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Who: Chairman John Kerry, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Congressman Silvestre Reyes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
What: Public hearing
When: 8 a.m. Monday, March 30, 2009
Where: The University of Texas at El Paso, Tomás Rivera Conference Center, Union Building East, 500 W. University Avenue, El Paso, Texas
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will conduct a public hearing entitled “U.S.-Mexico Border Violence,” at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 30. The hearing will be held at The University of Texas at El Paso, Tomás Rivera Conference Center, Union Building East, 500 W. University Avenue, El Paso, Texas.
The hearing is open to the public and parking will be available free of charge in the Sun Bowl Parking Garage.
“We will explore ways in which cooperation between the United States and Mexico can be expanded and strengthened to combat the drug-related violence plaguing the border,” said Senator John F. Kerry, chairman of the committee. “President Calderon has bravely taken on these lawless cartels at great cost to his government and the Mexican people. We have a responsibility on our side of the border to find ways to work more closely with our Mexican counterparts to stem the flow of weapons from the United States and to try to curb America’s addiction to drugs.”
The U.S. Senate committee will be joined at the hearing by U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Reyes represents El Paso in Congress and spent 26 years as a Border Patrol officer.
“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.”
“The University of Texas at El Paso is honored to host the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,” said UTEP President Diana Natalicio. “The issues to be addressed in the Committee’s hearing are of the utmost importance to all El Paso and Juárez residents, whose daily lives are impacted by growing concerns about the safety and security of the U.S.-Mexico border. As a major contributor to this region’s human and economic development, UTEP is very pleased to have this opportunity to welcome to our campus this distinguished group of national leaders whose firsthand acquaintance with our region will serve to inform their deliberations, and, ultimately, help shape this region’s future.”
Witnesses at the hearing will discuss the impact of the violence on Mexican society and the border from several different perspectives. Among the people testifying will be senior officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the district attorney of El Paso County, a former Ciudad Juárez police chief, and a representative of a prominent victims’ rights group in Mexico.
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