Impunity Watch: North America

Mexican Journalists Continue to be Victims of Murder, Torture, and Disappearance

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

ACAPULCO, Mexico - Juan Martinez Gil, a lead reporter on the evening radio news in the state of Guerrero, was found beaten, bruised, and buried in a shallow grave.  Authorities say that Martinez Gil died of asphyxia.  He had been missing since Monday.  Martinez Gil is the sixth journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year. 

Family and friends of the slain journalist say they have "absolutely no" confidence in any investigation undertaken by the justice officials in the state of Guerrero.   The death of a  reporter who was shot to death in 2007 was dismissed by local authorities as being the result of "personal problems".The police in Guerrero have said that they have no leads or ideas about motives in the case.  They assume the death is related to organized crime because it was done with such "brutality".

On Tuesday, federal agent Jose Ibarra, who had been investigating the death of another Mexican Journalist, was shot at his home in Ciudad Juarez. Ibarra was investigating the death of Armando Rodriguez,  a crime reporter for the newspaper El Diario who was killed on November 13th outside his home in Ciudad Juarez. 

Mexico continues to be considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).  CPJ's annual survey found that 17 journalists have been murdered in the last 18 months, 12 of them in 2009 and five this year. In the first six months of the year, there were 147 reported acts of aggression against reporters and the media, including 14 kidnappings.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon supports legislation protecting freedom of press in Mexico.  A new bill in this area was approved by the Mexican Chamber of Deputies in April, but has stalled in the Senate. 

The International Press Institute Director has called on Mexican officials to investigate and bring those responsible for crimes against journalists for justice.  "This seemingly never-ending cycle of impunity is not only damaging to press freedom in Mexico, but also undermines confidence in the government's ability to uphold other fundamental human rights."

A spokesperson for the Manuel Buendia Foundation talks about the dangers that journalists in Mexico Face.

(Video Courtesy of HUB.witness.org)

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune - Newscaster Tortured, Killed in Southern Mexico - 31 July 2009

International Press Institute - Tortured, then Murdered: Journalist Found in Shallow Grave Near Acapulco, Mexico - 30 July 2009

Los Angeles Times - Mexico Police Figures Slain in Separate Attacks - 30 July 2009

AP - Mexican Radio Journalist Found Dead in Acapulco - 29 July 2009

Earthtimes - Another Journalist Killed in Mexico - Year's Total is Six - 29 July 2009

Rights Groups Finds "Grim Outlook" Regarding Security Crisis in Jamaica

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 

Jamaica has the highest rate of police killing in the Western Hemisphere.

(Photo Courtesy of BBC)

KINGSTON, Jamaica -A new report by Amnesty International finds the outlook for Jamaica to be "grim, with alarming rates of killings and almost no convictions of state agents accused of serious human rights violations".  The report looked at the efforts of the Jamaican government to tackle crime and reform the police force.  

224 of 1,611 fatal shootings in 2009 were committed by Jamaican police officers. There only been four criminal convictions of police forces since 1999, despite evidence of excessive use of force, including summary executions.  In the last decade, 1,700 people were reportedly killed by the police in Jamaica. 

In 2009 the rate of police killing has increased by 58%, however there has not been a single criminal conviction of a police officer this year. The Jamaican Minister of National Security had to issue an apology to the Jamaican people after saying that the Jamaican police were in a "war" in which there would be "collateral damage".

The Jamaican police, known as the Jamaican Constabulary Force, have historically had a tenuous relationship with the public. The police force was created in 1865 to quell a rebellion against the British.  The Jamaican police reportedly feel targeted themselves. There have been six officers murdered so far this year.

Cracking down on crime and reforming the police force have been key points during government election campaigns, however many feel that things are not moving fast enough.  The overall murder rate in urban areas has dropped by 19%, however it has risen by 2% in rural parts of Jamaica.

Proposed reforms, which were accepted by the Jamaican government, were adopted last year. The reforms have not been implemented.  However, Amnesty International stated that "if correctly and fully implemented could remove many of the factors contributing to the public security crisis and drastically improve respect for human rights in Jamaica".

The text of the Amnesty International Report is available here.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International - Jamaica: "Grim" Outlook on Public Security Crisis, But New Initiatives to Improve Situation Welcomed, Says Amnesty - 21 July 2009

BBC - "To Serve Protect and Reassure?" - 21 July 2009

Caribworldnews.com - Jamaican Government Gets Mixed Reviews From Amnesty - 21 July 2009

Independent Online - Amnesty Warns On Killing In Jamaica - 21 July 2009

Obama First U.S. President to Sign International Human Rights Treaty in Over a Decade

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

(Photo courtesy of AP)

WASHINGTON D.C., United States - President Barack Obama announced Friday that he will sing the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  The treaty is the fourth major international treaty signed by the U.S. This will be the first signing of an international human rights treaty in over a decade.  

Obama plans to sign the treaty when he is at the U.N. headquarters in New York next week.  The treaty will then go to the U.S. Senate for ratification.  

The CRPD guarantees the complete inclusion of people with disabilities into society.  The treaty was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 206 and opened for signature on March 30, 2007.  82 Countries signed the treaty directly after its opening. Currently, 140 countries have signed and 61 have ratified the treaty.  The United States was one of the latest parties to sign the treaty and was the last member of NATO member to sign.

The Bush Administration participated in negotiation sessions for the treaty but stated that the U.S. would not sign the treaty because of the wide protection for disabled individuals is already enshrined in the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Obama promised to sign the CRPD during his presidential campaign. 

Countries that are a party to the CRPD must prohibit any form of discrimination against persons with disabilities and "promote accessibility for and work to achieve the full realization of economic, social, and cultural rights for persons with disabilities."  The wight core provisions of the treaty include prevention of discrimination, accessibility, a right to education, right to health participation rights and a right to vote."

The Optional Protocol  allows individuals to petition the new 18 member Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the event of violations of the convention once all domestic forms of recourse have been exhausted. 

Jorge Ballestro, vice chair of the Ad Hoc Committee that drafted the convention, said that "before this convention, disability was often regarded as a disease or illness, but now we have realized that disability is an interaction between a certain condition and society.  Society must help to eliminate disabilities through accessibility, non-discrimination and protecting and enforcing the same rights to everyone."

For more information, please see:

AP - Obama : U.S. to Sign Disabilities Rights Pact - 24 July 2009

IPS - RIGHTS-US: Landmark Disability Treaty Wins U.S. Approval - 24 July 2009

NPR - U.S. Seeks U.S. Senate Help On U.N. Disability - 24 July 2009

Obama Administration Says Domestic Violence is Grounds for Asylum

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 

(Photo Courtesy of Getty Images)

WASHINGTON D.C., United States - The Obama administration has taken action to grant asylum to foreign women who are victims of severe physical or sexual abuse in their home countries. The immigration court decision ends dispute over this issue that lasted throughout the Bush Administration. The Clinton administration initiated the recognition of domestic violence as legitimate grounds for asylum.  

Asylum grants an individual permanent residency without having to go through the numerous steps. Nearly 80 percent of asylum applications are denied.

 The department of homeland security told an immigration court that it regards a Mexican woman suffering extreme domestic violence as possibly able to seek asylum in the United States. The women lived in fear that she would be murdered by her common-law husband who repeatedly raped her at gunpoint and tried to burn her alive when he discovered she was pregnant.   

According to a lawyer representing a woman in a similar case, "these are not easy cases to prove."  In order to get asylum, the woman must prove that "in Mexico violence against women is pervasive and that there is a societal perception that this is acceptable.  Then she has to prove that the Mexican government is unable or unwilling to protect her, and on top of that she has to prove that there is nowhere in Mexico where she can be safe from her abusers."

The U.S. government did not find that women who were victims of domestic violence qualified for asylum because they could not show persecution on specific grounds under U.S. law.  However, a 1996 ruling in a female genital mutilation case changed that position because it established that cultural oppression is grounds for asylum.  

One argument against granting victims of domestic violence in the U.S. is that it will "open the floodgates" and that millions of women are going to arrive in the United States.  However, the same argument was raised in opposition to the decision granting victims of genital cutting asylum.  According to lawyers handling these cases, "there was not significant increase in claims."

