Civil Rights Defenders from this country ask that military assistance to
Mexico be suspended
Jim Cason and David Brooks, Correspondents, Washington, March 18
A group of religious leaders, human rights activists and an indigenous
leader from the United States met with high level officials in the White
House and the State Department to express their concerns about the current
situation in Chiapas and to ask that the United States suspend its
military assistance to Mexico.
The meetings coincide with a series of legislative hearings this week,
during which it is expected that questions will be presented about the
"final use" monitoring of the helicopters and other anti-drug equipment
authorized to Mexico and Colombia by the United States, stated
Congressional sources. These meetings also will be held when the Senate
is considering its position regarding the certification of Mexico.
"We demand that the United States government conduct a full investigation
of the type of military assistance that is being sent to this part of the
world", stated Milo Yellowhair, vice president of the Oglala Lakota
Nation, United States indigenous people. In an interview with La Jornada,
Yellowhair said that, in the name of 455 indigenous groups of North
America, he was offering their solidarity to those of Mexico.
Another member of the delegation, Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of
Detroit, stated that the United States is the principal provider of
weapons to Mexico. "Ostensibly they are for the war against drugs, but we
believe that that they are being used against the Mexican people", he
stated. The delegation was meeting with the Latin American director of
the National Security Council James Dobbins, with the director of the
office of Mexican Affairs in the State Department, John Leonard, and in
the next few weeks with the coordinator of human rights of the State
Department and with officials within the office of anti-drug czar Barry
McCaffrey.
The delegation, added Gumbleton, in addition is asking for the suspension
of the provision of the 53 remaining helicopters promised to the Mexican
Army as part of a pack of anti-drug assistance.
Reverend Lucius Walker, from Pastors for Peace, added that his
organization considers that the United States was "directly involved" in
covert activities to destabilize Mexico, and he also referred to
contingency plans within the Pentagon which propose US open military
operations in this country.
When various reporters asked Walker and the other members of the
delegation about evidence, they offered a 41 page document with
compilations of US and Mexican press reports, but they did not provide
other proofs.
When a reporter stated that the Department of State has reiterated that it
has "final use" monitoring procedures for all of this type of equipment,
Walker stated that they were not adequate because they depended
principally on reports by the Mexican government. "This is like allowing
the fox to make a report about how he is guarding the henhouse", he stated
ironically.
This week, various legislators are preparing a series of questions about
U.S. military assistance to anti-drug efforts in Latin America, within
the context of the yearly debate about the budget for these programs. La
Jornada has learned that members of the Senate Appropriations Committee
has developed a list of questions regarding the transfer of the U.S.
helicopters to Mexico and Colombia.
Some want to promote more assistance for Colombia, but various Democrats
and Republicans have questioned the effectiveness of the monitoring of the
equipment sent to Mexico. "There is going to be a debate about this",
stated one advisor, but warned that the general accusations presented
today by the delegation which was meeting with government officials
possibly was not the most effective form for generating this debate.
In fact the Department of State has ordered its embassies to intensify the
monitoring of the equipment provided to various countries, to ensure that
it is not associated with human rights abuses. Amnesty International and
other humanitarian organizations have asked the government of the United
States to ensure that this equipment not be used to violate citizens'
rights.