Sen. John Kerry to attend El Paso hearing on border violence
Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso Times
Posted: 03/25/2009 09:24:09 AM MDT


EL PASO -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is coming to El Paso next week for a hearing on border violence.
Kerry, D-Mass., will join Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, at the hearing at 8 a.m. Monday in the Tomas Rivera Center at UTEP.

"I commend Senator Kerry for convening this critical hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in El Paso," Reyes said. "While I am pleased that Congress has held hearings on Mexico's drug-related violence in Washington, D.C., it is imperative that our top congressional leaders get a first-hand account of the situation on the ground."

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. 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.

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