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 Americas & Beyond | June 2008 
Mexico Anti-Drug Bill Stirs US Congress
 Lara Jakes Jordan - Associated Press
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| | U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy ( D-VT) uses a chart to illustrate how gasoline dollars are divided up while listening to oil company executives testify about the rising cost of gas prices before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, May 21, 2008. (Reuters/Larry Downing) | | |
The White House accused lawmakers Tuesday of "sabotaging" a sweeping aid package that would help Mexico fight drug traffic and violence before it crosses the U.S. border.
In sharp remarks to reporters, drug policy director John Walters called on Congress to approve $500 million to Mexico to equip and train police and army units to combat drug cartels — but without prohibiting any aid from going to Mexican authorities accused of human rights, corruption or other criminal violations.
Some lawmakers, including Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., insist on the conditions that Mexico calls an infringement on its sovereignty.
"These provisions are counterproductive — they risk sabotaging this opportunity," Walters told reporters. "It needs to stop."
He added: "When we add provisions that ask another country in order to be a partner to do things that are unconstitutional in a democratic regime ... it's misguided and could be potentially destructive."
At issue is the so-called Merida Initiative, a three-year, $1.4 billion commitment by the United States to bolster Mexico's fight against drug traffickers and violent gangs. The Bush administration maintains the package will help halt drugs and gangs from crossing the border into the United States.
But Congress, already grappling with aid requests for refugees in Darfur, Myanmar, Iraq and elsewhere across the globe, says $500 million is too much — especially if the aid ends up in corrupt hands. The House has agreed to spend $400 million on aid to Mexico, while the Senate's plan calls for $350 million, according to a congressional aide.
Mexico's police have long struggled with corruption, and soldiers carrying out a nationwide battle against drug trafficking have been accused of humans rights violations, including rape and torture. Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora says problems are isolated.
Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations panel that approves funding for foreign operations, has said taxpayers should expect their money to be protected from abusive police or military forces.
"Congress is not the White House's ATM machine," Leahy said in a statement Tuesday. "Ensuring that our tax dollars are spent effectively and in accordance with basic human rights is the least that Congress and the taxpayers have a right to insist on."
Michele Leonhart, acting chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration, joined Walters in calling for the aid package. "We can absolutely put these cartels out of business," she said. "And doing that requires tools."
Walters denounced a "cartoon view" of Mexican President Felipe Calderon's administration as "fighting and dying in order to get U.S. money so they can violate human rights."
"That's insulting and a grotesque lie," Walters said. "I don't think any serious person believes that. And if somebody is making an argument on the basis of that cartoon, it's about time we said stop it. There's something serious at stake here."
Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report. |
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