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From the Los Angeles Times

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Mexico nun is crusader for rights amid drug violence

Sister Consuelo Morales is one of Mexico's most effective defenders of human rights. As the nation's drug war enters its sixth year, the fearless nun has her work cut out for her.

by Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

November 15, 2011

Reporting from Monterrey, Mexico

Even in a career full of threats and harassment, the day someone deposited four cats at her office door, all with their throats slit, stands out for Consuelo Morales.

"They were telling us to be quiet or we'd be next," she says.

That was 14 years ago, and she is still anything but quiet.

The 63-year-old Roman Catholic nun is one of Mexico's most indefatigable and effective defenders of human rights. As the country staggers into a sixth year of drug war violence, Sister Consuelo (as her colleagues call her) has more work than ever.

Mothers whose sons were last seen being hauled away by police seek her counsel. She leads marches and confronts state governors, prosecutors, detectives. She escorts victims past soldiers posted at government buildings and helps them file the kinds of complaints the authorities would rather not see: about the disappeared, the slain, the tortured, allegedly at the hands of police and soldiers.

Standing barely 5 feet tall, with a small silver cross hanging from her neck, Sister Consuelo is fearless and passionate. She is quick to smile warmly, but she might weep at a particularly gruesome story, such as the alleged gang rape of male detainees by soldiers she has just started investigating. After a distraught mother begged her to help her son, Sister Consuelo traveled over bumpy roads for hours to find the young man and hear his story.

Despite the barbarity of the allegations, she steels herself, shrugs and dives into the case with almost matter-of-fact determination.

"You just cannot turn your back," she says. "If we were not here, what would happen?"

Intimidation, imprisonment and even killing of human rights activists have been common occurrences in Mexico, according to groups such as Amnesty International. Dozens of rights advocates have gone into hiding or sought protection.

Remarkably, Sister Consuelo's efforts have led to the arrests of 15 people, including police and government officials, in the last four months. It is significant progress, she says, but it barely scratches the surface of human rights abuses that have been an ugly byproduct of the drug war.

"We are overwhelmed," she says, seated at the office she shares with her team of young lawyers in what was once an old mansion and then a gay disco. It's a drafty, rambling old building overlooking a park and across from a church called the Very Pure.

Nik Steinberg, who covers Mexico for Human Rights Watch and has worked with Sister Consuelo many times, says he has a hard time keeping up with her.

"She is amazing. She works tirelessly and is tireless," he says. "Her organization is the only human rights group working on abuses by security forces in a state where those abuses have gone through the roof. To spend a day in her office is to watch an endless flow of victims.

"She can be disarming to authority figures who are used to people fearing them. She could be their grandmother. It's a firmness and sincerity they have not heard before. But then she also has this gentleness and warmth with the victims and families."

Sister Consuelo was born in Monterrey, an industrial hub and Mexico's wealthiest city, which until recent years had escaped the worst of the drug war. But by 2009, the notorious Zetas gang had moved in and was fighting for territory.

Gun battles in broad daylight, roadblocks manned by cartel gunmen, people staying in their homes — these became the norm in the once-peaceful metropolis. The nadir, perhaps, was Aug. 25, when cartel henchmen set fire to a crowded casino where middle-aged women were playing bingo; 52 people were killed.

The federal government dispatched an additional 1,500 troops to Monterrey and the surrounding states in Operation Scorpion, a move welcomed by many businesspeople desperate to save Mexico's most important economic center but condemned by activists such as Sister Consuelo.

With an enhanced military presence, the violence has not stopped and reports of human rights violations have soared.

"It's a perverse game," Sister Consuelo says. "The more militares there are, the more the violence grows. They are trained to kill, not to police, nor to investigate, nor protect."

Not a day goes by, it seems, without another distraught family arriving at her office, Citizens in Support of Human Rights, or Cadhac, to report a missing relative or a killing by federal forces.

"I'd bet you that for every complaint we receive, there are seven more cases out there," she says. "People still do not want to come forward, to denounce."

Sister Consuelo knew from an early age that she wanted to be a nun. In her youth, it was one of the few options available to a woman who wanted to live a religious life. Yet it was a crisis of faith that drew her to the field of human rights.

The year was 1992, and she didn't think she could make the sacrifice necessary to help a stranger as one would help a brother, as the Bible commands. With reflection, meditation and counsel from trusted advisors, she eventually came to the conclusion that she was indeed up to the task. The following year, she founded Cadhac.

