Activist groups nation-wide continue to rally against the travel ban. The Inter-religious Foundation for Community Organization/ Pastors for Peace’s annual U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan (video) successfully crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with 100 tons of aid bound for Cuba. Click here to see the press release about the crossing.
With the chaos following the June 28th coup and the shuttering of media outlets, it has been hard to learn about the state of human rights in Honduras. That’s why it’s so important to read the report that the Honduran Association of the Detained and Disappeared, COFADEH, released July 15t on the human rights situation in Honduras since the coup on June 28, 2009.
Outside the Base at Guantanamo Bay last week, the US Military and Cuban Frontier Brigade worked together in basic preparation for major disasters. This is not a new collaboration, but the Obama Administration opted to make the exercise public, in contrast to the previous Bush policy of keeping it secret. According to US Marine Corps General Jack Sheehan, the preparations are yet another sign of an “Incremental process” towards more cooperation. ''We've never advertised [the exercise]… because it was very controversial,'' he said. The Administration seems to be sending yet another “trial balloon,” with this announcement, following the talks on migration last week in New York.
The two neighbors are back at the negotiating table after a six year hiatus. Since President Obama pledged to relax travel restrictions for Cuban Americans in April, we’ve all been looking for signs of a next step from the administration.
These migration talks show a renewed willingness to engage in focused
discussions – one issue at a time. This limited engagement with Cuba
is part of a clear signal coming from Washington that diplomacy will
again be central to America’s foreign policy. And as Hillary Clinton
delivers a major speech this week at the Council on Foreign Relations
to outline her global priorities, Latin America has to be high on the
list.
“The Mexican army has carried outforced 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.
The coup deposing democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya that
took place in Honduras on June 28, 2009 has been condemned by the
Organization of American States and governments from around the
world --including the United States. Now the U.S. government needs to
stay on the right side of history and make its message unmistakable.
Will you take action to help ensure that the White House stands firmly
for democracy in Honduras and our Congress joins the deafening chorus
signaling, in no uncertain terms, that coups are a ghost of the past
and will not be tolerated?
*Please call your congressional representative. Tell her/him to support the Delahunt-McGovern House Resolution on Honduras!
“I urge all leaders in the Americas to see the Honduran crisis for what
it is: an urgent call for the profound social and institutional changes
our region has delayed for far too long.”
This is how Costa Rican President Oscar Arias closed his strongly
worded op-ed, which was published in the Washington Post on Thursday,
July 9th.
WOLA and LAWGEF would like to bring your attention to the July 9 Washington Post article “Mexico Accused of Torture in the Drug War: Army Using Brutality to Fight Trafficking, Rights Groups Say.” To read the full article, click here.
The article underscores the disturbing trend of the Mexican army carrying out forced disappearances, acts of torture, rape and illegal raids in pursuit of drug traffickers, as documented through interviews with victims, their families, political officials and human rights monitors. The growing number of military abuses is illustrated by amount of complaints received by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). During the first six months of 2009 the CNDH received over 2,000 complaints against the army, a dramatic increase from the 1,231 registered for all of 2008.
“In Puerto Las Ollas, a mountain village of 50 people in the southern state of Guerrero, residents recounted how soldiers seeking information last month stuck needles under the fingernails of a disabled 37-year-old farmer, jabbed a knife into the back of his 13-year-old nephew, fired on a pastor, and stole food, milk, clothing and medication.
In Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, two dozen policemen who were arrested on drug charges in March alleged that, to extract confessions, soldiers beat them, held plastic bags over their heads until some lost consciousness, strapped their feet to a ceiling while dunking their heads in water and applied electric shocks, according to court documents, letters and interviews with their relatives and defense lawyers.”
Impunity for these abuses remains the norm as Mexico repeatedly fails to hold members of the armed forces who commit human rights violations accountable, undermining efforts to strengthen rule of law, reduce violence and improve public security. A CNDH official notes that “army doctors covered up some torture cases by omitting physical evidence from medical reports before suspects were handed over to civilian authorities.”
Both WOLA and LAWGEF have called attention to the risks associated with continued deployment of the Mexican military in counter-narcotics and other public security tasks that should rightfully correspond to the civilian police. However, as noted in this article, the “U.S. government has encouraged and, in part, funded, Calderón’s risky strategy of using the army to fight the cartels…” To build success in the long term, remedies to drug-related violence in Mexico require strong, accountable police forces and civilian institutions and a robust judicial sector―with the support and trust of the civilian population.
In the upcoming weeks, the U.S. State Department will deliver to Congress a report on Mexico’s human rights record, as obligated by requirements included in the first two tranches of U.S. counternarcotics assistance package to Mexico, the “Merida Initiative,” including information on Mexico’s efforts to improve police transparency and accountability, ensure investigations into human rights abuses by the federal police and military, consult with civil society on the implementation of this aid package and enforce the prohibition of testimony obtained through torture. As noted in the article, approximately $90.7 million―fifteen percent of the counter-narcotics and military funds allocated to Mexico as part of the Merida Initiative’s first two installments―cannot be released until Congress accepts the State Department’s findings. This is apart from the $24 million subject to the 15% withholding included in the FY09 supplemental appropriations bill that President Obama signed on June 24.
WOLA and LAWGEF strongly urge members of Congress to carefully examine this report and other documentation regarding the lack of accountability for abuses perpetrated by the Mexican army, such as those detailed in this article, when considering release of these funds.
Well, it wasn't the ringing call for respect for human rights and freedom of expression that we longed for --that's for sure. But when President Obama met with Colombian President Uribe on June 29th, it was clear that he had been listening to our message on Colombia.
LAWG calls for the restoration of democratic order in Honduras,
including return of democratically-elected leader Manuel Zelaya and the
restoration of full civil liberties and freedom of the press.
Today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Honduran President
Zelaya and announced, following the meeting, that Costa Rican President
Oscar Arias has agreed to act as a mediator and has been accepted by
both President Zelaya and the leader of the de facto government,
Roberto Micheletti.
“But it has been my view for several days that the most useful role
we could play is to convince all that are directly concerned, not only
President Zelaya, but also the de facto regime, the OAS, the UN,
everyone, that we needed to have a process where the Hondurans
themselves sat down and talked to each other,” said Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton at the daily press briefing. “And that is –
that’s been my goal, and I believe that we are on the brink of that
happening. I’m hoping that it actually occurs soon. So we have tried
through our good offices to get people to this point. And we’re very
grateful for the willingness of President Arias to serve in this
position, and we’re also appreciative of the efforts of the OAS as
well.”
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