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Congress Holds 3rd Hearing on Mexico Foreign Policy Scheme
Opposition growing to Bush’s Proposed “Merida Initiative”
Will the Democratic Party and inside-the-beltway human rights organizations remain silent about its dangers?
Will the Democratic Party and inside-the-beltway human rights organizations remain silent about its dangers?
(May 8, New York/Maryland) Opposition to the President’s ebbing “Merida Initiative”, a scheme to give $1.4 Billion in military aid to Mexico’s police and military forces implicated in widespread human rights violations, has led to an extraordinary 3rd oversight hearing by Congress. On May 1st, the AFL-CIO, the powerful U.S. parent union, sent letters detailing their opposition and warning of the dangers of the pact to Democratic Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman and to Congressman Delahunt Chair of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, urging them to reject the Bush Administration’s request for military aid to Mexico. Yet critics questioned the witnesses Congress has called to testify on the Bush “security” plan as being uncritical boosters or vaguely indicating support under a pretense of concern and questions. Not a single opponent of the Merida Initiative has been called to testify.
“Labor organizations like the AFL-CIO and the US Steelworkers have demanded that Congress not fund this “Plan Mexico”, said Robert Jereski of Friends of Brad Will, likening it to the notorious failures of “Plan Colombia”. “We are extremely disappointed that a few inside the beltway human rights organizations have yet to issue statements against it.” Jereski went on to single out the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) , invited to testify today (for the second time), as providing cover for the Bush Administration’s militarized approach to foreign policy. WOLA has stated, “To be clear, we are neither for it nor oppose the initiative.”
Advocates are also troubled by another invited witness from the Creative Associates International Inc (CAII), which is linked to the former military dictatorship of Haiti and the drug-trafficking Contras of Nicaragua. In 2003, the company came under close scrutiny by Congress and the press for receiving its Iraq contracts without competitively bidding for them. The no-bid contract with CAII was one of a number of no-bid contracts benefiting U.S. corporations including Bechtel (which has been subcontracted by CAII to build schools), Halliburton, and others that profited from rebuilding in Iraq. Ninety percent of CAII funds come from USAID. USAID is a federal government agency that receives foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. “Congress must begin to exercise its independent oversight role by inviting a range of voices to explore potential ramifications for our foreign policy and the outstanding human rights violations in Mexico, including the murder of U.S. reporter Brad Will” said Harry Bubbins.
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) observed that the Merida Initiative had been ”concocted” under the “old war on drugs paradigm.” Calling for an effective approach to be explored, he declared “the Merida Initiative will never succeed.”
If Congress were to rubber stamp this scheme in the President’s waning days, U.S. foreign policy options would be severely curtailed for decades to come. The Merida Initiative would arm unaccountable, corrupt and brutal military and police; contribute to the erosion of civil liberties in one of our largest trading partners; increase violence and instability in Mexico; and waste U.S. taxpayer money to benefit a few connected military contractors.
“Instead of defending a largely ineffective human rights certification process and opining whether 80% or 65% of lethal aid is justified, advocates on the Hill must stand up and Just Say No to Plan Mexico” concluded Robert Jereski.
Friends of Brad Will is a nationwide network of activists, friends and family members of Brad Will, the U.S. journalist who was murdered by Mexican government paramilitaries in broad daylight in Oaxaca, Mexico in October 2006. Despite numerous eye witnesses and photographic/video evidence, no one has been held accountable. Friends of Brad Will has been educating, organizing, and pressuring the U.S. government to work on behalf of Brad Will and to reject the Merida Initiative. friendsofbradwill.org
Learn more about why/how you can take action on the Merida Initiative here: americas.irc-online.org/am/5118
******* *********** *************
OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE
Committee on Foreign Affairs
U.S. House of Representatives
You are respectfully requested to attend the following OPEN hearing of the
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, to be held in Room 2226 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Date:
Thursday, May 08, 2008
10:00 AM
Subject:
“The Merida Initiative”
witnesses:
Panel I
The Honorable Thomas A. Shannon
Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Panel II
Mr. Harold Sibaja
Regional Director, Alliance for Prevention
Creative Associates International, Inc.
Mr. Geoff Thale
Program Director
Washington Office on Latin America
“Labor organizations like the AFL-CIO and the US Steelworkers have demanded that Congress not fund this “Plan Mexico”, said Robert Jereski of Friends of Brad Will, likening it to the notorious failures of “Plan Colombia”. “We are extremely disappointed that a few inside the beltway human rights organizations have yet to issue statements against it.” Jereski went on to single out the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) , invited to testify today (for the second time), as providing cover for the Bush Administration’s militarized approach to foreign policy. WOLA has stated, “To be clear, we are neither for it nor oppose the initiative.”
