Jennifer Johnson

Torture, illegal raids, and forced disappearances carried out by government soldiers with no accountability. Is this what we want our government to be funding in Mexico? No.

Senator Patrick Leahy felt the same way.

If you want to support the effort to prioritize human rights in Mexico over military aid, click here.

A lot has been happening in Washington in the weeks since we covered the Washington Post article that exposed the forced disappearances, torture and illegal raids being carried out by the Mexican military as a part of the “drug war” and the practical impunity for soldiers who use these tactics. Concerned members of Congress have started asking more questions, so LAWG has been working with partner groups in the United States and Mexico to provide some answers. On July 16th, we circulated a joint public statement calling for Congress to withhold a chunk of funds designated for Mexico under the Merida Initiative, which they can only release once they accept a report from the State Department that documents the Mexican government’s efforts to meet four key human rights requirements.

      “The Mexican army has carried out forced disappearances, acts of torture and illegal raids in pursuit of drug traffickers, according to documents and interviews with victims, their families, political leaders and human rights monitors.”

In a detailed exposé published on the front page of last Thursday’s Washington Post, reporters Steve Fainaru and William Booth draw on testimonies from victims, their family members, political officials and human rights monitors to illustrate some of the brutal tactics that the Mexican Army has employed in its efforts to combat drug related violence. Horrific and heartbreaking stories from rural and urban communities, including Puerto Las Ollas, Guerrero and Tijuana, Baja California, are representative of too many of the abuses that have occurred.

Deeply concerned after learning of an assassination attempt against human rights defenders in Guerrero, including Margarita Martín de las Nieves, the Latin America Working Group, Human Rights Watch, the Washington Office on Latin America and Due Process of Law Foundation issued a letter to Ambassador Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, the Mexican Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, urging state and federal authorities to take immediate action to ensure the safety of Margarita Martín de las Nieves and fully implement security measures necessary to make certain that human rights defenders in Guerrero can safely carry out their work without fear of reprisals.  These protective measures include those agreed to by the Mexican government within the context of proceedings before the Inter-American system of human rights.