The Department of Homeland Security officials said that they are returning to the 2004 position of limiting the conditions for being allowed asylum in the context of domestic abuse so that it is granted in only a limited number of cases. 

 

For more information, please see: 

The Guardian - Obama Moves to Grant Political Asylum to Women Who Suffer Domestic Abuse - 24 July 2009

NY Daily News - Domestic Violence Victims Have a Better Shot at Asylum in the United States - 23 July 2009

Tribuna - Obama Allows Asylum for Women Victims of Domestic Violence - 22 July 2009

NY Times - New Policy Permits Asylum for Battered Women - 19 July 2009

Beaver Lake Cree Nation Receive Support for Lawsuit Against Canadian Government to Protect Ancestral Homelands

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

The Cree Nation is fighting to prevent the extraction of tar sands - a mixture of sand or clay and bitumen, which are either pumped from the ground using steam or dug out in strip mines, which require "pre-processing" before they can be refined. The extraction of tar sands uses more energy than  conventional fossil fuels.  (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

ALBERTA, Canada - The Beaver Lake Cree Nation has received $100,000 from the United Kingdom Cooperative Bank in support of their lawsuit against both the Canadian and Alberta governments to prevent the extraction of "tar sands" - a form of fossil fuel that creates more greenhouse gasses than conventional fuel. 

The land at issue is situated at La Biche, 240 miles northeast of Edmonton, Alberta.  The lawsuit was initiated in 2009 by the Beaver Lake Cree Nation based on Treaty 6, a 19th Century treaty that is now a part of the Canadian Constitution.  At the time of signing, Beaver Lake's ancestors were assured that the newcomers "would not interfere with (their) daily life" and that they would be able to continue making their living from hunting, trapping, and fishing." 

The Cree seek to enforce their Constitutionally protected rights to hunt, trap, and fish; and to protect the ecological integrity of their territories.  Specifically, the Cree oppose the extraction of tar sands from their ancestral land because of the environmental degradation that it causes. The U.K. Cooperative bank is backing the lawsuit because it believes the suit is "one of the last and best hopes" to stop new tar sand developments, which use far more energy to produce oil than conventional fossil fuels.

A study by WWF and the Co-operative found that the extraction of unconventional fossil fuels in North America would produce enough emissions to push atmospheric carbon dioxide levels past the point of dangerous climate change. 

A U.S. Defense Authorization Bill, passed in 2007, might help the Cree's cause.  Section 526 of the bill bars U.S. federal agencies such as the military and the postal service from buying synthetic or unconventional fuels if they create more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels.  Thus far the U.S. has not followed through with this legislation in relation to tar sands.

Tar sands are a large industry in Canada, where an estimated 315 billion barrels are thought to be under the ground.  The Cree, who gave up ancestral lands almost as big as England and Scotland combined in return for the guaranteed right to hunt, fish, and gather plants in the territory, report poor animal health as a result of local pollution.  There have been reports that animals the Cree depend on are at risk due to toxic lakes of water used in the extraction process and through seismic oil prospecting. 

The lawsuit has already survived a motion to dismiss based on an "abuse of process" argument. The lawsuit is expected to last several years and cost millions of dollars.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian - Cooperative Gives 53,000 Pounds to Canadian Cree for Tar Sands Lawsuit - 21 July 2009

Business Green - Canadian Tar Sands Developers to Face Fresh Legal Challenge - 21 July 2009

Digital Journal - Beaver Lake Cree Get More Support For Their Lawsuit - 8 July 2009

Jamaican Government Leads Country in Oppression of Homosexuals

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Anonymous Jamaican man, pictured above, shows scars from knife lashing he suffered at the hands of a mob who attacked him for being gay.  The man was left for dead when the police transported him to the hospital in the trunk of their patrol vehicle. 

 (Photo Courtesy of AP)

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Homosexuals and their advocates agree that Jamaica is the most hostile island toward homosexuals in the overwhelmingly conservative Caribbean. Homosexuals in Jamaica, and particularly in poor communities are victims of frequent abuse. The legal system in Jamaica leaves victimized homosexuals little or no recourse due to sodomy laws that ban sex between men.

