WASHINGTON, December 4 (Sputnik) – US Senator Patrick Leahy will continue to push the US government to stop funding Mexican army and police who are violating human rights, the Vermont Senator stressed in a press release.
"The Mexican Army and police have a long history of violating human rights with impunity, and no one in Congress has worked harder than I have to keep our aid to Mexico from going to those who commit such crimes. I will continue to do that," Leahy said in the statement released Wednesday.
The Leahy Law, also known as the Leahy Amendment, introduced by the Senator, was adopted in July 2013. It provides for US funds to be withdrawn from a foreign government in case they are proved to be involved in perpetrating human rights violations and crimes against humanity.
Leahy stressed that each year he has to defend the laws, protecting human rights that he wrote "against attempts by some in Congress and the Pentagon to weaken them".
On Wednesday, protesters rallied in front of Patrick Leahy's offices, demanding a termination of US funds, sent to Mexico and calling for an end of Plan Mexico, created under the George W. Bush administration in 2007. Plan Mexico authorized the United States to give millions of dollars to Mexico to support the security forces in fighting drug trafficking and ending violence in the country.
Organizers of the protests told Sputnik Wednesday that they were planning to deliver "tens of thousands" of petitions, calling to terminate Plan Mexico to US Senator Bob Menendez who chairs the US Foreign Relations Committee.
US academics and scholars are currently collecting petitions to US President Barack Obama, demanding an immediate suspension of Plan Mexico and an end to all bilateral aid to Mexican law enforcement and armed forces.