BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SR 7|
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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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