Hostility against homosexuals in Jamaica is reported to exist "from the pulpit to the Parliament floor." Politicians regularly condemn homosexuals in Jamaica. Lawmaker Ernest Smith of the ruling Jamaica Labor Party expressed concern that the police force was "overrun by homosexuals" and referred to gays as "brazen," "abusive," and "violent." Prime Minister Bruce Golding has vowed to keep Jamaica's anti-sodomy law punishable by ten years. In a BBC interview last year, Golding vowed to never allow gays in his Cabinet.

Medical professionals have reported that the fear of violence against homosexuals has resulted in Jamaica men refusing to get rectal examinations for prostate cancer, due to the sexual implications of the exam. Advocates stress that the murder rate in Jamaica, which is ten times greater than in the United States, is disproportionately high among homosexuals. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both condemned homophobic remarks and violence in Jamaica. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases of mob violence against homosexuals in Jamaica.  

Jamaican man, pictured above shows scars from a machete attack by a mob for "being gay". (Photo Courtesy of Human Rights Watch)

Anti-sodomy laws are present in Jamaica and ten other former British Colonies in the Caribbean. A 1994 decision by the Human Rights Committee found that such laws violate rights to privacy and to be free from discrimination in the International Covenant on Civil Rights. Jamaica ratified the ICCPR in 1975. 

Scott Long of Human Rights Watch stated that "what stands out about Jamaica is how absolutely, head-in-the-sand unwilling the authorities have been for years to acknowledge or address homophobic violence. Most notably, three successive governments have completely, utterly, publicly refused even to talk about changing the bugger law - which expressly consigns gay people to second-class citizens and paints targets on their backs." 

News footage showing Jamaican Government Minister condemning homosexuals in the Jamaican Parliament.

For more information, please see:

Newsday - Gay Bashing Thrives in Jamaica, Homosexuality Seen as a Sin - 19 July 2009

AP - Gays Live _and_Die in Fear in Jamaica - 19 July 2009 

World Focus - There are No Gay Pride Parades in Jamaica - 29 June 2009

World Focus - Gay Men in Jamaica Lead Two Separate Lives - 18 May 2009

Human Rights Watch - Jamaica: Condemn Homophobic Remarks - 19 February 2009

New Report Says Canada "Ignored Human Rights" in Interrogation of Minor at Guantanamo

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

TORONTO, Canada -  Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee has released a report finding that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) ignored human rights concerns in dealing with 16 year old Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr.  The report evidences the failure of CSIS officials to consider widespread allegations of abuse at Guantanamo and by making no allowances for the young age of Omar Khadr, who they interrogated twice in 2003 before a court injunction stopped them.

The report cites the fact that when CSIS began questioning 16 year old Khadr's in 2003 there were widespread reports of abuses at  Guantanamo. The report further states that "CSIS failed to take into account that, while in U.S. custody, Khadr had been denied certain basic rights which would have been afforded to him as a youth".

Omar Khadr, age 15 and one year before he was detained and interrogated in Guantanamo.

The report was initiated after video footage of Khadr's interrogation was released showing him crying for his mother and appealing for help.  The video is the first time in 24 years that the CSIS has been videotaped in action.  The video was made by U.S. authorities and turned over to Khadr's defense team by the Canadian Government pursuant to a Canadian Federal Court decision.  The Canadian Federal Court ruled that the U.S. Military's treatment of Khadr broke human rights laws, including the Geneva Conventions.

The 30 page report is reportedly being reviewed "with interest" by Canada's Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan.  The findings of the report are non-binding, however there is speculation that it will be taken into account as the Canadian government appeals a federal court's decision to repatriate Khadr. Public Safety Minister Loan stated since the time of Khadr's interrogation a "new CSIS protocol for dealing with individuals under the age of 18" has been instituted.  

Khadr has been in Guantanamo for 6 years, after being arrested at the age of 16 for allegedly killing a U.S. serviceman with a grenade.  Khadr is the last remaining westerner in Guantanamo and the only detainee with a civilian lawyer as head counsel. He fired his pentagon lawyers due to "constant squabbling".  His lawyers had unsuccessfully argued that he was a child soldier fighting under the influence of his father.  