Advocates are also troubled by another invited witness from the Creative Associates International Inc (CAII), which is linked to the former military dictatorship of Haiti and the drug-trafficking Contras of Nicaragua. In 2003, the company came under close scrutiny by Congress and the press for receiving its Iraq contracts without competitively bidding for them. The no-bid contract with CAII was one of a number of no-bid contracts benefiting U.S. corporations including Bechtel (which has been subcontracted by CAII to build schools), Halliburton, and others that profited from rebuilding in Iraq. Ninety percent of CAII funds come from USAID. USAID is a federal government agency that receives foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. “Congress must begin to exercise its independent oversight role by inviting a range of voices to explore potential ramifications for our foreign policy and the outstanding human rights violations in Mexico, including the murder of U.S. reporter Brad Will” said Harry Bubbins.
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) observed that the Merida Initiative had been ”concocted” under the “old war on drugs paradigm.” Calling for an effective approach to be explored, he declared “the Merida Initiative will never succeed.”
If Congress were to rubber stamp this scheme in the President’s waning days, U.S. foreign policy options would be severely curtailed for decades to come. The Merida Initiative would arm unaccountable, corrupt and brutal military and police; contribute to the erosion of civil liberties in one of our largest trading partners; increase violence and instability in Mexico; and waste U.S. taxpayer money to benefit a few connected military contractors.
“Instead of defending a largely ineffective human rights certification process and opining whether 80% or 65% of lethal aid is justified, advocates on the Hill must stand up and Just Say No to Plan Mexico” concluded Robert Jereski.
Friends of Brad Will is a nationwide network of activists, friends and family members of Brad Will, the U.S. journalist who was murdered by Mexican government paramilitaries in broad daylight in Oaxaca, Mexico in October 2006. Despite numerous eye witnesses and photographic/video evidence, no one has been held accountable. Friends of Brad Will has been educating, organizing, and pressuring the U.S. government to work on behalf of Brad Will and to reject the Merida Initiative. friendsofbradwill.org
Learn more about why/how you can take action on the Merida Initiative here: americas.irc-online.org/am/5118
******* *********** *************
OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE
Committee on Foreign Affairs
U.S. House of Representatives
You are respectfully requested to attend the following OPEN hearing of the
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, to be held in Room 2226 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Date:
Thursday, May 08, 2008
10:00 AM
Subject:
“The Merida Initiative”
witnesses:
Panel I
The Honorable Thomas A. Shannon
Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Panel II
Mr. Harold Sibaja
Regional Director, Alliance for Prevention
Creative Associates International, Inc.
Mr. Geoff Thale
Program Director
Washington Office on Latin America
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Mexican government paramilitaries exposed
The leader of the PRI in Oaxaca state, Jorge Franco Vargas, the former prosecutor Lizbeth Caña Cadeza and former director of the Ministerial Police Manuel Moreno Rivas, members of the first circle of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, created and led a group that was devoted to police persecuting opponents of local government and certain groups of drug traffickers, according to testimony contained in the preliminary investigations PGR/SIEDO/UEIS/057/08 and PGR/SIEDO/UEITA/047-08, which had access millennium.
Ulises Ruiz creó su propia brigada blanca
Miércoles 30 de Abril de 2008
El dirigente estatal del PRI en Oaxaca, Jorge Franco Vargas; la ex procuradora Lizbeth Caña Cadeza y el ex director de la Policía Ministerial Manuel Moreno Rivas, integrantes del primer círculo del gobernador Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, crearon y dirigieron un grupo policiaco que se dedicó a perseguir a opositores de la administración local y a determinados grupos de narcotraficantes, según testimonios contenidos en las averiguaciones previas PGR/SIEDO/UEIS/057/08 y PGR/SIEDO/UEITA/047-08, a las cuales tuvo acceso MILENIO.
De acuerdo con Luna, alias de un ex funcionario estatal oaxaqueño y ahora testigo protegido de la PGR, el nombre del grupo era Unidad Ministerial de Intervención Táctica (UMIT) y estaba conformado por agentes policiacos de diversas corporaciones que tenían la 'confianza' de altos funcionarios para realizar operaciones especiales durante las protestas de 2006 contra la administración estatal priista.
Luna fue testigo en mayo de 2007 del ingreso a las instalaciones de la Procuraduría de Justicia del Estado de dos personas, cuya descripción concuerda con Edmundo Reyes Amaya y Gabriel Alberto Cruz, los dos eperristas desaparecidos en 2006.
'Uno tenía los apellidos Pérez Amaya (sic) y días después se enteró de que eran miembros del EPR', se señala en el documento, y se precisa que 'esa detención la hizo el grupo dirigido por Pedro Hernández, subdirector operativo (de la Policía Ministerial), pero no supo adónde fueran canalizadas estas personas, aunque menciona que días después de la detención salieron de la procuraduría'.
Hernández, comandante con 28 años de labor policiaca en Oaxaca, se encuentra actualmente en el Centro Nacional de Arraigos, en la Ciudad de México, junto con su chofer, Ángel Cruz Reyes, y el agente Luis Edgar Toledo. La SIEDO los investiga por la desaparición de Reyes Amaya y Alberto Cruz, eperristas desaparecidos hace más de 11 meses, pero también por sus vínculos con la banda de Los Zetas.
Desaparece grupo especial
'Esa unidad a la que usted se refiere ya no existe. Desde que yo llegué al cargo ya no existe más', dijo ayer el actual procurador de Oaxaca, Evencio Martínez, consultado vía telefónica sobre las operaciones ilegales de la UMIT, señalada también en la averiguación como 'grupo de choque' y equiparada por uno de los agentes encargados de la investigación como algo parecido a la brigada blanca que participó en la guerra sucia de los años 70.
-¿Fue desaparecido este grupo porque actuaba irregularmente?
-No puedo hacer más comentarios.
-¿Ordenó usted investigar la actuación de este grupo?
- No puedo hacer más comentarios... estoy en una reunión con el gobernador.
Martínez asumió la titularidad de la Procuraduría de Justicia local en sustitución de Caña Cadeza, también implicada en la averiguación de la SIEDO. Según estos señalamientos, este grupo operaba en instalaciones policiacas conocidas como Los Pinos, que se encuentran en el municipio conurbano de Santa María Coyotepec. Algunos de los 500 simpatizantes de la APPO detenidos en Oaxaca en 2006 y 2007 declararon en diversas ocasiones que el lugar era 'un centro de tortura'.
Participación de Los Zetas
Además de ser señalado directamente por Luna en estos hechos, el ex secretario de Gobierno Jorge Franco Vargas es mencionado como jefe del 'comando' que secuestró el 5 de abril de 2007 a Jesús Eugenio Díaz Parada, hermano de Pedro Díaz Parada, capo oaxaqueño de la droga, detenido por la PGR el año pasado. El propio Jesús Eugenio, según se lee en la averiguación previa, asevera que Franco Vargas y el ex director de la Policía Ministerial Manuel Moreno Rivas fueron los autores del secuestro, que tuvo motivos políticos.
Díaz Parada -cuyas imágenes en cautiverio fueron difundidas en youtube.com- acusa a Franco Vargas de crear un comando armado y asegura que fue liberado por sus captores después de las elecciones de octubre pasado. En su declaración afirma que los captores, después de cobrar el rescate, lo dejaron -con los ojos vendados- frente a la iglesia de Xoxocotlán, un municipio cercano a la capital oaxaqueña.
Otros nombres de ex funcionarios que conforman la 'burbuja' del gobierno oaxaqueño también son mencionados en la averiguación. Se trata de Alejandro Barrita, ex director de la Policía Auxiliar, ejecutado recientemente en la ciudad de Oaxaca, y José Manuel Vera Salinas, actual jefe policiaco en Cancún, quien encabezó un fallido operativo de desalojo de un plantón magisterial el 14 de junio de 2006, que devino en protestas en la ciudad
Rostros conocidos
En los siete tomos de la indagación se incluyen fotografías de estos funcionarios. El rostro del dirigente priista, Franco Vargas, aparece en toda una página. Otras gráficas que también se anexaron corresponden a los comandantes Dublán Félix y Abel Morales, la agente 'Landeta', el kaibil 'Moreno Rivas' y varias mujeres, que pueden ser agentes ministeriales.
También se incluyen fotografías y declaraciones de Vicente Antonio Porras Cisneros, Mario Alberto Guerrero Carraman, Carlos Jesús Navarro Jiménez, Leocadio Miranda Rangel, Juan José López Gómez, Orlando Saucedo Rodríguez, Javier Méndez Suárez, Jesús Antonio Méndez Cruz, Jesús Ruperto Cantúa Badilla, Gerardo Nava Soto, Valentín Albañil Mendoza, Erick Ojeda Morales y Víctor Alfonso Jiménez Peña, todos arraigados actualmente y acusados de ser parte de Los Zetas.
En las averiguaciones no se hacen señalamientos contra elementos de la Policía Federal Preventiva, la Agencia Federal de Investigación, la Armada o el Ejército, corporaciones que también participaron en los operativos en la entidad sureña.
En 2006, una veintena de opositores a Ulises Ruiz murieron en las balaceras de manifestaciones, marchas y barricadas. Dos años después, ninguno de estos homicidios ha sido aclarado.