Today's Events

Talk Radio News’ correspondents are in New York City covering the United Nations Radio Row.

This morning our Washington Bureau will be attending the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) Headquarters and Public Education Center groundbreaking ceremony, which will include remarks by President George Bush, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Also this morning, the Bureau will cover a House Homeland Security Committee Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism Subcommittee hearing on "The Merida Initiative: Examining U.S. Efforts to Combat Transnational Criminal Organizations." Later in the morning, we will cover a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “Iran’s Strategic Aspirations and the Future of the Middle East.”

This afternoon, the Washington Bureau will be attending a Senate Leadership “Pen and Pad” discussion with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, Democratic Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer, and a House Financial Services Committee hearing on “Examining the Administration’s Proposal to Establish a Multilateral Clean Technology Fund.” Lastly, the Bureau will cover a discussion on "The Economic Stimulus Checks: Will They Boost the Nation's Sluggish Economy this Summer?"

Comments

[Jen]

LASC Position on the Merida Initiative
June 2008

As Congress enters the final stages to approve the Merida Initiative, an aid
package to Mexico and Central America that seeks to further militarize the
region
under the guise of the U.S.'s "war on drugs/war on terror," we find manifold
reasons to stand in opposition:

1) Money for Central America through the Merida Initiative would mark a
significant
increase in funding for military/police equipment and training in the region
at a
time when the need is for anti-poverty and crime-prevention programs.

The Merida Initiative, also known as Plan Mexico, builds on the troubling
model of
Plan Colombia, which has poured billions of dollars into a failed military
approach
to combating drugs while doing little to address rural poverty and urban
unemployment. Central America has already become a satellite for U.S.
military and
police training in Latin America, despite the poor human rights records of
some
governments in the region. With the opening of the International Law
Enforcement
Academy (ILEA) in 2005, El Salvador-already the second largest recipient of
military training in the region-became the hub of police training. The ILEA
has the
capacity to train 1500 students per year, more than the current Western
Hemisphere
Institute for Security and Cooperation, also known as the SOA. U.S.
officials
refuse to acknowledge the corruption, misconduct and human rights violations
committed by the Salvadoran police. To the contrary, the Merida Initiative
now
proposes to further support ILEA and further equip those police. Meanwhile,
the
Initiative wholly ignores the root problems that continue to compel regional
involvement in drug trafficking-poverty and unemployment.

[carl]

Here is a link to show you all the great job Mexico is doing with their military. The news link is in spanish, but I'll give you guys an overview. The Mexican military had set up a checkpoint and 3 people in a car had mechanical problems and did not stop. The soldiers then fired upon the vehicle and killed all 3 people. When the police arrived the soldiers did not allow them to investigate. Furthermore, the soldiers surrounded the vehicle to prevent onlookers to see what occurred. The people in the car were not drug dealers and they had no possesion of drugs either. I think they were hiding something. Here is the link
http://mx.reuters.com/article
/topNews/idMXN0928029320080609