(Sergio Ortíz Borbolla/WOLA)

Dear John,

As you may have seen from our media coverage, WOLA recently launched an in-depth report on militarization in Mexico.

The report reveals how the Mexican government is giving increasing power to military institutions known precisely for their lack of transparency, and it is doing so without adequate civilian controls.

One of our main findings is that the Ministry of Defense is failing to adequately report military detentions in a registry created in 2019 to protect human rights, even though it is obligated to do so by law. 

The context is particularly worrying. In recent months you may have heard that the Mexican military used malware known as Pegasus to spy on activists and that it continues to conceal information in the infamous Ayotzinapa case, where 43 students were disappeared.

Our full report is currently available in Spanish and there is an abbreviated version in English. You can also check out my podcast interview with Adam Isacson.

In other news this week, Laura Dib, WOLA’s Venezuela Director, was also invited to our podcast Latin America today to talk about the challenges to free and fair elections in Venezuela. We hope you find it interesting.

Last but not least, we are excited to announce that President Boric of Chile will be making a special address in Washington D.C at a ceremony hosted by the Embassy of Chile and the Institute for Policy Studies, that WOLA is co-hosting with others, on Saturday September 23 at 11am.

We hope you can join us for this and the many other events we have planned to remember the coup in Chile in 1973 as WOLA also kicks off its 50th anniversary. Visit our website https://www.wola.org/50th-anniversary-events/

Best,

Stephanie Brewer

Director for Mexico

🇬🇹 This week, WOLA hosted an event with Dr.Victoria Sanford for a discussion on the inner workings of the Guatemalan criminal justice system and how it perpetuates inequality, patriarchy and impunity. 

In April 2022, WOLA launched its one-of-a-kind Border Oversight Database, which documents hundreds of reports of human rights violations and abuses against migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Militarized Transformation

Report

"According to a report by the non-governmental organization Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Mexico's Armed Forces have not adequately reported the arrests they carry out, while human rights abuses perpetrated by their members persist [...]” This quote has been translated as the article is in Spanish. 

– Aristegui Noticias, Fuerzas Armadas de México no reportan adecuadamente las detenciones que realizan, señala ONG de EU

"Reiterating the urgency of effective civilian controls over the actions of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy (Semar) and the National Guard (GN), the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) denounced that the Armed Forces are not reporting all the arrests they make in the National Detention Registry (RND), to which they are required by law [...]"This quote has been translated as the article is in Spanish. 

– La Jornada, WOLA alerta por bajas de civiles en choques con militares en México

"The Mexican Armed Forces are not reporting all the arrests they make in the National Registry of Detentions (RND), something they must do by law, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA ) said in a new report. [...]" This quote has been translated as the article is in Spanish. 

– Reforma, Ocultan Fuerzas Armadas detenciones en México.- WOLA

"A recent report published by the Washington Office on Latin America listed 12 leading theories for the collapse in the price of coca – among them the deadly fentanyl boom in the US hurting demand for cocaine and the fragmentation of Colombia’s drug cartels into tiny competing businesses."

– The Guardian, Fentanyl, cartels or simple market glut: what’s behind collapse of Colombia’s coca market?

Stephanie Brewer

Director for Mexico

"The Mexican State is concentrating more and more power in institutions known precisely for their opacity, and it is doing so without adequate civilian controls, a process that will be difficult to reverse." 

– Deutsche Welle, Abuses by the armed forces in Mexico persist

Carolina Jiménez 

President WOLA

"The main problem when authoritarianism becomes rooted is that it shows that the international system has few tools to combat this type of government." 

– NPR, The Sunday Story: A rare look inside locked-down Nicaragua

 Jo-Marie Burt

Senior Fellow

"The military sectors and their allies never really went away,” [...] “Their power was just tempered a bit when this international sponsored body was in Guatemala.”

– The World, Victims of Guatemalan military seek justice for war crimes

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