Promote Justice for Mexico and the Borderlands

Working to protect human rights in the heavily militarized mountain region of Guerrero, Mexico is never easy; and threats and harassment are not new for the Mexican human rights defenders who work for the Organization of the Me’phaa Indigenous People (OPIM) and the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights. But we have been alarmed to see a rise in threats against them because of their outspoken advocacy, including their accompaniment of two indigenous women, Inés Fernández Ortega y Valentina Rosendo Cantú, who were raped and tortured by soldiers in 2002.

As we mark International Women’s Day, we remember Esther Chávez Cano, a powerful champion for women’s rights who struggled to eradicate gender-based violence and whose efforts raised worldwide attention to the ever-growing toll of unresolved murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez.  

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sought to assure us all that human rights are a priority for the administration. Unfortunately, the policies in place to secure the U.S.-Mexico border have hardly been humane. That’s why Thursday, December 10th, Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) sponsored a showing of The 800 Mile Wall in honor of the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Director of The 800 Mile Wall, John Carlos Frey, is asking all the right questions of our U.S.-Mexico border.

"Do we need to spend billions of dollars on fencing and technology? Does it work? Should the thousands of migrant lives lost on U.S. soil be recognized and taken into account? Should we do anything about the deaths? Is there a solution?"

If you're wondering when the opportunity will arise to demand that our legislators begin asking these questions, the time is now!

Between the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Borderlands RAVE photo exhibit in the Senate, the border wall has loomed large in the minds of many this November.

As a final reflection for the month, Leslie Berestein of the San Diego Union-Tribune has called attention to another function of the fence: a place for artistic expression.

This year, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) gave its annual Human Rights Award to the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center from the state of Guerrero in Mexico. This award honors the bravery and dedication of organizations and individuals defending human rights in Latin America. 

LAWG has great respect for Tlachinollan’s work and we were moved by the beautiful words that Abel Barrera, the director of Tlachinollan, used in his acceptance speech. The following is an excerpt from that speech. To read the full speech click here. Para leer todo el discurso, haga clíc aquí.

On Friday, November 13th, some influential thinkers from both the United States and Mexico gathered at the Woodrow Wilson Center Mexico Institute to discuss how our two nations must begin Rethinking the U.S.-Mexico Border. 

The current model, as described by former Deputy Foreign Secretary of the Government of Mexico Andrés Rozental, is a system characterized by “irritation, inefficiency, illegality, and now, violence.” Moving forward, he stated, we need “cooperative solutions to shared problems.”

We have a real challenge with the Obama Administration. President Obama gets that we need to work together with the rest of the world. That’s great. But his administration hasn’t found its voice on human rights and backed up its words with action. They think that by mentioning more about human rights than the Bush Administration did, it is enough. So far, they haven’t been willing to actually change U.S. policy to support victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, even though they must do so if they want to become part of the solution, not the problem.

Across the world, individuals this week celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. While this anniversary reminds us of the historical significance walls have served as barriers to the flow of goods, ideas, and people, many individuals forget the current realities of a similar wall being constructed along our southern border.

As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on in DC every day than I could have anticipated.

They don't get it... yet.

Although we now have new leadership in Washington, they still don't understand what they need to do to stand up for human rights. They think that by saying more about the importance of human rights and democracy than the Bush Administration did, they are making progress. But we know that until they actually change U.S. policies to support victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, they will continue to be a part of the problem, not the solution.

Now, if we can get them to hear what we hear from people in Mexico and Colombia and know what we know, they might change their tune.

So, this month we are launching a "Human Rights NOW" campaign, which will use innovative tactics to get them to make human rights come first in U.S. policy.

Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are bringing national attention to a frightening dynamic developing along the U.S.-Mexico border. In spite of a large drop in immigration numbers, migrant deaths this year are threatening record increases!

As violence linked to organized crime in Mexico continues to mount and spending on a militarized approach to public security challenges expands, reports of human rights violations by members of the security forces are increasing. Policymakers in the United States and Mexico need to ask some hard questions about how to curb drug-related violence more effectively while respecting human rights. One answer includes a focus on improving and increasing accountability over police forces rather than drawing military forces into local law enforcement.

On September 17, 2009 LAWGEF joined with the Washington Office on Latin America and the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center to tackle these questions as part of a forum regarding police reform in Mexico.

Actions speak louder than words.

This seems like a simple concept. But lately, the Obama Administration and the State Department seem to have forgotten it when dealing with Latin America. Despite serious human rights abuses by Colombian and Mexican security forces alike, the State Department just went ahead and declared that both countries were meeting the human rights requirements needed in order to receive more U.S. military aid.

Click here to send a fax to Secretary of State Clinton asking her to stand up for human rights!

Do you remember Kevin Costner's blind determination in the movie Field of Dreams to build a baseball field based on the direction of a mysterious voice? Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has heard a similar voicing stating, "If you build it, they won't come."

He wants a 700-mile wall of pedestrian fencing built along the U.S.-Mexico border --a measure that will harm communities and the environment of the borderlands and do nothing to fix our broken immigration system. 

Click here to help to stop this latest attempt to expand on the failed policy of constructing more walls along our SW border.

We were disappointed and troubled to learn last week that the U.S. government had released the chunk of Merida Initiative funds that were supposed to have been withheld until the State Department reported that Mexico had demonstrated progress in key areas of human rights.

Soon after the news of the release was confirmed, the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, and the Fundar Center for Analysis and Investigation, three prominent Mexican human rights NGOs, released a public statement condemning the U.S. government’s action, as the “human rights obligations remain unfulfilled as Mexican security forces commit widespread, unpunished violations against the civilian population.”

As the media has been spinning many different stories about Merida Initiative funding, we've been glad to see fellow human rights advocates getting the truth out there.

In recent months the Washington Post has provided useful and hard-hitting coverage of some of the brutal tactics employed by Mexico’s military and the Mexican government’s failure to hold soldiers accountable for human rights violations.  However, on August 13th the Post’s editorial board published a disappointing op-ed arguing that U.S. government could best assist Mexico by turning a blind eye to these human rights violations. So earlier this week, Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, and Jorge G. Castañeda, the former foreign minister of Mexico, challenged this short-sighted assertion in a powerful letter to the editor.

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.

In recent years, thousands of military-style rifles and other firearms have been purchased in the United States and trafficked over our southern border, ultimately ending up in the hands of Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). If the U.S. is to hold true to its promise of being a good neighbor, we know that bold moves must be made to effectively stem this illicit flow of U.S.-sourced firearms into Mexico.  Yet the question arises:  What steps need to be taken to achieve this?

You and I know that military hardware isn't the solution to Mexico's challenges--and it sure isn't the way to acknowledge the United States' "shared responsibility" for spiraling drug violence. We need to act today.

Recent statements by congressional leaders and the Obama Administration indicate that Congress is poised to send hundreds of millions of additional dollars of counternarcotics assistance for Mexico, including helicopters, planes, and other hardware, as part of a supplemental appropriations bill.

Since 1994 the brutal murders of hundreds of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez and the city of Chihuahua in northern Mexico have been met with impunity.  Despite loud and persistent outcry from family members and human rights advocates across Mexico and around the world, authorities have consistently failed to adequately investigate, prosecute and prevent the murder and disappearances of countless women and girls.

Last week Representative Raul Grijalva (AZ-7) introduced HR 2076, The Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009.  The purpose of this bill is to restore the rule of law to the borderlands, protect communities, federal lands, and wildlife habitat from the destructive impacts of the border wall.

In just two days, President Obama will embark on his first official trip to Latin America as he travels to Mexico following a string of visits from high-level U.S. officials in recent weeks.  Comments made by visiting U.S. officials mark a shift in the U.S. stance towards Mexico’s challenges with drug cartels - a shift that indicates the Obama Administration’s willingness to recognize U.S. responsibility for spiraling violence in Mexico.  This sentiment was clearly expressed by Secretary of State Clinton when she said, “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade…Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”

Call or email President Obama and let him know that you support comprehensive immigration reform, humane border policy, and a new approach to Mexico that recognizes our country’s “shared responsibility” for violence plaguing Mexico.

Day after day we hear nightmarish stories of gangland slayings in Mexico, as drug-related violence expands, affecting the lives of countless families and communities across Mexico, as well as the U.S-Mexico border region. Mexico’s Attorney General estimates that rival drug cartels killed 6,262 people in 2008.

In the coming week, over 100 prayer vigils will be taking place in towns across the country – all calling for the new Administration and members of Congress to show moral courage and leadership in enacting humane immigration reform.

As Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) is being considered to serve as our next Secretary of Labor, the LAWG would like to salute Ms. Solis for her record of leadership in Congress to raise awareness and bring an end to brutal violence against women in Mexico and Guatemala.

Join us in urging the new Secretary of Homeland Security to commit to humane and sensible border policy!

I remember arriving to Ambos Nogales (Nogales, Sonora & Nogales, Arizona) in 1994. Dairy Queen Blizzard in hand, I walked by the crumbling mix of chain-link fencing and rusted metal sheets that bisected the downtown, with families from both sides of the border streaming through the ports of entry to go grocery shopping, celebrate a cousin’s birthday party, or attend church services.

Dear Border Advocates,

The Obama Administration and the 111th Congress will need our encouragement, and yes, our pressure, to take the next steps to build humane and accountable border policy, comprehensive immigration reform, and respect for human rights in Mexico.

The Obama Administration and the 111th Congress will need our pressure and encouragement to take the next steps to build just border policy and respect for human rights in Mexico.

When the Bush Administration and the U.S. Congress contemplated a dramatic expansion in counternarcotics aid to Mexico, also known as the Merida Initiative or Plan Mexico, the LAWG and partner U.S. organizations joined with Mexican human rights organizations to raise concerns and recommendations aimed at pushing the package away from support for Mexico's military, a force that has been linked to serious and ongoing human rights abuses, and towards measures that safeguard human rights, strengthen civilian institutions, and curb domestic drug demand.

 

This past Sunday, thousands rallied in Ciudad Juarez to call for peace in the wake of a recent surge of drug cartel-related violence. The U.S. needs to do its part as well, but the United States should not increase human rights violations by backing the army's role in domestic law enforcement.

The nature of transborder migration and human rights violations against migrants at Mexico’s southern border has received scant attention. The Forgotten Border: Migration & Human Rights at Mexico's Southern Border sheds light on the abuse and exploitation experienced by many transmigrants as they journey northward, as well as trends in Mexico’s practices regarding immigration and border enforcement policies.

In July former Congresswoman Solis, with ninety-three of her bipartisan colleagues, sent a letter to Mexican President Felipe Calderon asking him to step up investigations into the murders and disappearances of over 400 women and girls.

Anti-immigrant legislation and sentiment have sparked the return of the 1980's Sanctuary Movement.  The New Sanctuary Movement continues the tradition of standing up for human and immigrant rights in opposition to unjust policies.

Scapegoats details the use of scapegoats and the manipulation of the judicial system in Chihuahua, Mexico to resolve the spate of 410 women's murders there since 1993.

Troubling Patterns: The Mexican Military and the War on Drugs examines the human rights impact of the Mexican military’s growing role in the war on drugs. By analyzing 27 cases of human rights violations committed by the Mexican military during anti-drug activities, this study identifies distinct patterns of military abuse in carrying out counternarcotics missions.

 See Troubling Patterns.