"Working in human rights allows me to confirm my faith, every single day," she says. "Human rights is the way I can confirm I believe in God."

Sister Consuelo was in Los Angeles to receive an award from the New York-based Human Rights Watch in a ceremony Tuesday night. The Alison Des Forges Award "celebrates the valor of individuals who put their lives on the line to protect the dignity and rights of others," according to Human Rights Watch.

Though the honor was made public several weeks ago, it has attracted very little attention in Mexico. Clearly, the kind of things Sister Consuelo talks about discomfit the powerful.

"We are doing what we have to do," she says. "No more, no less."

Though she has faced nothing so grave as the dead-cat incident (which occurred during protests over the treatment of prisoners and prompted half the staff to quit), threats continue.

Last year, Sister Consuelo and her staff took up the cause of environmentalists who were fighting the construction of a resort and golf course in the middle of La Huasteca nature preserve near Monterrey. There were menacing phone calls, and members of the staff were sure they were being followed.

"Any time you touch an interest, be it political or economic, there is a reaction," Sister Consuelo says.

In the case of La Huasteca, the environmentalists won, and the project was scrapped.

She has not felt threatened by the military. "I think they are too busy to realize what we are doing," she says.

In an interview with The Times two years ago, Sister Consuelo bemoaned the lack of public activism in Mexico and complained that citizens failed to protest, make demands, participate in civic life. Now, she says, people seem to be getting more involved, even if most of those speaking out are victims of violence and their families.

"If the victim speaks, it attracts more attention. And then the victim feels accompanied. They are not alone," Sister Consuelo says. "But I still see fear when they participate. We have a very, very long road ahead."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-nun-20111116,0,874023,print.story

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First 5 LA's embarrassment of riches

First 5 LA has an $800-million surplus that could be going toward the care of infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

November 16, 2011

At a time when government agencies are hard-pressed to find the money to serve all the genuine needs, First 5 LA has had its own peculiar problem: a nest egg of more than $800 million that it has hoarded instead of reaching out to more babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

Funded by state cigarette taxes, First 5 LA is an independent county agency that provides various programs for children from birth to age 5, including preschool and health, safety and family literacy services. But a recent audit found that First 5 LA had been building a huge surplus over the years — close to five times its annual budget — and had been serving a smaller percentage of the county's younger residents than its counterparts statewide. It also, according to the audit, signed too many contracts without competitive bidding and failed to provide its own governing commission with basic information about the budget and its contracts. There was no evidence of malfeasance, but the audit said the record-keeping was so bad, there is no way to tell for sure.

The local agency's failure to spend more of its money could cause it trouble given the attempts by the state to take $1 billion in statewide First 5 money to help pay for children's Medi-Cal services. It's all the harder for First 5 leaders throughout the state to argue, as they have been, that they would be forced to cut needed services when the Los Angeles County agency alone has been hanging on to a surplus of more than 80% of the amount the state seeks. It's prudent for government agencies to retain a healthy reserve, but the size of First 5 LA's bank balance went beyond good stewardship; young children who need help aren't getting it while the agency holds on to an extraordinary excess.

First Five LA's executive director, Evelyn V. Martinez, resigned last week, but the agency needs more than a competent replacement. Under Martinez, the governing commission, a group of 13 people from various agencies plus a representative of each Los Angeles County supervisor, failed to ask basic questions about contracts, expenditures or bank balances. Some commissioners should be replaced, and all of them should learn about budgets and contracting rules.

What the agency doesn't need at this point is to be taken over by the county Board of Supervisors, which already has started the process for doing so. That's no cure for agency ills; the county still hasn't figured out its problems with the Department of Children and Family Services. For the most part, the system worked with First 5 LA as it was supposed to: An audit unearthed problems and the responsible manager stepped down. Supervisors can replace commissioners and require regular audits. And both the county and the commission should be working together more closely so that First 5 LA's money can be used to help plug gaps in services to the very young. Whether Martinez and the commission were aware of it or not, the need was all around them.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-first5-20111116,0,509428.story

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From Google News

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Suspect hunted after bullet hits ballistic glass window at White House, Secret Service says

21-year-old is sought after shots are fired near president's residence

The Secret Service has discovered that bullets hit the exterior of the White House but one was deflected by protective ballistic glass, NBC Washington reported on Wednesday.

U.S. Park Police were looking for a man believed to be linked to reports of shots fired near the White House on Friday, but the Secret Service had not conclusively connected the incident with the bullets found on White House grounds, NBC said.

