Before the Merida Initiative had a name, this blog referred to the potential aid program as "Not Plan Mexico." It was a joke/criticism that while the Bush administration hadn't given the program a name, they insisted that it should not be called "Plan Mexico" or compared to Plan Colombia in any form. By not branding it early and saying what they didn't want, they handed the program's critics a gift. There are still plenty of writers in both English and Spanish who refer to it as Plan Mexico.The story breaking today, however, places the name Not Plan Mexico in a whole new light. For all the debate, criticism, reporting and analysis that have been done, the Merida Initiative has essentially not happened. It's a myth. It's something in the future.
The GAO reports (online later today) that only 2% of the US$1.4 billion appropriated by Congress since October 2007 for the Merida Initiative has been spent as of September 2009. According to the AP, the $24.2 million spent "has yielded 26 armored vehicles, 30 machines to detect drugs and explosive materials and five x-ray vans, as well as software and several training programs," which is to say not much. To put it another way, the amount of money spent in the first two years of the Merida Initiative is about what the US spends in Iraq every two hours.
Everything you've read about Mexico's security situation and the government's military push for the past two years, whether you praise it or criticize it, has not come from Merida Initiative funds. Merida Initiative money has not played a role in any success or failure that President Calderon's administration has had. It hasn't played a part in major cartel arrests or corruption scandals or military deployments or human rights abuses or police reform. The Merida Initiative has done nothing.
Not Plan Mexico indeed.