CSIS responded to the report in saying that it has "had to adapt to the more recent phenomenon of youth radicalization."  It said it would use the report findings as it "continued to assess how it deals with this threat."

 

For more information, please see:

AP - Watchdog Raps Canadian Agency in Khadr Case - 17 July 2009

Aljazeera - Canada "Ignored" Rights at U.S. Jail - 16 July 2009

Canwest News Service - CSIS Slammed for Khadr Interrogation - 16 July 2009

Daily Mail Reporter - "Help Me" Teenage Detainee in Guantanamo Sobs in "Secret" Interrogation Video - 16 July 2008

CBC News - CSIS Ignored Khadr's human rights : Report 15 July 2009

Members of US Congress Protest Guatemala's Exploitation of Workers

By Nima Nayebi

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Europe

LONG BEACH, United States - Linda Sanchez, a democratic member of the US Congress from California, sent a letter to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colóm Caballeros on Monday to protest the country's exploitation of workers and unions. She was joined by 39 other members of Congress who are concerned about labour injustice in Guatemala.

In a press release, Sanchez said that Guatemala had failed to keep its promise to enforce labour laws under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). 

CAFTA was passed by Congress under President George W. Bush in 2005 and went into effect the following year. Sanchez siad that there need to be changes to the CAFTA model to include better enforcement of its labour provisions. Her letter reminded the Guatemalan government of their duty to uphold and enforce labour laws when they ratified CAFTA.

In 2008, six Guatemalan unions and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) lodged a complaint with the US Labour Department's Office of Trade and Labour Affairs asking that the US demand an end to the violence against unionists in Guatemala. According to the International Trade Union Confederation, Guatemala (ITUC) is the second most dangerous country for unionists in the world, with Colombia taking first place.

The ITUC reported that eight trade unionists were killed in 2008 took place 

The Labour Department found additional violations of rights during its own investigation in 2008 and 2009. The report issued by the Department made recommendations to Guatemala and imposed a 6-month deadline by which date the Department is to reassess the situation.

Illinois US Congress Representative Phil Hare said, "I hope President Colóm heeds the advice of our letter and does everything he can to tackle the continued exploitation of workers in his country."

For more information, please see:

Press-Telegram - Sanchez, other reps protest Guatemala's treatment of workers - 14 July 2009

AFL-CIO - Take Action Today to End Violence Against Guatemalan Trade Unionists - 7 July 2009

International Labor Rights Forum - End Violence Against Trade Unions - 2008

PBS Airs Provocative Documentary on International Criminal Court

By Sarah Benczik, Impunity Watch Editor-in-Chief
& Mario A. Flores, Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – A new documentary, The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court, will air today on Public Broadcasting System (PBS) channels across the U.S.  The documentary catalogs the international effort to create the International Criminal Court (ICC) and follows ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years across four continents. 

The film includes in-depth coverage of the ICC’s arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leaders in Uganda and Congolese warlords, its close scrutiny of the Colombian justice system, and the indictment of Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.  It also documents the ICC’s stuggle to overcome challenges such as establishing jurisdiction, enforcing international arrest warrants and withstanding political attacks. 

The ICC was created by the Rome Statute, adopted by over 100 nations in 1998, in an effort to create an international legal framework to address the gravest of human crimes and the dramatic rise in international, systematic violence at the end of the 20th century which continues today.  The Court’s purpose is to end impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.  It only acts when national courts fail to do so.  The ICC came into being when the Rome Statute was ratified by at least sixty States, which occurred in 2002.  It only prosecutes crimes committed on or after that date. 

The film’s premiere today coincides with the conclusion of the ICC prosecution’s case-in-chief against Thomas Lubanga and as Charles Taylor - the first African president to be tried for war crimes - testifies on his own behalf before the Special Court for Sierra Leone.  Lubanga, once the leader of a powerful and violent militia in Congo, stands accused of war crimes, including the recruitment of child soldiers: commandeering children under the age of 15 and sending them into war to maim and kill. Lubanga’s defense is scheduled to start presenting its evidence in October 2009.

