both sides of the border through the Merida Initiative remain a central focus of our shared agenda."
Aug 21, 2011
Merida Initiative to aid northern Mexico's fierce fight against drug cartels
Another piece of the Merida Initiative story comes to light. It's head, William Brownfield, says it will continue "regardless of who is elected president next year in Mexico." Has the U.S asked all possible candidates from all the Mexican political parties if they agree to this?
Also, the shift of the Initiative to the state and local level then makes sense as a tactical end run to enable the U.S. to remain involved "regardless of who is elected president."
These pillars are disrupting the capacity of organized crime to operate, enhancing the Mexican government's capacity to sustain the rule of law, creating a modern border structure (at land crossings, ports and airports), and building strong and resilient communities. Through the Mérida Initiative, the U.S. government seeks to help Mexico rebuild its police, judicial and corrections systems, a process that experts agreed will take time.
Brownfield said that the Mérida Initiative will continue regardless of who is elected president next year in Mexico. (AMB emphasis) "We will proceed and we will succeed. We have no choice," he said.
Aug 20, 2011
Merida Initiative: Texas Peace Officers to Train Mexican Law Enforcment
The Texas Tribune: This week Webb County (Laredo, Texas) Sheriff Martin Cuellar, brother of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Ambassador William Brownfield, the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Department of State and the Webb County Sheriff’s Department. It will pave the way for U.S. law enforcement officers to train local and state police officers in Mexico — the latest advancement of the Merida Initiative.
MexicoBlog Editorial: What's Behind the Merida Initiative's Move to Texas?
We have been wondering all week about the politics behind this week's announcements by the U.S. Department of State that the Obama administration is shifting the focus of the Merida Intiative from funding support of the Mexican federal government to fight the drug war to training Mexican state and municipal police.
We wondered even more what was going on when it was announced that a memorandum of agreement had been signed between the State Department and the sheriff's department of Webb County, Texas, to have the sheriff's department provide training to local Mexican law enforcement. We wondered: Why Texas? Well, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is now running for president. And we knew from an article written last year by our CIP colleague, Tom Barry, for the Boston Review, "At War in Texas," that the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition and Gov. Perry were working hand in hand to develop a "Texas model of border security,” with its own Department of Homeland Security. The projects of this state-county sheriffs' partnership are heavily financed with federal funds.
Then we wondered: why Webb County? We found that, according to its own website,"Webb County is located in Laredo, Texas." (We always thought that cities were located within counties, not the other way around.) Then with an article published yesterday in the (Austin) Texas Tribune, "Texas Peace Officers to Train Mexican Law Enforcement, the answer became clear as to why Laredo and Webb County had been chosen to be the new weapon in the Merida Initiative. The ariticle, written by Julian Aguilar, gives no hint that it is aware of the implications of what is being reported.
It identifies that the sheriff of Webb County is Martin Cuellar, the brother of U.S. Congressional Representative Henry Cuellar, a self-identified "Blue Dog" Democrat. According to his House of Representatives website, Cuellar - and his sheriff brother - are sons of Mexican migrant workers. The sons were born in Laredo, Henry in 1955. The immigration status of the parents is not stated. The 1950´s was the time of the "bracero" migrant program, which provided agriculture guest worker visas to Mexican laborers. Many migrants also worked without visas. In 1954, the Immigration Services implemented its mass deportation program "Operation Wetback." Over one million Mexicans, including Mexican-American citizens, were apprehended and deported. (see our History of Mexican Migration).
Rep. Cuellar is "the most highly educated member of the House of Representatives," with five degrees, including a B.S. from Gerogetown Univeristy's School of Foreign Affairs, an M.A. in international trade from Texas A&M and a doctor of laws and Ph.D. from the University of Texas. He was Laredo's representative to the Texas Legislature for fourteen years, from 1987 to 2001, when he became Texas Secretary of State. He was first elected to Congress in 2005.
His government website describes him as, "currently the Ranking Member of the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee in the House Homeland Security Committee. He believes in strong national security and homeland security efforts. Since coming to Congress, he's worked hand in hand with Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement to reinforce border security initiatives along the U.S. southern border with Mexico."
