Press Release
Washington, D.C.—Yesterday Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, together with 13 other senators, sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State John Kerry expressing concern for the 43 Mexican students who were forcibly disappeared in Iguala, Guerrero.
In the letter, the senators state: “We are concerned that the situation in Guerrero is symptomatic of a larger issue that has been endemic to Mexico in recent years. We are deeply troubled by the reports of multiple clandestine mass graves that have been found throughout the search process.” The letter mentions that, according to data from the Mexican government, more than 22,000 people have disappeared in Mexico in the last decade.
Regarding the role of the U.S. government, the letter emphasizes that “It is critical that the United States stand in partnership with these efforts to ensure justice for the 43 young students and for the tens of thousands of Mexicans that have gone missing.”
Maureen Meyer, Senior Associate for the Mexico program at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), congratulates the senators for their expression of support. “It’s important that these senators are standing in solidarity with the students and their families, and with the thousands of Mexicans who have taken to the streets to protest impunity,” says Meyer, and continues, “The terrible and shameful events that took place in Iguala highlight Mexico’s lack of progress on human rights and have sparked international outrage.”
Click here to read the letter to Secretary Kerry.
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Contact:
Hannah Smith
Program Assistant
WOLA
(402) 216-6040
hsmith@wola.org
