To prevent passage of this senseless military package, we need to pressure our Congressional representatives NOW. Hearings will be taking place in Congress and members need to hear from us.

Taking action against the Merida Initiative is simple:

1. Call the office of your representative and ask that the representative oppose the Merida Initiative. Use the talking points below. To reach the office, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to your House or Senate member (give your state and zip code if you're not sure who it is).

2. Encourage key Congress members to take a stand against the Merida Initiative:

House:

Representative Elliot Engel (D-NY), Chair of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee: 202-225-2464

Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), Chair of the Foreign Affairs committee: 202-225-5021

Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chair of the Foreign Operations subcommittee: 202-225-6506

Senate:

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chair of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee: 202-224-2823

Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), Chair of the Foreign Relations committee: 202-224-5042

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Foreign Operations subcommittee: 202-224-4242

TALKING POINTS FOR OPPOSING THE MERIDA INITIATIVE

A. The initiative would not effectively combat drug-trafficking

The Merida Initiative would fail to have a lasting impact on drug trafficking for three key reasons:

1. Military interdiction efforts have a "balloon" effect. In Colombia, U.S. military efforts to stop coca production and trafficking in key locations have simply shifted production and trafficking to new locations. The resulting proliferation is evident: the number of coca-producing states in Colombia has jumped from 8 to 24 over the course of Plan Colombia. Plan Mexico would likely have the same effect on drug trafficking in Mexico, as well as creating more well-armed and sophisticated cartels.

2. The plan ignores a root cause of the problem: U.S. demand. Widespread drug use in the U.S. makes drug trafficking an estimated $23 billion a year business for Mexico alone. Colombia has taught us that so long as demand remains high, even a multi-billion dollar military solution will fail. Studies show that interdiction and enforcement models designed to stop supply are approximately 23 times less cost-efficient than domestic prevention and rehabilitation programs.

3. The Merida Initiative model fails to recognize poverty as a root cause of drug trafficking. Fifty million people in Mexico live in poverty, creating conditions for intense migration and powerful black markets. Minimum wage is barely five dollars per DAY, far short of assuring a minimum standard of living, and many people don't even make that. The U.S. has played a role in shaping this desperate reality through structural adjustment and trade policies under NAFTA that exacerbate unemployment and out-migration. As long as such poverty persists in Mexico, some Mexicans will turn to drug-running or production as an alternative for survival. As long as the U.S. implements policies that perpetuate Mexico's poverty, it will be working at odds with its own counternarcotics initiatives.

B. The initiative threatens human rights

Numerous Mexican and international human rights organizations have expressed concern that counternarcotics aid for Mexico's military and police constitutes a recipe for unchecked human rights violations. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that Mexico's fight against organized crime 'must be won in the courts, not in the streets' and warned that army participation in the drug war leads to increasing human rights violations among the civilian population.

Counternarcotics operations in Mexico have a recorded history of human rights abuses. Amnesty International reports that over the last decade it has documented "abuses committed by military personnel in counternarcotics operations in Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas and Coahuila." Espacio Civil, a civil society coalition comprised of 52 Oaxacan organizations, adds that in 2007 "the army committed severe human rights violations in their supposed counter-drug operations. We are concerned that the funding from the U.S. government will ultimately make this situation worse."

C. The initiative could likely be used to suppress legitimate political expression

Many Mexican groups fear, with good reason, that the US military hardware and training in the Merida Initiative would be used directly against citizens participating in acts of legitimate political expression. Mexican military and public security forces have consistently been deployed to stop and often brutally repress popular protest. Perhaps the most alarming example of late is the crackdown of the Oaxacan social movement that began with a teacher's strike in 2006. Federal and state security forces and armed snipers brought an iron fist down on the demonstrations, leaving a wake of human rights violations that include over 20 assassinations (including U.S. journalist Brad Will), and hundreds of arbitrary detentions, disappearances and torture. The cases against the security forces, which have been documented by Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, remain unresolved. Much of the money from the Merida Initiative would support the very security forces responsible for these violations and others.

Our representatives need to know what you now know. Please do not delay in contacting them. Thank you for calling for a more just U.S. policy toward Mexico.

Feel free to contact us for more information: defeatplanmexico@gmail.com