UPDATE: Congress Plans to Double Plan Mexico Funding! Act Now!
In late June, Congress took a step in the wrong direction by approving Plan Mexico, otherwise known as 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.
The Senate appropriations committee has revealed that the proposed 2009 foreign operations bill would throw $400 million more at the "Merida Initiative". The House version would destine an even greater sum: $470 million. If passed as is, this bill would double the size of the package, its waste of taxpayer dollars, and its threat to human rights.
Continue to sign on below and ask your representatives to speak and act against the inclusion of further funding for the "Merida Initiative" in the 2009 foreign operations appropriations bill.
"The Merida Initiative is characterized by a lack of a human rights perspective, a human security approach that mistakes the security of states for the security of human beings...It is time for the international community to stop supporting short-sighted policies such as this one."
- Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center
On October 22, 2007, President Bush submitted the "Merida Initiative", popularly known as Plan Mexico, to Congress. The initiative would destine $1.4 billion dollars to Mexico and Central America over a three year period, with the stated purpose of fighting drug trafficking and organized crime. The requested $500 million of funding to Mexico for 2008 is dominated by $206 million worth of military aircraft and $133 million of drug interdiction equipment and training. Most of these resources will go to the Mexican Armed Forces and police forces.
We know that arming foreign militaries will not solve our drug problem - a fact now painfully obvious in Colombia. After eight years and over six billion dollars of Plan Colombia, the massive counternarcotics experiment has failed. The goal of U.S. drug policy in Colombia was to see a 50 percent reduction in the production of coca, the raw material for cocaine. Today there is as much coca growing in Colombia as there was the year Plan Colombia began, and the flow of illegal drugs to the U.S. continues unabated.
There is no reason to believe that a new “war on drugs” centered on interdiction and enforcement will work any better in Mexico. But the long-term potential damage of a policy that militarizes Mexican society, increases drug-related violence, and creates a climate for violation of human rights and civil liberties is evident. The Merida Initiative includes no money for rehabilitation, addiction, prevention or public education.
The Merida Initiative grew out of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of NAFTA. The talks were carried out with no public participation and even now the administration has not released details of the initiative. Hailed as a major step toward “regional security cooperation”, the initiative targets crackdowns on drug trafficking in Mexico without concrete commitments in the United States to reduce demand, eliminate corruption, prosecute money laundering, or reduce contraband of illegal arms. This is an approach that lacks real co-responsibility, entails high risks and has already been proven ineffective.
Let's learn from our mistakes instead of repeating them.
Sign on now to the call to defeat the Merida Initiative. Discuss these talking points and plans of action in your organization and join the coalition to block funding for a failed drug war model that extends military force, erodes democracy and wastes U.S. taxpayers' money.
Individual Sign On
(click here for our organizational endorsement page)
0-25 of 616 signatures
Number
Date
Name
Location
Comments?
616
November 16, 2009
ron jones
parker, CO
615
November 15, 2009
katherine love
fairbanks, AK
614
November 09, 2009
Anonymous
Milwaukie, OR
613
October 17, 2009
Anonymous
, CA
612
September 02, 2009
peter pisano
sanford, FL
611
August 31, 2009
Rob Davenport
,
610
August 30, 2009
Mariel Posadas
,
609
August 28, 2009
Luis Posadas
Lincoln, NE
608
August 28, 2009
Luis Posadas
Lincoln, NE
607
August 13, 2009
Amanda Riley
Lincoln Park, NJ
606
August 08, 2009
Tim Marroquin
Albuquerque, NM
605
August 04, 2009
Caroline Coleman
Fresno, CA
604
July 28, 2009
Anonymous
Saint Louis,
603
July 13, 2009
Pallavi Agarwal
Mercer Island, WA
602
June 16, 2009
Anonymous
North Attleboro, MA
601
June 11, 2009
Dinah Stanley
Los Angeles,
I am writing to register my opposition to the funding of the "Mexico Plan" ,or the Merida Initiative, which earmarks millions of US dollars to arm foreign militaries. This will not solve our drug problem - a fact now painfully obvious in Colombia. Today there is as much coca growing in Colombia as there was the year Plan Colombia began, and the flow of illegal drugs to the U.S. continues unabated.
There is no reason to believe that a new “war on drugs” centered on interdiction and enforcement will work any better in Mexico. But the long-term potential damage of a policy that militarizes Mexican society, increases drug-related violence, and creates a climate for violation of human rights and civil liberties is evident. The Merida Initiative includes no money for rehabilitation, addiction, prevention or public education.