One bullet hit a window but it was stopped by ballistic glass behind the exterior glass. Authorities found another round on the outside of the White House. The bullets were discovered Tuesday.

Police said they were searching for Oscar Ramiro Ortega, 21. He is believed to be in the D.C. area and has ties to Idaho. He will be charged with "carrying a dangerous weapon," police said.

Witnesses reported shots fired at Constitution Avenue and 16th Street in northwest Washington at about 9:30 p.m. ET Friday. The Secret Service, U.S. Park Police, D.C. Police, and Arlington Police all responded. Authorities found a car matching the description of the one involved abandoned near the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge.

Investigators found evidence including a rifle. Early witness reports suggested that the weapon was an AK-47 but U.S. Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser said a semi-automatic gun was involved.

"Specifically what he was aiming at, or not aiming at, is something that would be better addressed by interviewing him," Schlosser said according to The Washington Post. "Otherwise, it's just speculation."

Ortega has a criminal record including arrests for domestic violence, drug offenses, assault on a police officer and underage alcohol possession, the Post reported.

Investigators say Ortega has several distinctive tattoos, including several dots on his right hand. He also has the word "Israel" tattooed on the left side of his neck. U.S. Park Police say he also has several other tattoos on his chest and back including the name "Ortega," hands clasped in prayer and rosary beads.

Gun-Check System Misses Millions Of Drug Abusers, People With Mental Illness, New Report Finds

WASHINGTON -- Millions of reports on people barred by federal law from purchasing guns because of serious mental illness and drug abuse are never added to the federal background check system, according to a study set to be released Tuesday.

The report, by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and entitled "Fatal Gaps: How Missing Records In The Federal Background Check System Put Guns In The Hands Of Killers," was sparked by last January's assassination attempt on Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) that left six people dead and 14 injured.

The study, to be presented in a Senate hearing, finds two huge gaps in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is supposed to keep guns out of the hands of serious drug abusers and those with mental illness.

The first, harder to fix problem, is that many states and state agencies do not cooperate with the system. The second is that federal agencies don't comply either. Congress tried to remedy both after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 that left 32 people dead and 15 injured, but with only partial success.

"Millions of records identifying seriously mentally ill people and drug abusers as prohibited purchasers are missing from the federal background check database because of lax reporting by state agencies," the report says.

That is the tougher problem because, the report says, the Constitution's 10th Amendment means that the federal government cannot force the states to turn over records.

Congress wrote up a number of financial incentives to get states to comply after the Virginia Tech killings, but so far the inducements have not worked well.

Among the more troubling statistics on state compliance, the report finds that 23 states and the District of Columbia each have submitted fewer than 100 records of people with disqualifying mental illness. And 17 states have handed over fewer than 10 records, while another four states have not turned in any.

The stats are even worse with substance abuse reports. Forty-four states have submitted fewer than 10 records, and 33 of those haven't turned in any.

Still, the report found some signs of progress, in that vastly more mental health records are being added to NCIS. In 2006, before the Virginia Tech outburst, only 405 gun sales were stopped for mental health reasons, while that figure jumped to 6,103 in 2010.

The mayors recommend beefing up incentives to get states to do more.

Perhaps more troubling is a startling lack of compliance by federal agencies, the report found.

"Federal agencies are not reporting records to NICS, even though the NICS Improvement Act requires all federal agencies to provide 'any record of any person' who is prohibited from purchasing firearms to the FBI on at least a quarterly basis," the report says.

Of 61 agencies that the mayors were able to get data on from the FBI, 52 had reported no mental illness records, with nearly all of the 143,579 that were reported coming from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

It's worse with substance abuse -- about 90 percent of 12,000 controlled substance records -- reports of people caught with illegal drugs -- have come from the courts.

"The vast majority of federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Defense and the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps, have not submitted a single substance abuse record," the report says. The report recommends that Obama issue an executive order compelling agencies to report more efficiently.

The study will be presented at a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, where among the witnesses will be Pat Maisch, a survivor of Loughner's Tucson shooting spree.

Some 50 other survivors of mass shootings will also visit the Capitol to push for better reporting, capping the National Drive to Fix Gun Checks , launched by Omar Samaha, whose sister died at Virginia Tech.

While the Senate will be highlighting the flaws in the gun control system, the House will be acting to loosen gun restrictions Tuesday, taking up a measure that would require states to honor other jurisdictions' concealed-carry permits.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/gun-check-system-misses-millions_n_1093899.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

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