The MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative (also called Mexico Plan by critics, referring to the Colombian Plan) is a security cooperation agreement between the United States, the Mexican government, and the American states Central, with a stated purpose to combat the threat of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, and money laundering. It includes training, equipment, and intelligence.
In seeking partnerships with the United States, Mexican officials point out that drug trafficking is a common problem that requires a joint solution, and states that most of the financing for Mexican merchants comes from American drug consumers. US law enforcement officials estimate that US $ 12 to 15 billion per year flows from the United States to Mexican merchants, and that is only in cash and does not include money sent through wire transfers. Other government agencies, including the Government Accountability Office and the National Narcotics Intelligence Center, have estimated that Mexican cartels earn up to $ 23 billion per year in drug revenues from the United States.
US State Department officials are realizing that the willingness of former Mexican President Felipe CalderÃÆ'³n to work with the United States is unprecedented in issues of security, crime, and drugs. The initiative was announced on October 22, 2007 and signed into law on 30 June 2008. From FY2008 through FY2015, Congress took almost $ 2.5 billion for Mexico under the MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative, including 22 aircraft.
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Mexico remains a transit and not a cocaine production country. The production of marijuana and methamphetamine occurs in Mexico and is responsible for about 80% of methamphetamine on the streets of the United States, while 1,100 metric tonnes of marijuana are smuggled every year from Mexico.
In 1990, more than half of cocaine imported into the US came through Mexico. By 2007, it had risen to more than 90 percent, according to US State Department estimates. Although the violence between drug cartels had occurred long before the war began, the government used police forces in the 1990s and early 2000s with little effect. That changed on December 11, 2006, when newly elected President Felipe CalderÃÆ'³n sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of MichoacÃÆ'¡n to end the drug violence there. This action is considered the first major retaliation against cartel operations, and is generally viewed as a starting point for war between government and drug cartels. Over time, CalderÃÆ'³n continues to step up its anti-drug campaign, where there are now more than 25,000 troops involved.
During the reign of President Calderon, the Mexican government has spent about $ 7 billion USD in an 18-month campaign against drug cartels. It is estimated that during 2006, there were about 2,000 drug-related deaths, about 2,300 deaths during 2007; more than 3,725 people have died during 2008. Many of those killed were gang members who were killed by rivals or by the government, some of whom were observers. At least 450 police and army officers have been killed since January 2007.
However, crime reporting in Mexico has historically been very low and inconsistent. In January 2012 the Mexican government renewed its official count of 47,515 deaths since President Calderon began his military campaign against drug trafficking in 2006. Since crimes are rarely investigated there is no way of knowing whether these deaths are linked to organized crime, police, or cartels. Another report based on the Mexican census noted that 67,050 murders have occurred in Mexico from 2007 to 2010 alone. Also, there is consistent resistance from the Mexican government to release new and accurate public records on the issue of murder.
The National Narcotics Intelligence Center (NDIC) has noted that the availability of cocaine decreased in some US drug markets during the first half of 2007, largely due to a record 33.5 tons of cocaine seized by the Mexican Navy. However, it is thought that the major drug trafficking organizations are currently rearranging and re-adjusting to the new challenges facing their trade; as a result, the availability of drugs in 2008 has once again increased.
One of the new adaptations is the use of a homemade narco submarine; in 2006, US officials said they detected only three; now they find an average of ten per month, but only one in ten are intercepted. Another recent development is the consolidation of smaller drug trafficking organizations into strong alliances, increasing violence between groups vying to master narcotics trafficking into the United States. About 300 tons of cocaine is estimated to pass Mexico to the US each year.
Maps Mérida Initiative
Funding
The US Congress has now authorized $ 1.6 billion USD for a three-year initiative (2007-2010). The US Congress approved $ 465 million in the first year, which includes $ 400 million for Mexico and $ 65 million for Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. For the second year, Congress approved $ 300 million for Mexico and $ 110 million for Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Additional FY09 appropriations provide an additional $ 420 million for Mexico; and $ 450 million for Mexico and $ 100 million for Central America have been required for FY10.
However, only about $ 204 million from it will be for the Mexican military to purchase eight used transport helicopters and two small reconnaissance planes. No weapons are included in the plan. The bill requires that $ 73.5 million of $ 400 million for Mexico should be used for judicial reform, institutional development, human rights and rule-of-law issues. The bill stipulates that 15% of the funds will depend on Mexico making progress in four areas relating to human rights issues, and where the US Secretary of State should report periodically to Congress.
