Friends of Brad Will Release Secret Documents of Proposed US/Mexican Military Aid

Murdered Journalist Network Denounces Military Reward for Impunity

The international network demanding accountability for the murder of US journalist Brad Will released secret documents detailing proposed military support for Mexican security forces implicated in murder, torture and continuing arbitrary detentions.

“Finally we were able to obtain these documents, which even Members of Congress have yet to see. We hope that by releasing them to the public we will be able to better make our case for withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in military subsidies to the Mexican military. The murderers of Brad and many others in Oaxaca and Atenco and Chiapas must be brought to justice if U.S. support for human rights is to mean anything.” said Harry Bubbins, of Friends of Brad Will. Over 70% of the proposed $1.5 billion would entail lethal aid analysts revealed.

PDF of leaked documents: high resolution (33 MB) or low resolution (3 MB)

Friends of Brad Will is with a widespread coalition of labor and human rights advocates urging House Speaker Pelosi and Eliot Engels, the Chair of the Western Hemispheric affairs subcommittee, to oppose U.S. support for Mexican military and police forces. Mr. Will, the 36 year old reporter, was murdered in Oaxaca, Mexico on October 27th, 2006. Witnesses and photographic evidence implicate members of the Mexican government, including a police chief in his death that day.

President Bush announced a $1.5 billion dollar “security cooperation initiative” proposal for Mexico that the President is trying to bury into the Iraq supplemental spending package submitted to Congress. The initiative allows sharing of U.S. military intelligence information with Mexican military counterparts and provides weaponry and training with the notoriously corrupt and brutal Mexican military and police.

Brad Will’s family and friends denounced plans to fund a “Plan Mexico” that would be more costly than the controversial “Plan Colombia”. They pointed to the lack of any credible investigation into the murder of the U.S. journalist, who was in Mexico covering the protests of a popular movement of teachers and their supporters facing paramilitary violence deployed by the Mexican government and the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

“We are confident that Congress will not just rubber stamp this ill-advised military aid package in Bush’s waning days that would lead to further human rights abuses for decades to come.” stated Robert Jereski, a Congressional liaison for Friends of Brad Will.

SECRET DOCUMENTS AT:
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/24/18488366.php
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/24/18488370.php
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/24/18488389.php
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/24/18488408.php
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/24/18488426.php

PARTIAL HELICOPTER OUTLAYS PROPOSED:
https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/03/24/merida9.jpg