A Primer on Plan Mexico

A Primer on Plan Mexico
The Bush Administration Has Put Its Proposal to Militarize Mexico to the Upcoming Iraq Supplemental Bill



By Laura Carlsen
Special to The Narco News Bulletin
May 5, 2008

On October 22, 2007 President Bush announced the $1.4 billion dollar “Mérida Initiative,” security aid package to Mexico and Central America. The initiative has fatal flaws in its strategy; instead of leading to a stable binational relationship and peaceful border communities, its military approach will escalate drug-related violence and human rights abuses.

Mexico and the United States face a joint challenge in decreasing transnational organized crime and they must cooperate to strengthen the rule of law and stop illegal drug and arms trafficking over the border. This misguided policy will result in an inability to achieve its own goals and will waste taxpayers’ money. It will also seriously undermine the U.S.-Mexico relationship and Mexican stability.

Soon the U.S. Congress will vote on the Initiative, popularly called “Plan Mexico.” The little-known appropriations request has been tagged on to the multi-billion dollar Iraq supplemental bill and has been presented as an unprecedented effort to fight burgeoning drug trafficking and violence related to organized crime in Mexico. But the “regional security cooperation initiative” goes far beyond cooperation in stopping the flow of illegal drugs. It would fundamentally restructure the U.S.-Mexico binational relationship, recast economic and social problems as security issues, and militarize Mexican society.

http://www.narconews.com/Issue53/article3093.html