An additional $ 65 million was awarded to Central American countries (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama); The House of Representatives also includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic in this bill for Central America, a comprehensive public security package that seeks to address insecurity of Central American citizens by more effectively addressing criminal gangs, improving information sharing among nations, modernizing and professionalizing troop police, expanding the ability of maritime bans, and reforming the justice sector to restore and strengthen citizens' trust in these institutions.
Much of the funding will never leave the United States. It will be used for aircraft purchases, surveillance software, and other goods and services produced by US private defense contractors. Although this request includes equipment and training, this does not involve the transfer of cash or money to be given directly to the Mexican Government or its private contractors. According to US State Department officials, 59% of the proposed assistance will be provided to civilian agencies responsible for law enforcement, and 41% for operational costs for the Mexican Army and the Mexican Navy. While initial costs for equipment and hardware required by the military are very high, it is expected that future budgetary requests will focus more on training and assistance to civilian agencies.
In November 2009, the US had sent about $ 214 million of the promised $ 1.6 billion.
With the initiative MÃÆ'Â Â © rida set to expire on 30 September 2010, the US State Department has proposed major reforms and program expansion. If approved, starting in 2011, $ 310 million will be awarded to Mexico, $ 100 million for the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), and $ 79 million for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).
Tools
The MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative has provided funding for:
- Unobtrusive inspection equipment such as ion scanners, gamma-ray scanners, X-ray vans and canine units for Mexico and Central America.
- Technology to improve and secure telecommunication systems that collect criminal information in Mexico.
- Technical advice and training to strengthen judicial institutions, case management software to track investigations through systems, new offices of citizens' complaints and professional responsibilities, and witness protection programs to Mexico.
- Thirteen Bell 412 EP helicopters (5 with INCLE funds for Federal Police and 8 with FMF funds for military).
- Eleven UH-60 helicopter Black Hawk helicopter (three with INCLE fund for Federal Police and 5 with FMF funds for Mexican Air Force, and three for the Mexican Navy.)
- Four CASA CN-235 transport planes.
- One Reconnaissance Dornier 328JET
- Program equipment, training, and community action in Central American countries to implement anti-gang actions and expand the reach of these measures.
In March 2016, the initiative transferred 22 aircraft to the Mexican security forces.
Smuggling sms
The MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative includes $ 74 million to be assigned to an effort by the US government to stop the flow of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico, but important concerns remain about how this will be achieved. According to a Mexican government official, as many as 2,000 weapons enter Mexico every year and trigger an arms race between competing drug cartels. Since 1996, ATF has tracked more than 62,000 firearms smuggled into Mexico from the United States. However, the United States accounts for less than ten percent of all captured weapons, with traces only on weapons it deems likely to be from the United States.
Mexican government officials suspect that corrupt customs officials, on both sides of the border, are helping to smuggle weapons into Mexico; as reported by the ATF, the most common "tracked" weapons now include AR-type rifles, Kalashnikov derivatives, semiotomatic pistols, and various pistols and rifles. Also, there are occasions where grenade launchers are used against security forces and twelve M4 Carbines with M203 grenade launchers have been confiscated. It is believed that some of these high-powered weapons were stolen from US military bases.
An analysis of firearms tracking data by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for the past three years shows that weapons are being tracked to dealers in almost every state, as far north as the state of Washington, and that Texas, Arizona and California are the three most productive source countries, respectively, for firearms that are then illegally traded to Mexico.
Since 1996, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has tracked more than 62,000 firearms smuggled into Mexico from the United States. ATF officials reported that many firearms found and traced in Mexico came from US arms dealers, and about 55% of these weapons were identified as assault rifles. The Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, reported that only 18,585 firearms were seized by Mexican authorities traced to the United States in the last five years (2005-2009) of 66,028 firearms sent by Mexico to ATF for tracking. Mexico only propose firearms to track if it is believed that there is a high probability they are from the United States.
In the 2009 GAO report, DHS indicated that there were only 3,480 US weapons from 4,000 weapons tracked by the ATF of 35,000 firearms seized in Mexico between 2004 and 2008. Mexican officials handed out about 32% of the weapons they confiscated. to ATF for search. ATF is able to track less than half of the delivered weapons. In Mexico, authorities and journalists claim that most of the weapons come directly from the US. But according to unbelievable sources, Fox News, 83% -90% of weapons seized by Mexican authorities can not be traced.
ATF has computerized millions of arms sale transactions from dealer records "outside the business", and some sales reports, effectively creating a huge list of the de facto national weapons registry. If a firearm can not be found in a computerized record, the agent contacts the manufacturer or importer with make and serial numbers, then down to the supply chain by phone or on foot. ATF agents found that one in five Mexican weapons seized can not be traced.
In 2008, ATF received 2 million USD to assist in the expansion of Spanish-language eTrace software into Mexico and the Central American region to assist them with gun tracing issues, and their immediate goal was to deploy Spanish e-Trace software to all thirty a Mexican state. ATF has provided Mexico (and Colombia) with its own centrally managed search center, with direct access to records of US arms transactions managed by ATF National Tracing Center.
As more work is needed to ensure the weapons remain in the US, the US Senate proposes to stop smuggling now, which will enable Mexican law enforcement to combat drug trafficking more effectively. More importantly, it also took on the Mexican military role of the assigned law enforcement role.
ATF and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently implemented two enforcement initiatives named, Operación Armas Cruzadas (ICE) and Project Gunrunner (ATF), the latter of which is now the target of congressional inquiry. In early August 2008, the FBI was involved in 146 task force investigations, 12 of which were in Texas, aimed at drug trafficking groups and gang activities.
Criticism
The MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative is called "Plan Mexico" by critics, to show its similarity to Plan Colombia, where the United States has funded Colombian military, but cocaine production continues to rise and recorded a 27% increase in 2007, before declining in 2008 and 2009
The current plan will require Mexican soldiers accused of human rights abuses in their country to face civilian courts rather than military tribunals. In response, Mexican congressmen filed an objection because conditions requiring monitoring of human rights abuses were violations and violations of Mexican sovereignty, a point of particular sensitivity because Mexico was concerned in exercising its right to rule over its own country without any foreign intervention.. Mexican authorities are understood to be much happier with the last words of the package, which contain the phrase "in accordance with Mexican and international law" in at least three conditions relating to human rights.
The bill requires that $ 73.5 million should be used for judicial reform, institutional development, human rights and regulatory issues. There are already some who are concerned about the current number of human rights violations committed by the armed forces, about 800 in the first five months of 2008, doubling from the previous year. Most claims are filed for illegal offenses or searches; but some, albeit far less, are just as serious as rape and torture. More and more citizens are concerned that the Mexican military "is becoming too strong in the face of state weakness - a frightening reminder of a more repressive era." The use of CalderÃÆ'³n against soldiers in the fight against drug cartels has been questioned by human rights groups, but political analysts say troops are the only real choice in a country where as many as half the police can pay for drug gangs.
Some recent examples of Mexican paramilitary offenses include sexual assault and rape of dozens of female detainees by police in San Salvador Atenco, and the disappearance of dozens of teachers in the state of Oaxaca in 2006, as well as the killing of seven innocent people, including American journalist Brad Will by police not on duty. Nearly half of Mexico's police officers examined in 2008 have failed in background and security tests, a figure that has risen to nearly 9 out of 10 police in the border state of Baja California.
Others criticize ongoing support for fighting drug supplies rather than focusing on prevention, treatment and education programs to curb demand. Studies show that military bans fail because they ignore the root cause of the problem: US demand. During the early to mid-1990s, the Clinton administration ordered and funded a large cocaine policy study by the Rand Medic Policy Research Center; The study concluded that $ 3 billion USD should be diverted from federal and local law enforcement to treatment. The report says that treatment is the cheapest and most effective way to cut drug use. President Clinton's jail office refused to cut legal spending. The Bush Administration proposes spending cuts for drug treatment and drug prevention programs of $ 73 million, or 1.5%, in the 2009 budget. The 2011 National Drug Supervision Budget proposed by the Obama Administration will devote significant new resources for the prevention and treatment of abuse drugs.
Training of torture
Human rights activists and other policy groups criticized the Initiatives' lack of a strong framework for building institutions and the existence of forced recognition, often through the use of torture. In early July 2008, a video appeared from a city police officer from LeÃÆ'³n, Guanajuato, who was taught methods of torture by a US security company instructor; the video created a stir in Mexico, which has struggled to eliminate torture in law enforcement. It remains unclear how this event will affect the Médé de Initiative, as it can be used both to reinforce the need to train security forces on human rights or to undo the initiative altogether.
