Posted on 04/02/2011 7:27:53 AM PDT by marktwain
MEXICO CITY – The most fearsome weapons wielded by Mexico’s drug cartels enter the country from Central America, not the United States, according to U.S. diplomatic cables disseminated by WikiLeaks and published on Tuesday by La Jornada newspaper.
Items such as grenades and rocket-launchers are stolen from Central American armies and smuggled into Mexico via neighboring Guatemala, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City reported to Washington.
The assertions appear in embassy cables written after three bilateral conferences on arms trafficking that took place between March 2009 and January 2010 in Cuernavaca, Mexico; Phoenix; and Tapachula, Mexico, respectively.
The cables’ authors note that Mexican officials and politicians never hesitate to remind U.S. diplomats that Mexico’s drug war – which has claimed 35,000 lives in the last four years – is fueled by Americans’ demand for illegal drugs and by guns bought in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Yet one of the cables maintains that 90 percent of the heavy armament Mexican security forces seize from cartel gunmen comes from Central America.
The cable, which does not offer any particulars or supporting documentation, does acknowledge that the vast majority of the handguns and many of the assault rifles used by the cartels enter Mexico from the United States.
A message drafted after the October 2009 conference in Tapachula blamed the Mexican government for not doing enough to patrol the southern border with Guatemala.
“While there are 30,000 U.S. CBP (Customs and Border Protection) officers on the 1,926 mile Mexican/U.S. border, only 125 Mexican immigration officials monitor the 577 mile border with Guatemala,” the embassy cable says.
La Jornada’s publication of the cables follows revelations in the United States about a botched sting operation, “Fast and Furious,” that saw members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allow close to 2,000 weapons to be smuggled from Arizona to Mexico over 15 months.
Around 1,200 of the those guns were never tracked down by authorities, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a U.S. think-tank.
U.S. President Barack Obama said that neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder gave authorization for Fast and Furious. EFE
It is no surprise that the military weapons in Mexico come mostly from Central America, Korea, and other sources. If I were a cartel member, I would be looking to make contacts in Africa and the Middle East as well.
It will not be long before they begin making their way into the US.
I would think that the majority come the from Mexican army armories. It would require [gasp!] a corrupt or co-opted member of the Mexican army.
It’s not to the advantage of the Mexican army or government - or the American government for that matter - to publicize this, so one never hears about it.
Wait-—Wait-—Wait, this article does not comply with Obama’s battle to rid us of the 2nd. Amendment.
“I would think that the majority come the from Mexican army armories.”
I kinda doubt that, I mean it has to cost at least $5 to bribe one of those guys.
The interesting thing about this new story is that “they” are now pushing a completely different agenda than “they” were a couple of months ago. Back then, the story was how American guns were the big problem and ATF had to impose draconian new measures to prevent US guns from funding drug violence.
Now that ATF got caught shipping guns to Mexico from the US, the big problem turns out to be those danged Central American weapons after all, not a “small” number of ATF sponsored guns.
Blowback’s a bitch. But ATF has the old media to change the story to cover it.
My daughter has a friend whose father is undercover narcotics here in LA. I got into a brief debate with him about the source of cartel weapons. He takes the party line that they come from the US. I took the more obvious position that they buy in bulk from various arms dealers and military sources in Central and South America. His head was ready to explode lol.
The whole argument that the cartels wouldn’t be armed without guns from the U.S. is absurd. They’ll get them from arms dealers around the world just like the nuts in Asia and Africa you see waving their AK-47s for the cameras.
Oh, I thought they all came from Texas Wal-Marts and town park gun shows...
A message drafted after the October 2009 conference in Tapachula blamed the Mexican government for not doing enough to patrol the southern border with Guatemala.The American people blame the Obama regime for not doing enough to patrol the southern border with Mexico, or our own streets.
A grenade isn’t a “heavy” weapon....what a joke.
A grenade isn’t a “heavy” weapon. ........................... It doesn’t need to be heavy to be fearsome. A 50 cal. mounted on a pick up truck would be considered a heavy weapon. An RPG is also a fearsome weapon that might be considered as a heavy weapon as would a LAW. I guess it depends on which side is facing you.
You are correct. In military usage it is a munition, perhaps a small arm, if you wish to stretch it. The point was that it is a military weapon that is almost impossible to buy in legitimate channels in the United States.
Hey, give him more credit.
He wants to get rid of the WHOLE Constitution.
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