This past March, Brenda Maldonado was locking up her store in this ramshackle mountain community when machine gun fire rattled out from a nearby military checkpoint, forcing her to dive for cover. When the smoke finally cleared, the 40-year old ventured out to view the carnage; the bodies of four young men lay lifeless in a white Hummer while the corpses of two soldiers were scattered across the road. But when troops searched the civilian victims, they found they were unarmed. The soldiers had apparently panicked at the speeding Hummer and attacked it from two sides, killing both the civilians and their own troops in the cross fire.
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But Soberanes concedes there does need to be better control of the armed forces. His office has recorded hundreds of accusations of soldiers and federal police beating and torturing people in their mission to fight the cartels. In one of the most gruesome incidents, soldiers are accused of detaining four teenage girls in Michoacan state, taking them to a military base with bags over their heads and then beating and raping them for three days until they were released along with threats not to go to the authorities.
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A group of U.S. lawmakers, moreover, asked that $1.6 billion aid package to help Mexico fight drug gangs be tied to guarantees by Mexico's government to work against corruption and human rights abuses. The package, called the Merida Initiative, is currently working its way through Congress and includes funding and high-tech military equipment. However, the legislators backed off after cries from Mexican officials that the demands on human rights constituted meddling by the United States, a position that has won widespread support in a nation that is especially sensitive of its sovereignty vis-a-vis its powerful northern neighbor. Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino said the conditions were "unacceptable" and that Mexico would not accept the American money if they were part of the deal. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff also chimed in, accusing the mostly Democratic lawmakers supporting the human-rights provisions of trying to scupper the initiative.
In a recent P/CP thread on the 1.6 billion aid package, conservatives (including myself) tended to support the "strings attached" while the more liberally inclined on this board opposed them. It was interesting to note in this article that it is largely Democratic congresscritters that have promoted the human rights provisions to which the Mexicans object. I stand (may lightning not strike me down) with the Democratic congresscritters for once - no human rights assurances, no aid.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: I_M_Qwerty,
I guess I would need that waxing also. If they want our 1.6 billion, they need to accept the condition. I mean, if they really had the innocents safety in mind, it would be a no brainer to comply.
