Letter to the Hon. Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States - Request GAO Review of Mérida Initiative

Letter

Dear. Mr. Dodaro:

In 2017, Mexico recorded more than 29,000 homicides, making it the most violent year on record. This violence stems, in part, from transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) operating in Mexico and their use of armed groups. These TCOs have also engaged in theft of oil pipelines, money laundering, and trafficking people, arms, and drugs, which has contributed to our country's opioid epidemic through heroin and fentanyl trafficked into Mexico from China. Given these developments, Congress has a key interest to ensure that all U.S. efforts dedicated to combatting violence and drug trafficking in Mexico are effective, and we would like to request that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct a review of the Mérida Initiative.

In 2008, the U.S. and Mexico launched the Mérida Initiative, a partnership between both countries to counter the threats from Mexican drug cartels. Over the last decade, Congress has appropriated $2.9 billion in security assistance to Mexico to support this Initiative. U.S. assistance has provided Mexico's state and federal security forces with technical support and equipment to support Mexico's justice system, professionalize the courts, and reduce corruption. As a result, the U.S. and Mexico have strengthened cooperation, which has led to increased extraditions from Mexico and the establishment of new national training standards for police, investigators, prosecutors, and judges in Mexico and the implementation of an accusatorial justice system at the federal and state level. Mexico has also led efforts to seize more than $4 billion in illicit drugs and currency and apprehend more than 400,000 Central American migrants.

Yet, continued violence, government corruption and low conviction rates, human rights abuses, and increasing drug production and trafficking in and through Mexico remain challenges. While we strongly support the Mérida partnership between the U.S. and Mexico, we believe that this Initiative requires continued vigilance to achieve maximum effectiveness. Evidence from Congressional oversight efforts has also demonstrated a need for an independent impact assessment to ensure that the Mérida Initiative is meeting U.S. objectives. As it has been more than a decade since this Initiative began, we believe that a review of this program is timely. We ask that the GAO review of the Mérida Initiative include the following:

1. Examine the extent to which the Mérida Initiative is meeting its stated objectives under each of its four pillars to disrupt the capacity of organized crime to operate, institutionalize capacity to sustain the rule of law, create a 21st century border structure, and to build strong and resilient communities and any changes that have been instituted to these objectives since the program's creation in 2008;

2. Assess the efficiency of the interagency process and information-sharing between the U.S. Departments of State, Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, and USAID related to the Mérida Initiative and U.S. interaction with relevant Mexican government ministries, in the design, implementation, and tracking of projects implemented with Mérida funding;

3. Assess the process that each of the relevant U.S. government agencies uses to evaluate and measure the results and outcomes of projects implemented under the Mérida Initiative;

4. Examine the wider effect that the Mérida Initiative has had on countering Mexican drug cartels, impacting the security situation in Mexico, including improving human rights and the country's rule of law and justice systems, and resulting in changes to the flow of drugs from Mexico to the U.S.;

5. Provide a breakdown of U.S. vs. Mexican contributions to the Mérida Initiative;

6. Assess the impact of the Mérida Initiative and related efforts in combating illicit activities, including thefts of oil pipelines, money laundering, and trafficking people, arms, and drugs;

7. Provide recommendations on ways to improve the Mérida Initiative's implementation and effectiveness.

If you have any questions, please contact our staff, Rebecca Ulrich (Rep. Cook, 202-226-9980), Sadaf Khan (Rep. Sires, 202-225-7919), Brandon Batch (Rep. McCaul, 202-225-2401), or Sid Ravishankar (202-225-3236).

Sincerely,