Mexico and the Drug War: International Arms Trade and Mexican Insecurity Sergio Aguayo - Mexico Voices
go to original February 16, 2017

Most of the guns in Mexico are smuggled in from the United States – Mexico actually has extremely strict gun control laws. So strict, in fact, that there's only one store in the entire country where citizens can legally purchase a gun. (Tech Insider)

The readjustment of Mexican national security depends on the Congress. When its members discuss the proposed Internal Security Law, they should incorporate the US angle, in particular the legal and illegal sale of weapons.

Mexico is a bread basket for those who like weapons. One consequence is the epidemic of deaths and injuries, silenced and minimized by the governments of Mexico and the United States, and by the U.S. companies that supply war materiel to both sides in the conflict. The military and police acquire it legally; organized crime by clandestine means. The two markets are formally separate, but with many connections between the two.

According to Iñigo Guevara (quoted by The Washington Post), between 2012 and 2015 the Mexican government bought $3.5 billion worth of arms from the United States. John Lindsay-Poland, an analyst with the American Friends Service Committee, found evidence of a contract unknown until now. In April 2015, the Army (SEDENA, by its Spanish acronym) signed an agreement with Sig Sauer, a U.S. company with origins in Germany, to acquire up to US$265 million in pistols, assault rifles and other firearms. If these were just pistols, SEDENA would receive 400,000 of them in the coming years.

A part of this arsenal will be used by the armed forces; another part will be sent to the state and municipal police departments. Those that are delivered to the police could end up in the hands of criminals, because Mexico lacks adequate weapons controls. In other words, SEDENA would be arming their own enemies on the battlefield.

...Mexican domestic security requires a major overhaul that includes an integrated strategy that offers guarantees to the armed forces and restructures the police force, making protection of society the priority. In light of the president's inaction, it is up to the Congress to investigate what is happening with the weapons, in the knowledge that this is a fundamental component for halting the bloodshed and attending to the victims.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Related: The Illegal and Legal Blur in US-Mexico Arms Trafficking (Bearing Arms)

Translated by John Lindsay-Poland

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico - on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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