2 Responses to “Today’s Events”

1. Jen Says:
   June 6th, 2008 at 8:09 am

   LASC Position on the Merida Initiative
   June 2008

   As Congress enters the final stages to approve the Merida Initiative, an aid
   package to Mexico and Central America that seeks to further militarize the
   region
   under the guise of the U.S.’s “war on drugs/war on terror,” we find manifold
   reasons to stand in opposition:

   1) Money for Central America through the Merida Initiative would mark a
   significant
   increase in funding for military/police equipment and training in the region
   at a
   time when the need is for anti-poverty and crime-prevention programs.

   The Merida Initiative, also known as Plan Mexico, builds on the troubling
   model of
   Plan Colombia, which has poured billions of dollars into a failed military
   approach
   to combating drugs while doing little to address rural poverty and urban
   unemployment. Central America has already become a satellite for U.S.
   military and
   police training in Latin America, despite the poor human rights records of
   some
   governments in the region. With the opening of the International Law
   Enforcement
   Academy (ILEA) in 2005, El Salvador-already the second largest recipient of
   military training in the region-became the hub of police training. The ILEA
   has the
   capacity to train 1500 students per year, more than the current Western
   Hemisphere
   Institute for Security and Cooperation, also known as the SOA. U.S.
   officials
   refuse to acknowledge the corruption, misconduct and human rights violations
   committed by the Salvadoran police. To the contrary, the Merida Initiative
   now
   proposes to further support ILEA and further equip those police. Meanwhile,
   the
   Initiative wholly ignores the root problems that continue to compel regional
   involvement in drug trafficking-poverty and unemployment.

2. carl Says:
   June 10th, 2008 at 2:58 pm

   Here is a link to show you all the great job Mexico is doing with their military. The news link is in spanish, but I’ll give you guys an overview. The Mexican military had set up a checkpoint and 3 people in a car had mechanical problems and did not stop. The soldiers then fired upon the vehicle and killed all 3 people. When the police arrived the soldiers did not allow them to investigate. Furthermore, the soldiers surrounded the vehicle to prevent onlookers to see what occurred. The people in the car were not drug dealers and they had no possesion of drugs either. I think they were hiding something. Here is the link
   http://mx.reuters.com/article
   /topNews/idMXN0928029320080609