Friends of Brad Will

Congress Disrupted: No to Plan Mexico

Report written by member of Friends of Brad Will who attended the
recent hearing in D.C. on Plan Mexico. I believe the portion of the
transcript provided below here includes the correction – mentioned in
the report – of Assistant Secretary of State Shannon, at a moment in
his testimony where he tried to confute the issue/s/ of
narco-trafficking, organized crime and the murder of Brad.

Report:
Friends of Brad Will Launch Intervention at Congressional Hearing on
Plan Mexico

The House Commitee on Foreign Affairs meeting is met by protests.

At the November 14th U.S. Congressional hearing on Plan Mexico,
Friends of Brad Will shifted the talk from a 1.4 billion dollar
package to bolster Mexico’s security against narco-trafficking to a
discussion on Mexican government impunity to commit human rights
abuses against pro-democracy dissidents, labor activists, and
journalists. At five different times during the hearing, Friends of
Brad Will “corrected” Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and David Johnson,
from the Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Friends of
Brad Will argued that giving a military aid package to the Mexican
government would lead to more human rights abuses like ones that have
occurred along the U.S./Mexican border, Atenco, Chiapas, and Oaxaca,
where Brad Will died covering the people’s movement against Governor
Ruiz.

Mr. Shannon began his speech by saying, “He (President Calderon) is
reorganizing the federal police, putting new
and additional resources in the hands of his security services,
deploying military units to support police operations, rooting out
corrupt officials, attacking –.” Friends of Brad Will interjected,
“Civilians in Oaxaca!” Some members of the crowd laughed, including
high school students on a field trip, before Chairman Lantos called
for order. After a warning and another intervention where a member of
FoBW told the story of journalist Brad Will’s murder in Oaxaca, that
member of our network was removed by a police officer and released
outside of the hearing.

Other Congressman in the room began to join in with the criticism as
well. The presence of the demonstrators seemed to empower others to
make their voices heard. Many in the room echoed the demonstrators
concerns over human rights abuses and argued that drug abuse should be
curbed through public education at the point of consumption instead of
at the point of production, where many join drug cartels due to
poverty.

Representative Scott raised the question, ” What’s going on with the
journalists? How many have been killed? And have there been any
American journalists killed?” As Mr. Shannon replied, accusing drug
cartels of killing Brad Will, a Friend of Brad Will named Brandon
Jourdan corrected him, “Oh you mean the PRI, Pristas, policemen
without uniforms linked to the government?” Representative Engel
called for order and Jourdan complied. Audience members again
chuckled and Shannon’s tone became nervous.

After a brief recess, the hearing continued and so did the
interventions. Mr. Shannon and Mr. Johnson continued their rhetoric
on drug enforcement, but began to increasingly talk about human rights
in response to protesters and inquiries from disgruntled Congressmen.
As Shannon began a lengthy discussion on how Plan Mexico would help
with human rights, another member of the audience – a close friend of
Brad Will – again brought up Will’s death, the impunity of Mexican
police and military to commit acts of aggression, and the past
problems with the militarization of Mexico. After refusing to comply
with Representative Engel’s call for order, she was removed from the
hearing.

Due to the interventions from several Friends of Brad Will, the
hearing on the Plan Mexico was turned into a hearing on human rights
in Mexico. Plan Mexico has received widespread criticism from human
rights and labor groups, such as the United Steelworkers.

——

Transcript:
…
Let me just ask briefly a few questions, though. What’s going on with the
journalists? How many have been killed? And have there been any American
journalists killed?

MR. SHANNON: I’ll get you the exact number of journalists killed, but it’s
significant. And there have been American journalists killed, some of which
we heard today in this room regarding the case of Brad Will.

Violence against journalists in Mexico is a big problem, not just for the
larger profession of journalism, but for what Mexico is attempting to do in
fighting organized crime, because much of the violence against journalism
and journalists is directed by organized crime. And it has a purpose, and
that is to –

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Off mike.)

REP. ENGEL: Excuse me. The chair notes that there is a disturbance of the
committee proceedings. May I ask anyone in the audience to please cease. If
not, that person will be removed.

Ambassador.

MR. SHANNON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.