[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 22, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H5336-H5337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           VIOLENCE IN MEXICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Schiff) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, Americans were riveted 
by news that infamous drug lord Joaquin Guzman, better known as El 
Chapo, had escaped from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
  It took this spectacular movie-style breakout to return Mexico and 
its drug cartels to our national attention, and that is a problem.
  When ruthless, barbaric criminals terrorize an innocent population 
halfway around the world, America notices. We rightly rise up as one to 
decry the horrific violence perpetrated by ISIL in Syria and Iraq, 
recoiling in horror at the news of rapes, beheadings, and savagery run 
amok; yet, when similar violence is visited upon an innocent population 
in our own backyard, why are we not similarly outraged?
  Earlier this year, Aide Nava was beheaded by ruthless thugs not 
halfway around the world, but in the Mexican state of Guerrero, less 
than 1,000 miles from the U.S. border. Ms. Nava's death was not an 
isolated incident, nor was it random. She was a candidate for mayor of 
her town. Her husband had been mayor until last year, when he was 
assassinated.
  A note found near her body warned of similar treatment for other 
politicians who did not fall in line and was signed ``Los Rojos,'' the 
name of one of Guerrero's largest criminal organizations.
  If violence in the state of Guerrero sounds familiar, it should. In 
the town of Iguala in Guerrero, just last year, 43 students engaged in 
a peaceful protest were kidnapped, murdered, and cremated in a mass 
grave.
  Those 43 are but a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of Mexicans 
who have been murdered by Mexican drug cartels over the last decade, 
including at least four candidates and more than a dozen campaign 
workers during this year's midterm elections. Disturbingly, violence 
against women in particular has skyrocketed, and the rate at which 
women are murdered in Mexico is now double the global average.
  Meanwhile, a cowed and corrupt leadership seems powerless to stop any 
of this and may even be actively abetting the violence.
  We know that drug use in the United States has regrettably 
contributed to the conditions that have allowed this violence to 
spread. The money that fuels the drug cartels comes in large part from 
narcotics sales north of the Rio Grande.
  Just as the drugs flow north, the guns flow south. I have addressed 
this Chamber in support of legislation countering the sale of guns 
through ``straw purchasers,'' which are then sent across the border.
  This mutually destructive trade of guns and drugs cannot be allowed 
to continue unabated. More sensible treatment of drug addiction at home 
and more commonsense gun laws would not only help our own country, but 
also reduce chaos in the neighborhood.
  The U.S. has done much to assist Mexico in countering cartel 
violence, primarily through the Merida Initiative, a counterdrug and 
anticrime assistance package.
  Since 2008, we have provided Mexico with over $2.5 billion for the 
Merida Initiative, whose strategy focuses on disrupting criminal 
groups, institutionalizing the rule of law, creating a 21st century 
border, and building strong and resilient communities.
  The reforms or money supports have been painfully slow in coming. It 
is still the case that only 25 percent of the crimes in Mexico are 
reported, fewer than 5 percent are investigated, and fewer than 2 
percent ultimately move to trial and sentencing.
  The problem in Mexico is not simply a lack of resources; it appears 
to be a lack of will. The active presence of corruption and official 
collusion squelches free speech, causing citizens to fear their elected 
officials, allowing the rule of law to fail.

                              {time}  1015

  Those 43 murdered students appear to have been killed with the 
knowledge and participation of the local police force on orders from 
Iguala's mayor and his wife. It is a dramatic story, but not unusual 
one, a story of corruption and impunity in officialdom.
  Sadly, those who tell the story, including journalists, human rights 
activists, and even brave victims willing to speak out, too often meet 
fates similar to the students of Iguala.

[[Page H5337]]

  Indeed, within the last months, three journalists have been murdered 
in three different Mexican states, joining the tragic toll of more than 
50 Mexican journalists killed or disappeared since 2007.
  I wish, Mr. Speaker, I stood before you today with a simple solution 
to these problems. I do not. But I do know that the struggle of the 
Mexican people for a peaceful, safe, and well-governed nation is our 
struggle as well. They must know that we are paying attention and that 
we recognize that Mexico's problems are also our own.

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