Mexico must probe thousands of 'disappearances': UN

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Mexico must probe thousands of 'disappearances': UN

BY STEPHANIE NEBEHAY
GENEVA Fri Feb 13, 2015 12:15pm EST

(Reuters) - A United Nations watchdog called on Mexico on Friday to probe and prosecute alleged complicity of state forces in "disappearances", including a notorious case of 43 students believed murdered last year.

Mexico's delegation told the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances at a review last week that 11,300 people were unaccounted for. Amnesty International said in a statement that more than 22,600 had gone missing in the past eight years amid "a huge problem of impunity".

In their findings, the committee's 10 independent experts said they had received information that "illustrates a context of generalized disappearances in a great part of the territory (of Mexico), many of which could be qualified as enforced disappearances".

"Enforced disappearances" are those linked to detention or abduction by state agents such as police or security forces, or their allies, who conceal the victim's fate.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/13/us-mexico-violence-un-idUSKBN0LH1X720150213

[Judi Lynn]

1. 22,600 human beings vanished in 8 years. How could that be?

Wikipedia - Merida Initiative:

The Mérida Initiative (also called Plan Mexico by critics, in reference to Plan Colombia) is a security cooperation agreement between the United States and the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America, with the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering. The assistance includes training, equipment and intelligence.

In seeking partnership with the United States, Mexican officials point out that the illicit drug trade is a shared problem in need of a shared solution, and remark that most of the financing for the Mexican traffickers comes from American drug consumers. U.S. law enforcement officials estimate that US$12 to 15 billion per year flows from the United States to the Mexican traffickers, and that is just in cash, i.e., not including the money sent by wire transfers.[1] Other government agencies, including the Government Accountability Office and the National Drug Intelligence Center, have estimated that Mexico's cartels earn upwards of $23 billion per year in illicit drug revenue from the United States.[2][3]

U.S. State Department officials were aware that former Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s willingness to work with the United States was unprecedented on issues of security, crime and drugs,[4] so the U.S. Congress passed legislation in late June 2008 to provide Mexico with $400 million and Central American countries with $65 million that year for the Mérida Initiative. The initiative was announced on 22 October 2007 and signed into law on June 30, 2008.

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Funding

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Much of the funding will never leave the United States. It will go toward the purchase of aircraft, surveillance software, and other goods and services produced by U.S. private defense contractors. While this request includes equipment and training, it does not involve any cash transfers or money to be provided directly to the Government of Mexico or its private contractors. According to U.S. State Department officials, 59% of the proposed assistance will go to civil agencies responsible for law enforcement, and 41% to operational costs for the Mexican Army and Mexican Navy. While the initial cost for equipment and hardware that the military required is high, it is expected that future budget requests will focus increasingly on training and assistance to civil agencies.

As of November 2009, the U.S. has delivered about $214 million of the pledged $1.6 billion.[27]

With the Mérida Initiative set to expire on September 30, 2010, the U.S. State Department has proposed a major renewal and expansion of the program. If approved, starting in 2011, $310 million would be granted to Mexico, another $100 million for the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), and $79 million for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).[28]

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Torture training[edit]

Human rights activists and other policy groups criticize the Initiative's lack of a robust framework for institution building and the existence of coerced confessions, often through the use of torture.[64][65] In early July 2008, a video emerged of city police officers from León, Guanajuato, being taught torture methods by a U.S. security firm instructor; the video created an uproar in Mexico, which has struggled to eliminate torture in law enforcement. It is still unclear how this event will affect the Mérida Initiative, as it can be used both to reinforce the need to train security forces on human rights or to cancel the initiative altogether.[66][67][68]

The training took place in April 2006 and lasted for 12 days.[60] León Mayor, Vicente Guerrero Reynoso, initially insisted that the training would continue, justifying the training as a means of withstanding torture under kidnapping scenarios. However, because of the public furor and under pressure from federal and state authorities, he suspended the program.

A portion of the funding under the Mérida Initiative will be released only if the U.S. Secretary of State reports that Mexico bars the use of testimony that has been obtained through torture, a policy that is in line with Mexican law but often is not observed.[69][70]

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9rida_Initiative#Torture_training