Please contact your Member of Congress today to urge them to sign the "Dear Colleague" letter that calls for a full review of U.S. military and police aid and arms sales to Mexico. Please use this letter form, or call them (directory here):

Witness for Peace has demanded and continues to demand an end to the Mérida Initiative, the bilateral U.S.-Mexico agreement which has been in place since 2008, through which the U.S. Congress has allocated over $2.4 billion to Mexico, primarily for military equipment and training of security forces during the country's ongoing Drug War. Unfortunately, these same forces are responsible for a significant rise in human rights abuses.

WFP believes it's of utmost importance that we: stop funding the Mérida Initiative and the militarization of Mexico; have transparency of U.S. Department of Defense funds going to Mexico (and other Latin American countries); and find ways to support Mexican civil society’s and human rights defenders’ demands for justice and peace.

Congressional offices with questions or that would like to sign on to this letter should email Brieana Marticorena with Rep. Ellison’s office (brieana.marticorena@mail.house.gov). [Please do not write to Brieana yourself, but ask your rep's staff to do so.] The deadline to sign on is noon, Friday, May 18th. ­

The full text of the letter is below.

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Dear Secretary Pompeo and Secretary Mattis,

We write to urge you to conduct a full and public assessment of U.S. security assistance to Mexico. We are concerned that U.S. funds may be furthering cycles of violence and enabling human rights violations by the Mexican military.

The Mexican government has deployed tens of thousands of Mexican soldiers in its counter-drug efforts. These armed forces are trained for warfare rather than for police duties, as confirmed by Mexican Defense Secretary General Salvador Cienfuegos. Studies have shown that the deployment of Mexican military forces in law enforcement has led to increases in homicides. In 2017, Mexico experienced the highest homicide rate in its recorded history.                                                                                                          

The use of  Mexican military forces in the war on drugs has also resulted in a dramatic increase in human rights violations, including torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions. Fewer than four percent of Mexican investigations of abuses allegedly committed by soldiers between 2012 and 2016 have resulted in convictions in civilian courts.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto institutionalized this militarized approach by signing the Internal Security Law in December 2017. This law enables the military to intervene in domestic criminal investigations and limits access to information regarding events that occur during military operations, including military abuses. National and international experts and institutions, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission actively oppose the Internal Security Law.

Between 2008 and 2017, the State Department appropriated more than $465.9 million to Mexico’s armed forces through foreign military financing.4 In the last decade, the Department of Defense provided Mexico with more than $550 million in counter-drug assistance.5 We are concerned that this funding supports and encourages militarizing public safety, leading to higher levels of violence and impunity.

Protection of human rights and civilian security should be fundamental goals in the United States bilateral agenda with Mexico. We urge you to suspend any U.S. financing of armed forces involvement in Mexico’s public security operations and focus on supporting efforts to advance the rule of law, investigate and prosecute human rights violations, and combat corruption, particularly along the trafficking route.

We urge you to conduct a full and public evaluation of the Merida Initiative, U.S. security aid and arms sales to Mexico to inform future funding decisions and ensure that U.S. security aid and trade do not support further human rights violations and violence. The evaluation should have clear metrics, include input from civil society, and address the implications for public safety, human rights and the rule of law.

We appreciate your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,