Presidents Calderon and Bush (Source: US State Dept.)
This week the US Congress is slated to vote on the three year, $1.4 billion “Mérida Initiative” (also known as Plan México) which will appropriate $550 million to Mexico and $50 million to Central America. The initiative has been tagged to the Iraq supplemental bill and is part of the larger counter-terrorism/drug trafficking policy known as the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America) and is also closely tied to NAFTA.
The initial policy dialogues that have resulted in the Mérida Initiative began in a meeting held in March of 2005 between the three North American heads of state. Later in October 2007, President Bush announced the security aid package.
Of the funds allotted to Mexico, 40%, or some $205.5 million, will go towards military training and equipment. Another $112 million will go to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office and the criminal justice system.
While the initiative has been officially referred to as a program to curb drug trafficking and violence related to organized crime, many human rights organizations and even some Mexican judges from the Supreme Court have objected to the effects the initiative will have on the Mexican judicial system as well as the implications for political expression and sovereignty.
As a corollary to the SPP (which has been nicknamed “NAFTA on steroids”) the initiative has been linked to NAFTA as well. The Sub-Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs for the State Department, Thomas Shannon, has even stated that, “To a certain extent, we’re armoring NAFTA.”
For more information:
A Primer on Plan Mexico (Laura Carlsen, 05/05/2008)
Ten Easy Questions and Ten Tougher Ones Regarding the SPPNA (CIEPAC, 17/08/2008)
Stop “Plan Mexico” Before it Starts (Witness for Peace, 06/02/2008)
