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 Editorials | Issues | June 2008 
U.S. House Approves Human Rights Rules for Mexico Anti-Drug Aid
 Nicholas Johnston - Bloomberg
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| | U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., poses for a picture with hostesses after the closing ceremony of a meeting between U.S. and Mexican lawmakers in Monterrey, northeastern Mexico, Sunday, June 8, 2008. (AP/Monica Rueda) | | |
The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation tying anti-drug assistance for Mexico to human rights safeguards.
The House voted 311-106 in favor of legislation requiring the Mexican government to certify that law enforcement authorities fighting drug cartels aren't involved in corruption or human-rights abuses.
The final aid language also will have to be approved by the Senate, where the certification requirement will probably be changed to "guidelines," said Senator Christopher Dodd.
"I don't have the details, but we're going to have something that is no certification," said Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, who met with Mexican officials over the weekend. He said the certification requirements were "highly offensive" to Mexico.
The administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon has rejected the certification condition, and U.S. President George W. Bush this month urged Congress not to tie the aid to "unreasonable" conditions.
Mexico is seeking U.S. assistance to curb a wave of drug- trafficker violence that has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,600 people this year, including the assassination of the country's acting federal police chief last month.
The House legislation calls for $1.6 billion in anti-drug assistance to Mexico over the next three years. It will have to be reconciled with a Senate version that allocates $912 million over two years.
The final language will probably be included in war spending legislation Congress is working to approve this month. Dodd said the human rights language in that legislation won't be a requirement but "guidelines that we all agree on."
`Huge Concerns'
Mexican officials had "big concerns, huge concerns" about the certification requirements and that including those provisions in the final language would imperil cooperation between Mexico and the U.S. in fighting the drug trade, Dodd said.
Mexican legislators who met with Dodd and eight other U.S. lawmakers over the weekend said they were pleased with what they heard from the U.S. delegation about toning down the certification language.
"They understood the words that accompany this initiative aren't acceptable words for the Mexican government, legislators and its people," Senator Rosario Green, a former foreign minister, said June 8. "There is good disposition to modify this language."
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3(at)bloomberg.net. |
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