WOLA: Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas
30 Mar 2017 | Press Release

U.S. Senators Reaffirm the Importance of U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Relations

Washington, DC—Yesterday in the U.S. Senate, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a resolution recognizing the importance of the strategic partnership and bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) led the initiative and Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), John McCain (R-AZ), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) also cosponsored the resolution.

In this context WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America) would like to make available the following statement from Maureen Meyer, Senior Associate for Mexico and Migrant Rights.

“The bipartisan resolution is a strong statement of the importance that leaders in the Senate place on the relationship between the United States and Mexico. The resolution was introduce only weeks after several democrats introduced a similar resolution in the House of Representatives.

These resolutions show an important distancing from the Trump administration’s anti-Mexico rhetoric and actions that threaten to weaken the strong ties between both countries. They also show that Trump’s attempts to diminish support for Mexico and to carry out initiatives that will negatively affect the relationship between both countries will face strong opposition in both chambers of the U.S Congress.

The Senate resolution includes key references about the need to continue strengthening the rule of law and human rights in Mexico, mentioning the case of the 43 students forcibly disappeared in Guerrero in 2014 and the United States’ interest in continuing to cooperate on these issues. Furthermore, the resolution recognizes the importance of establishing a prosecutor general’s office in Mexico that is independent from the executive branch in order to combat corruption. An independent prosecutor general is also essential in order to combat impunity for human rights violations.”

Click here for the full text of the resolution

Click here to read the Senators’ press release