Rep. Cuellar's website also highlights his other major focus, international trade. "As Chairman and founder of the bi-partisan House Pro-Trade Caucus, Congressman Cuellar is widely regarded as a national trade expert in Washington D.C. Across Texas, businesses and communities alike applaud his support for the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement. As the largest exporter of goods in the nation, Texas currently grosses more than $100 billion a year by conducting trade with other nations." Most of that trade is NAFTA-created trade with Mexico, of which Gov. Perry is also very aware and actively promotes.
Regarding creating the relationship between the Merida Initiative and his brother's sheriff's department, Rep. Cuellar is quoted in the Tribune article as saying, "I’ve been talking to the State Department about this for quite a while. For three or four months we’ve been talking about this.”
The article then goes on to quote Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and self-described head of the Merida Initiative, Ambassador William Brownfield on the supposed logic behind the Obama administration's strategic decision to shift funding from the Mexican federal goverment to state and municipal police departments.
The article ends by quoting Rep. Cuellar on how this pork barrel is likely going to be shared throughout the Texas political world. "Additional agencies in Texas, including the Laredo Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety (read "Gov. Perry") and the Webb County District Attorney’s office, may also enter into an agreement and join in on operations. The U.S. State department will cover any expenses.”
We expect to see Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, who recently spoke of "Arizona's bountiful border," want to jump into this new border state/Merida Initiative pork barrel. Maybe, if Rick Perry gets elected president, she will become the second governor of Arizona to become Secretary of Homeland Security. And "Blue Dog" Democrat Heny Cuellar - well, maybe Secretary of State.
We wondered even more what was going on when it was announced that a memorandum of agreement had been signed between the State Department and the sheriff's department of Webb County, Texas, to have the sheriff's department provide training to local Mexican law enforcement. We wondered: Why Texas? Well, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is now running for president. And we knew from an article written last year by our CIP colleague, Tom Barry, for the Boston Review, "At War in Texas," that the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition and Gov. Perry were working hand in hand to develop a "Texas model of border security,” with its own Department of Homeland Security. The projects of this state-county sheriffs' partnership are heavily financed with federal funds.
Then we wondered: why Webb County? We found that, according to its own website,"Webb County is located in Laredo, Texas." (We always thought that cities were located within counties, not the other way around.) Then with an article published yesterday in the (Austin) Texas Tribune, "Texas Peace Officers to Train Mexican Law Enforcement, the answer became clear as to why Laredo and Webb County had been chosen to be the new weapon in the Merida Initiative. The ariticle, written by Julian Aguilar, gives no hint that it is aware of the implications of what is being reported.
It identifies that the sheriff of Webb County is Martin Cuellar, the brother of U.S. Congressional Representative Henry Cuellar, a self-identified "Blue Dog" Democrat. According to his House of Representatives website, Cuellar - and his sheriff brother - are sons of Mexican migrant workers. The sons were born in Laredo, Henry in 1955. The immigration status of the parents is not stated. The 1950´s was the time of the "bracero" migrant program, which provided agriculture guest worker visas to Mexican laborers. Many migrants also worked without visas. In 1954, the Immigration Services implemented its mass deportation program "Operation Wetback." Over one million Mexicans, including Mexican-American citizens, were apprehended and deported. (see our History of Mexican Migration).
Rep. Cuellar is "the most highly educated member of the House of Representatives," with five degrees, including a B.S. from Gerogetown Univeristy's School of Foreign Affairs, an M.A. in international trade from Texas A&M and a doctor of laws and Ph.D. from the University of Texas. He was Laredo's representative to the Texas Legislature for fourteen years, from 1987 to 2001, when he became Texas Secretary of State. He was first elected to Congress in 2005.
His government website describes him as, "currently the Ranking Member of the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee in the House Homeland Security Committee. He believes in strong national security and homeland security efforts. Since coming to Congress, he's worked hand in hand with Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement to reinforce border security initiatives along the U.S. southern border with Mexico."
Rep. Cuellar's website also highlights his other major focus, international trade. "As Chairman and founder of the bi-partisan House Pro-Trade Caucus, Congressman Cuellar is widely regarded as a national trade expert in Washington D.C. Across Texas, businesses and communities alike applaud his support for the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement. As the largest exporter of goods in the nation, Texas currently grosses more than $100 billion a year by conducting trade with other nations." Most of that trade is NAFTA-created trade with Mexico, of which Gov. Perry is also very aware and actively promotes.
Regarding creating the relationship between the Merida Initiative and his brother's sheriff's department, Rep. Cuellar is quoted in the Tribune article as saying, "I’ve been talking to the State Department about this for quite a while. For three or four months we’ve been talking about this.”
The article then goes on to quote Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and self-described head of the Merida Initiative, Ambassador William Brownfield on the supposed logic behind the Obama administration's strategic decision to shift funding from the Mexican federal goverment to state and municipal police departments.
The article ends by quoting Rep. Cuellar on how this pork barrel is likely going to be shared throughout the Texas political world. "Additional agencies in Texas, including the Laredo Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety (read "Gov. Perry") and the Webb County District Attorney’s office, may also enter into an agreement and join in on operations. The U.S. State department will cover any expenses.”
We expect to see Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, who recently spoke of "Arizona's bountiful border," want to jump into this new border state/Merida Initiative pork barrel. Maybe, if Rick Perry gets elected president, she will become the second governor of Arizona to become Secretary of Homeland Security. And "Blue Dog" Democrat Heny Cuellar - well, maybe Secretary of State.
Aug 19, 2011
U.S.-Mexico Relations: Deputy Secretary of State Roundtable With Mexican Media
Transcript of press conference held by William J. Burns, newly appointed Deputy Secretary of State, at the U.S. Embassy, Mexico City, Mexico, August 16, 2011. Many of the Mexican press´questions were about the recent New York Times revelation of increased U.S. government personnel in Mexico, the Fast and Furious scandal and the newly announced shift in the Merida Initiative to training state and municipal police forces.
U.S. Department of State: We also spoke about our efforts to provide security for citizens and communities on both sides of the border through the Merida Initiative. We share the responsibility to counter violence fueled by drugs. As Americans, we have to be honest about that responsibility and about the ways in which our drug consumption and the illicit flow of money and weapons across our southern border contributes to the enormous challenge that both of us face. We also have to be honest about the fact that neither of us can solve this problem alone. We have to work together. In the United States we are working to reduce the demand for drugs and halt the illicit flow of money and arms, and across Mexico we are supporting Mexican efforts to stem the flow of potential recruits for the cartels by giving young people constructive legal alternatives to activities that only devastate their communities.
U.S. Department of State: We also spoke about our efforts to provide security for citizens and communities on both sides of the border through the Merida Initiative. We share the responsibility to counter violence fueled by drugs. As Americans, we have to be honest about that responsibility and about the ways in which our drug consumption and the illicit flow of money and weapons across our southern border contributes to the enormous challenge that both of us face. We also have to be honest about the fact that neither of us can solve this problem alone. We have to work together. In the United States we are working to reduce the demand for drugs and halt the illicit flow of money and arms, and across Mexico we are supporting Mexican efforts to stem the flow of potential recruits for the cartels by giving young people constructive legal alternatives to activities that only devastate their communities.
The Border: 8th Border Security Conference examines benefits and dangers along the U.S.-Mexico borderline
Borderzine is a jounalism project of the University of Texas at El Paso designed to promote the developement of Latino journalist. Unfortunately, this article, reporting the 8th annual Border Security Conference, is absolutely uncritical of the propaganda that was presented by both U.S. and Mexican government officials featured at the conference. We would hope that Borderzine would be more than a mouthpiece for the drug warriors who pull Mexico and the U.S. deeper and deeper into the destruction of a “war on drugs” or the newly minted “battle against transnational criminal organizations.” Their blind adherence to such policies is based on the delusion that state power can control drug consumption and the market that inevitably arises to supply those drugs. Such insanity is doomed to fail and only produce more destruction of Mexico’s and the U.S’s civil society.
Borderzine: Under the umbrella ideal of fostering a new era of bi-national collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico, the University of Texas at El Paso was once again home to the annual Border Security Conference.
This two-day event marked the 8th straight year public officials, politicians, scholars and the general public gathered to share concerns, progress, and ideas pertaining to border security and how the border should meet 21st. century challenges.
The conference was a joint endeavor of the University and the Office of U.S. Representative Silvestre Reyes (D.,Texas).
Borderzine: Under the umbrella ideal of fostering a new era of bi-national collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico, the University of Texas at El Paso was once again home to the annual Border Security Conference.
This two-day event marked the 8th straight year public officials, politicians, scholars and the general public gathered to share concerns, progress, and ideas pertaining to border security and how the border should meet 21st. century challenges.
The conference was a joint endeavor of the University and the Office of U.S. Representative Silvestre Reyes (D.,Texas).
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