Pubdate: Sun, 01 Nov 2015
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2015 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Suzanne Wills

A good first step

Re: "Wrong on Rights - Mexico deserves sanctions for appalling 
abuses," Thursday Editorials.

This editorial draws attention to a problem that should have been 
addressed long ago.

Congress passed the Merida Initiative in 2008 after lobbying by Bell 
Helicopter, Sikorsky Helicopter and the Mexican government, 
ostensibly to stop cocaine and heroin from reaching the U.S. border. 
Seven years later, no effect has been seen in price, purity or 
availability of cocaine and heroin in the United States.

The Mexican government has received more than a billion dollars 
mostly for transport helicopters, surveillance aircraft, nightvision 
scanners, secure communications equipment, forensics and polygraph 
equipment. Until now, the flow of money has not stopped regardless of 
the horrid human-rights abuses in Mexico that it facilitated.

The Merida Initiative is not only a waste of money, it undermines our 
credibility as a moral nation. The State Department withholding $5 
million is a welcome first step.

Suzanne Wills, Dallas Drug Policy Forum of Texas 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom