Kerry will hold SFRC in Texas on border problems

[karynnj]

"Jumping on a hot issue these days, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is hitting the road next week for a hearing on US-Mexico border violence.

Senator John F. Kerry, the committee's chairman, announced today that the forum will be Monday morning at the University of Texas at El Paso.

“The drug-related violence at the border has sent shock waves through both countries, and we need to increase cooperation between the United States and Mexico to combat it before it reaches a tipping point,” Kerry said in a statement. “President Calderon has bravely taken on these lawless cartels at great cost to his government and the Mexican people. We have a responsibility on our side of the border to work more closely with our Mexican counterparts to stem the flow of weapons from the United States and deal with a drug problem festering for decades.”
<snip>
"Congressman Silvestre Reyes of El Paso, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a former Border Patrol officer, will also take part in the hearing. "

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/03/texas_twostep_f.html

It will be interesting to see whether these hearings - held near the border - will solicit information that prior hearings on the issue did. (Here's a link to a hearing yesterday in the Senate Homeland Security committee - http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=c90839b0-9167-4819-b943-332988b403b1 ) Janet Napolitano and deputy SoS, Steinberg, and deputy AG, Ogden were the witnesses.

It will be interesting to see what different type of information SFRC will be able to pull together and to see the witnesses they want to have. It is interesting that Lieberman spoke of how changing the gun rules would help (though HRC said they won't do that) and he spoke of the fact that legislation should deal with the stored value cards that can be used to launder drug money - they are less conspicuous than bundles of cash and they are not considered money so the border people can't do anything about it.

McCain spoke next and spoke of hearings planned on April 20th in Phoenix to get insight on the ground. He spoke of Phoenix as the kidnapping capital of the country and spoke of armed gun fights in Nogales, which is on both sides of the border. McCain mentioned that we are creating the demand.

Napolitano then gave a description of the violence saying that the scope of has changed drastically in magnitude. Because Mexico and the US are working to stop the drug trade which has led to the cartels fighting each other in turf battles. She said that there is a different level - 6000 homicides in Northern states of Mexico - 550 of law enforcement or public official. Napolitano said the majority of weapons come from the US. She mentioned that 997 firearms were seized between March 7 and 13th. This was with 4 and a half million dollars in cash.

(That this committee planned AZ hearings might cause some to question Kerry doing so (even though there are often overlapping hearings) - but his background on gun/drug running is unique in the Senate and Reyes background sounds unusual as well. It will be interesting to see how questions from different perspectives elicit more information or solutions.

Here is an El Paso article that gives the witnesses -

"The Committee will hear testimony from several witness including: Jaime Esparza, District Attorney, 34th Judicial District of Texas; Arthur Doty, Director of the El Paso Intelligence Center; Ricardo Garica Carriles, former Juárez Director of Public Safety; and Dr. Howard Campbell, UTEP Professor of Anthropology and Sociology."

It also includes this sentence that shows why SFRC has an oversight responsibility on this:
"As Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Kerry, is a key player in U.S. foreign policy, including the Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion plan to help Mexico combat drug-related violence"
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_11986628

[karynnj]

1. Here is a much better article that adds a huge amount

It is interesting that Kerry will be accompanied by two Republicans, Corker and Barrasso. It also speaks of Reyes having held a border conference in DC as Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It also says Kerry will have some policy suggestions.

"Frederik Jones, spokesman for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Kerry wanted to have the hearing in El Paso for a simple reason: El Paso and Juárez are considered ground zero when it comes to the violence.

To regain control of Juárez, the Mexican government has sent more than 8,000 soldiers and federal police officers to patrol its streets. The city's police department is being directed by a retired Mexican army general."

<snip>
Jones said Kerry would offer specific policy ideas while in El Paso.

"He has his ideas on how the U.S. can help Mexico, but he doesn't want to discuss them until he gets to El Paso," Jones said.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/politics/ci_11997808
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This could be REALLY interesting.

[wisteria]

2. I agree, this could be interesting. n/t

[MBS]

3. what a great idea to hold this on site!

Seems like JK is doing some really creative things with the SFRC

[karynnj]

4. Also great that he partnered with Reyes

who is connected to both this issue and this area. That has to make the local people more comfortable. This may encourage people to give observations and it will be interesting to see how they respond to the Senator's ideas.

[JI7]

5. he really is, not just as a "watchdog" type balance ot what executive branch is doing

but he is taking the lead on issues and trying to come up with his own proposals. what he has always done, but now he has some real power to do it.

[YvonneCa]

6. Anyone know if this hearing is open to the public? n/t

[karynnj]

7. Yes it is open to the public

The El Paso articles seemed to say that by saying "public", but here's a link that says it is open to the public (at 8 AM)

"EL PASO, Texas -- Senator John Kerry will join Congressman Silvestre Reyes at a field hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Monday at UTEP.

The focus of the hearing will be Mexico's drug violence. The hearing, which is open to the public, will take place starting at 8 a.m. at the Tomas Rivera Conference Room at UTEP.

District Attorney Jaime Esparza, former Juarez director of public safety Ricardo Garica Carriles and UTEP professor Howard Campbell will speak at the hearing."

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=10071324&nav=AbC0

[YvonneCa]

8. Thanks, karynnj. We in San Diego face...

...similar issues. I am very interested in this hearing. And the fact that Senator Kerry will preside is the BEST news. (Eight years of Lou Dobbs holding the 'bully pulpit' on this issue has been hard to take. :7 )

[ladym55]

9. I am so excited that Kerry is headed to El Paso

Things are really scary there ... I can't tell you what it means to know that really good minds are focusing on the situation on the Mexican border. Juarez has more than 1 million residents and a huge US manufacturing presence. Those citizens go in fear every day of their lives.

[karynnj]

10. Another article on the hearing - written before it started

They make a lot of the fact that Reyes promised such a hearing - ignoring that he wanted to do it with another committee. The comments from Campbell should be very interesting. (I know that last fall Kerry was against decriminalization of pot -but I wonder if MA has had enough experience with it that they could be essentially a test - where there were negative (or positive) impacts or not.


http://newspapertree.com/news/3600-sen-kerry-beats-rep-reyes-to-field-hearing-on-drug-war-monday