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Old 08-24-2004, 09:05   #5
Airbornelawyer
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,952
MEChA and similar groups pose no military/law enforcement threat. They do seek to undermine our border controls and immigration laws, which can help others with more serious issues enter the country.

Tangential to this, though, did you know that Mexico is now the only country in the Western Hemisphere which does not have a mutual defense treaty with the United States? The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of 1947, or the Rio Treaty, is the defense treaty which, like the NATO and ANZUS treaties, calls on parties to come to each other's aid in case of an attack.
Quote:
The High Contracting Parties agree that an armed attack by any State against an American State shall be considered as an attack against all the American States and, consequently, each one of the said Contracting Parties undertakes to assist in meeting the attack in the exercise of the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.
All independent countries in the Americas were parties. Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962, but technically is still a party to the Rio Treaty. In early September 2001, Mexico announced its intention to withdraw from the treaty. A week or so later, the United States invoked the treaty. In September 2002, Mexico officially denounced the Rio Treaty.
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