The training took place in April 2006 and lasted for 12 days. LeÃÆ'³n Mayor, Vicente Guerrero Reynoso, initially insisted that the training would continue, justifying training as a means of restraining torture under the abduction scenario. However, due to public furor and under pressure from federal and state authorities, he suspended the program.
A portion of the funds under the MÃ © Å © rida Initiative will be released only if the US Secretary of State reports that Mexico prohibits the use of testimonies obtained through torture, policies that are in line with Mexican law but are often unobserved..
Project Gunrunner
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Darrell Issa, said the Justice Department has "blood in their hands" for the Gunfunner ATF Project, which saw 2,020 firearms illegally purchased and shipped to Mexico under ATF supervision. US armed rights activists and other arms policy groups have referred to Project Gunrunner as an attempt to undermine weapons rights in the US and have called for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder.
In Mexico, Manuel J. Jauregui of the Reforma newspaper wrote, "In short, the gringo government has sent weapons to Mexico in a planned and systematic way, knowing that their goal is a Mexican criminal organization." Like many politicians, Mexican experts across the political spectrum expressed anger at the operating news. La Jornada, the left-leaning newspaper, asked "US: allies or enemies?" The paper also argues that the Mérida Initiative should be suspended immediately. A right slant paper accuses the US of violating Mexican sovereignty.
Progress
On July 10, 2008, the Mexican government announced plans to nearly double the number of Federal Preventative Police forces in order to reduce the role of the military in the fight against drug trafficking. The plan, known as the Comprehensive Strategy against Drug Trafficking, also involves clearing local police forces from corrupt officers. Elements of the plan have been mobilized, including massive police recruitment and training efforts aimed at reducing the country's dependence on drug warfare against the military. As part of the initiative, Mexico has received information about suspicious ships that leave ports in Colombia and Ecuador.
In August 2008, Mexico announced that two states, Chihuahua and Nuevo LeÃÆ'³n, pioneered a public court, in which the state should prove its case. Previously, the defendant bore the burden of proof, and the trial was confidential. The Mexican president hopes this will bring transparency and accountability to the legal process and to end the tradition of corruption, poor investigation, forced testimony, and a very low level of confidence.
Beginning in December 2008, the US released $ 197 million in aid to Mexico. Most of this aid will pay for helicopters and other equipment to fight violent drug cartels. In early 2009, the US government released another $ 99 million to be used to purchase aircraft and inspection equipment for the Mexican military. The US has so far spent $ 300 million of the $ 400 million adjusted for Mexico.
During the 5th US Summit in April 2009, leaders from several Caribbean countries declared to a group of US congress members that they had a desire to join the MÃÆ'Â © Initiative, as a crackdown in Mexico could encourage the operation of drug traffickers into the island nation. This directly leads to the establishment of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) as a complement to the Mérida Initiative.
Inaugurated as a six-year term in December 2012, Mexican President Enrique PeÃÆ' Â ± a Nieto has resumed US-Mexico security cooperation.
In March 2016, the US Congress continued to fund and oversee the Mérida Initiative and related domestic initiatives. Congress provided $ 139 million in the MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative account in FY2016 and is now considering FY2017 Government's budget request of $ 129 million for the Initiative MÃÆ' Â © rida. However, the Mexican government is under pressure to comply with recommendations on preventing torture and enforced disappearances. There are ongoing concerns about the human rights record of the Mexican military and police, especially in light of the mass kidnapping of Iguala in 2014 involving allegations of their involvement in torture, enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings.
See also
- Office of National Drug Control Policy
- The Coronado project
Regional:
- Plan Colombia
References
External links
- The official Mexican website for Merida Initiative
- MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative, US Department of State
- Conductive Capacity Country: Assessment of Mexican Political Institutions Since Merida Initiative Officials, Texas State University, J.P. Olvera
- Woodrow Wilson Center website MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative Comprehensive Portal featuring multiple resources
- The MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative and Citizen Security in Mexico and Central America from WOLA
- A Primer on Mexico Plans by Laura Carlsen from the American Program, International Policy Center - criticism of the MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative
- Mexico and MÃÆ' Â © rida Initiative - from Amnesty International
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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