A top Mexican lawmaker said on Saturday that Mexico would reject any US aid to fight drug traffickers that comes with conditions.
Ruth Zavaleta, a Mexican congressional speaker, said any conditions placed on the aid would be seen as an infringement on Mexican sovereignty.
The Merida Initiative would provide US$1.4 billion over several years to help Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti combat drug trafficking.
CONDITIONS
But the US House and Senate have imposed several conditions on the aid, including guarantees of civilian investigations into human rights abuses by the Mexican military.
“For the initiative to be successful our rights must be respected and any intentions to intervene in affairs that concern only Mexicans must be put aside,” Zavaleta said at the opening of a two-day meeting of US and Mexican lawmakers in the northern city of Monterrey.
MONEY
The US House and Senate approved different amounts for the first installment of the aid and the two versions must be reconciled.
Both bills fell well short of the US$500 million sought by the administration of US President George W. Bush.
Democratic Representative Christopher Dodd, one of the 11 US lawmakers attending the meeting, said he would oppose an initiative with no strings attached.
“Neither the United States nor Mexico is in the business of writing blank checks,” Dodd said.
CRACKDOWN
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has earned strong support from Washington for his crackdown against drug cartels, carried out by more than 25,000 troops nationwide.
But violence has surged as cartels fight back with increasingly brazen attacks against security forces.
Last week, a senior police officer appealed for more powerful weapons after seven federal officers were killed in a shootout with members of the Sinaloa cartel.
The Mexican government has said it would wait for a final version of the bill before deciding whether to accept the aid.
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS