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.