The documentary, an Official Selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, was pre-screened in Washington, D.C. Monday evening at the National Press Club, where a panel of experts involved in the creation of the ICC and intimately tied with U.S. government policy toward the Court addressed questions about the ICC and U.S. policy.  According to the panelists, the Obama administration has yet to significantly address U.S. ICC policy.  This inaction comes at a critical time in the Court’s existence: international players are still struggling to define the crime of aggression, and the first international, comprehensive review of the Court will take place at a conference next year.

Chile recently became the 109th State Party to ratify the Rome Statute, which now includes all of South America, most of Europe, and nearly half the countries in Africa.  The United States, Russia and China are not signatories.

For more information, please see:

Trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo: the Office of the Prosecutor finishes its case presentation – 14 July 2009

Point of View Films, PBS - The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court

United Nations News Center – Chile es nuevo miembro de la Corte Penal Internacional – 29 June 2009

The New York Times - International Court Begins First Trial – 26 January 2009

Official webpage of the International Criminal Court

Rights Group Recommends Clinton Deny Mexico Aid in Light of Human Rights Abuses

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 

(Photo Courtesy of Amnesty International)

WASHINGTON D.C., United States - On Monday, Human Rights Watch (HRW)  released a letter urging U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not to certify Mexico as compliant with the Merida Initiative's requirements to receive aid.  1.4 billion dollars are a part of the multi-year regional aid package known as the Merida Initiative.  405 million dollars of aid have been budgeted in for this fiscal year. 

The initiative was created by the Bush administration to help Mexico cope with increasing violence and corruption, particularly that associated with drug cartels.  The U.S. congress required 15 percent of the funds to be given to Mexico only if the Secretary of State certifies to Congress that the Mexican government has met four human rights conditions.  One of those conditions is that the Mexican Military be investigated and prosecuted in the civilian court system.

Kenneth Roth, the executive director of HRW considered the Merida Initiative "an important opportunity to strengthen U.S. - Mexican drug enforcement and human rights cooperation".  However, Mr. Roth emphasized that "to capitalize on this opportunity, the Obama administration should vigorously enforce the human rights requirements included in the aid package."

 

President Bush initiated the Merida Initiative and softened the terms of aid last summer.  It is unclear how the Obama Administration will enforce the agreement.  (Photos Courtesy of AP)

The letter that HRW sent to Secretary of State Clinton cited the growing number of abuses committed by the Mexican military during counter narcotics and public security operations.  This includes rapes, killings, torture, and arbitrary detentions, as well as the failure to bring those responsible to justice.  The increase in reports of human rights abuses since the heightenedmilitary presence in Mexico's cities is detailed in the HRW report "Uniform Impunity: Mexico's Misuse of Military Justice to Prosecute Abuses in Counternarcotics and Public Security Operations".  Over 45,000 soldiers are  currently deployed within Mexico. 

HRW not only recommends that Clinton refuse to certify the last 15 percent of funding until Mexico complies with the agreement, but also that Clinton conduct a wide-ranging consultation with Mexican and International organizations. 

Not one  member of the Mexican military has been convicted in military court, despite hundreds of human rights complaints.

(Photo Courtesy of AP)

HRW traces the human rights abuses to several basic flaws in the military justice system: the secretary of defense has both executive and judicial power over the armed forces; military judges have little job security and may reasonably fear that they will be removed if they make decisions against the secretary's wishes; and there is no public scrutiny of military investigations and trials.

U.S. officials stated that President Calderon has initiated reforms that they think will ultimately increase respect for human rights among soldiers and police.  The State Department's Merida human rights report will be delivered to Congress in the coming weeks.  An official close to the process told a Washington Post reporter that Mexico's human rights record is "a mixed bag" and said it is still unclear if the report is enough to meet the requirements for the release of the aid. 

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune - Group Wants Aid to Mexico Conditioned on Human Rights - 14 July 2009

Los Angeles Times - Mexico Aid Should be Withheld, Human Rights Watch Says - 14 July 2009

IPS News - US-MEXICO: Rights Group Urges Review of Aid in Light of Abuses - 13 July 2009

New York Times - Mexico Posts are Blitzed After Arrest in Drug War - 12 July 2009