Witness For Peace: More Money for Merida Initiative

Congress Plans to Double Plan Mexico Funding!

Congress took a step in the wrong direction by approving the Merida Initiative. The counternarcotics aid package, signed into law on June 30, includes $400 million for Mexico in 2008 and 2009, in addition to $65 million for Central America in 2008. While representing a significant reduction from Bush’s original $1.4 billion proposal, this approved version of the Initiative still pushes forward a dangerous, bullheaded approach to the US’s drug problem. So long as demand for drugs remains high in the U.S. and poverty remains high in Mexico, the drug trade will persist. While wholly ignoring these driving forces, the Initiative mimics the failed model of Plan Colombia: equip a foreign military to stamp out supply. Our partners in Mexico have named this increased militarization as a threat to human rights in Mexico, where security forces have brutally cracked down on civil society groups in Oaxaca and elsewhere. (Click here for more background on the Merida Initiative.)

Just after committing us to a senseless drug war in Mexico and Central America, some in Congress now appear poised to entrench us in it. This week the Senate appropriations committee revealed that the proposed 2009 foreign operations bill would throw $400 million more at Merida ($300m for Mexico; $100m for Central America). The House version would destine an even greater sum: $470 million. If passed as is, this bill would double Merida’s size, its waste of taxpayer dollars, and its threat to human rights. This headlong leap in the wrong direction can be prevented—Merida funding must be removed from the foreign operations bill.

Please call your representatives now to express your disappointment about the approval of Merida Initiative funding in late June. Ask them to speak and act against the inclusion of further Merida funding in the 2009 foreign operations appropriations bill. (Click here and scroll down for talking points.) To reach your representatives’ offices, 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).

While Witness for Peace denounces the lamentable approval of Merida funding, we applaud you for your calls to Congress, letters to the editor, and other persistent actions to oppose this ill-fated Initiative. Through your efforts, we have begun to spread awareness and amass a growing movement against the Initiative. This momentum will prove critical in blocking the funding requests pending for 2009. In the meantime, we will work with our partners in Mexico and Central America to track the spending of the already-approved $465 million and its impact on civil society.