BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SR 7
          Author:   Lara (D)
          Amended:  As introduced
          Vote:     Majority

           
           SUBJECT  :    Human Rights

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This resolution adds the voice of the Senate to those  
          in the international community condemning the disappearance and  
          deaths of the missing college students from Mexico as a  
          violation of human rights; offers support to all those in Mexico  
          standing up for human rights and justice against corruption and  
          violence; and urges the government of Mexico to support further  
          dialogue between the international community, including the  
          United States, and human rights organizations on human rights  
          reforms.

           ANALYSIS  :    This resolution makes the following legislative  
          findings:

          1.On September 26, 2014, 43 college students from the Ayotzinapa  
            Normal School in Guerrero, Mexico, disappeared in Iguala,  
            Mexico.  Mexico's Attorney General, Jsus Murillo Karam,  
            announced in a televised press conference on November 7, 2014,  
            that the evidence indicates the 43 missing students had been  
            executed and incinerated in the municipal dump of Cocula,  
            Mexico, by the Guerreros Unidos cartel.  

          2.It has been estimated that 25,000 to 26,000 people have  
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            disappeared in Mexico since 2006.

          3.The disappeared often include the very vulnerable, such as  
            poor migrants, indigenous people, and women and children.

          4.The director of the American division of Human Rights Watch,  
            José Manuel Vivanco, described the murders in Iguala, Mexico,  
            and an earlier massacre in Tlatlaya, Mexico, as "the worst  
            atrocities we've seen in Mexico in years, but they are hardly  
            isolated incidents."

          5.There has been an international outcry regarding the deaths of  
            the missing students in Mexico from, among others, the United  
            Nations, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the European  
            Parliament, and the international human rights community.

          This resolution:

          1.Adds the voice of the Senate to those in the international  
            community condemning the disappearance and deaths of the  
            missing college students from Mexico as a violation of human  
            rights.

          2.Offers support to all those in Mexico standing up for human  
            rights and justice against corruption and violence. 

          3.Urges the government of Mexico to support further dialogue  
            between the international community, including the United  
            States, and human rights organizations on human rights  
            reforms.

          Background

          According to the author, on September 26, 2014, 43 college  
          students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School traveled to Iguala,  
          Mexico to advocate for increased funding for their rural  
          college.  The local mayor, José Luis Abarca, ordered police to  
          detain the students to stop demonstrations near his events.  On  
          September 27, with orders from the mayor, the Iguala police  
          abducted the students early in the morning.  The 43 students  
          were missing for 11 days. 

          On Friday, November 7, Mexico's Attorney General, Jesús Murillo  
          Karam, announced that the students were executed and burned by  

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          Guerreros Unidos, a local drug cartel.  This development came  
          after three of the gang's members were arrested and revealed  
          that Iguala's law enforcement contracted them to administer the  
          students' executions.  Their testimonies also revealed that the  
          victim's bodies were incinerated in a nearby municipal dump. 

          According to a report by the Human Rights Watch, state and  
          federal army units failed to intervene and provide protection to  
          the students.  José Manuel Vivanco, a director from the  
          organization, described the murders in Iguala, Mexico, as "[one  
          of] the worst atrocities we've seen in Mexico in years, but they  
          are hardly isolated incidents."  Since 2006, an estimated 25,000  
          to 26,000 people have disappeared in Mexico. 

          The student's deaths have galvanized Mexican citizens to speak  
          out against the continuing violence and disappearance of people.  
           After the 43 students went missing the public came out in the  
          tens of thousands.  Protests spread to the capital and people  
          began marching, while crying out, "Ya me canse!" "I've had  
          enough!."  To this day, investigations have stalled and the  
          police chief is still a fugitive.
           
           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Fiscal Com.:  No


          JA:k  1/13/15   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  NONE RECEIVED

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