Most importantly, the root causes of the massive drug trade with the US must be addressed...THE INSATIABLE APPETITE Of THE AMERICANS FOR DRUGS!!! Spend the money on addressing the root problems of drug use in our own country...poverty, education, and drug treatment resources, public education etc. Or better yet, legalise drug use which will take all the air out of the illicit drug trade all together
600
June 11, 2009
Dinah Stanley
Los Angeles,
I am writing to register my opposition to the funding of the "Mexico Plan" ,or the Merida Initiative, which earmarks millions of US dollars to arm foreign militaries. This will not solve our drug problem - a fact now painfully obvious in Colombia. After eight years and over six billion dollars of Plan Colombia, the massive counternarcotics experiment has failed. The goal of U.S. drug policy in Colombia was to see a 50 percent reduction in the production of coca, the raw material for cocaine. Today there is as much coca growing in Colombia as there was the year Plan Colombia began, and the flow of illegal drugs to the U.S. continues unabated.
There is no reason to believe that a new “war on drugs” centered on interdiction and enforcement will work any better in Mexico. But the long-term potential damage of a policy that militarizes Mexican society, increases drug-related violence, and creates a climate for violation of human rights and civil liberties is evident. The Merida Initiative includes no money for rehabilitation, addiction, prevention or public education.
Most importantly, the root causes of the massive drug trade with the US must be addressed...THE INSATIABLE APPETITE Of THE AMERICANS FOR DRUGS!!! Spend the money on addressing the root problems of drug use in our own country...poverty, education, and drug treatment resources, public education etc. Or better yet, legalise drug use which will take all the air out of the illicit drug trade.
599
June 09, 2009
angie weese
Aurora, OH
598
June 01, 2009
Maureen Moodie
Berkeley, CA
597
May 26, 2009
Anna Karewicz
, IL
596
May 21, 2009
Stefanie Bórquez
Chulavista, CA
595
May 13, 2009
Beebe Giudice Jonathan
, CA
594
May 07, 2009
jeff hopkins
Lindenhurst, IL
593
May 06, 2009
Victor Quintana
Chihuahua, Chih,
592
May 05, 2009
Dolores Parra
Land O Lakes, FL
Innocent people in Mexico are getting killed because they happen to be in the middle of a cross fire between drug dealers. This drug dealers cross the border to buy thousands of dollars in powerful weapons to defend their business against the Mexican government that also gets thousands of thousands of dollars from the US to fight the drug dealers. Arm dealers are happy to sell thousands of dollars in arms and the drug dealers are happy selling their drug in the U.S. each time more expensive as it is dangerous to produce and sell.
Now that the drug cartels are controlling an important part of the US border-northern-Mexican states, the US government will probably start to consider my point of view. I will send you information about what a group of judges and other American citizens are trying to do on the same line.
The following is a text I sent to some of my friends.
----------------------------
Please help stop the violence, our families in Mexico, Colombia, and the rest of Latin America are suffering under the grip of the drug mafias. American citizens can help the world and we have the responsibility to do so. Thank you,
Dolores
-----------------------------------
Consider sending a petition to your representatives. You can use the following to help you write your own.
As your constituent, I would like you to represent my demand that congress reconsiders drug legalization in order to stop the trafficking and the madness of violence that comes with it.
All we have to do is learn a lesson from 75 years ago in America's history, back in December 1933, when our leaders had the good sense to stop spending so much money on the ineffective prohibition of alcohol in the midst of the Great Depression.
During alcohol prohibition, gangsters like Al Capone were using illegal booze profits to run rampant in our cities. Today, in addition to dealing with violent domestic gangs, we are also under attack from international cartels and terrorist networks like Al Qaeda, who make huge amounts of money off of drugs they would not if drugs were legal and therefore a lot less expensive.
Today, we spend tens of billions of dollars a year arresting, prosecuting and locking up far too many Americans under this generation's failed prohibition policy, the "war on drugs." And at the same time we are failing to collect important tax revenue from a legal drugs industry and market.
With history in mind, it is high time we should be judging the merits of our drug policy - which seems to hurt countless innocent citizens and help only violent criminals and traffickers all over the world. To do so, it would require that we first have a true accounting of all its costs, economic and human as well.
That's why I'm writing to urge you to support the creation of blue ribbon commission that can take a serious look at the real cost of continuing our ineffective approach during a time of economic crisis. The results of a comprehensive review, I believe, will make it crystal clear that under our limited budgets, prohibition is a failed drug control policy that we just can't afford any longer.
It is obvious that banning has not helped reduce production, consumption or trafficking instead it has made it a big business. Latin American countries suffer the worst of the evils of this special interest business. Right now, Mexico is on the verge of becoming a failed state.
Please take a look at what the recently formed Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, an initiative backed by former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, is proposing about this issue. Thanks in advance for your attention to this important matter.
