Posted on 02/28/2009 8:02:23 PM PST by holymoly
(CBS/AP) Mexico blames the U.S. for arming the world's most powerful drug cartels, a complaint supported on Friday by a U.S. government report that found nearly all of Mexico's escalating drug killings involved weapons from north of the border.
President Felipe Calderon and his top prosecutor told The Associated Press on Thursday that Mexican police and soldiers are dangerously outgunned because U.S. authorities are failing to stop the smuggling of high-powered weapons into Mexico.
Calderon has complained for two years that the U.S. isn't carrying its weight in the cross-border drug war, despite the fact that American drug users fuel the problem.
"We need to stop the flow of guns and weapons towards Mexico," President Calderon told AP. "Let me express to you that we've seized in this two years more than 25,000 weapons and guns, and more than 90 percent of them came from United States, and I'm talking from missiles launchers to machine guns and grenades."
President Barack Obama's administration is beginning to respond.
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder promised to enforce a long-ignored ban on importing assault weapons, many of which are re-sold illegally and smuggled into Mexico to resupply the cartels.
Calderon applauded Holder's announcement saying it was the first time in many years that the American government was starting to show more commitment.
When the U.S. enforced the assault weapons ban, only 21 percent of the weapons Mexico seized from traffickers were assault rifles, Eduardo Medina Mora, Mexico's Attorney General said.
Today, it is more than half, and law enforcement officials are paying with their lives - some 800 have been killed in the past two years.
Both Medina Mora and Calderon said the U.S. should aggressively enforce its gun laws and pressure sellers to keep weapons in the hands of law-abiding citizens.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday that U.S.-purchased or stolen weapons account for 95 percent of Mexico's drug related killings, and that Mexican cartels are increasingly carrying out contract killings in the U.S.
Drug-related killings claimed 6,290 lives last year in Mexico - more than double the 2007 toll. And more than 1,000 have been killed so far this year.
The violence is also spilling into the United States, with a sharp rise in kidnappings in Phoenix and cartels linked to gruesome murders all over the U.S.
Holder announced on Wednesday the Drug Enforcement Administration had rounded up 755 suspected Sinaloa cartel members and seized more than $59 million in drug money in the past 21 months.
Congress is also paying attention.
Lawmakers included $10 million in the economic stimulus package for Project Gunrunner, a federal crackdown on U.S. gun-trafficking networks.
Mexican cartels often pay U.S. citizens to purchase assault rifles or other guns at gun shops, then sell them to a cartel representative at a U.S. gun show, where registration rules are much less stringent and the gun sale can't be easily traced.
The Brookings Institution has estimated that 2,000 guns enter Mexico from the United States every day.
The ATF says more than 7,700 guns sold in America were traced to Mexico last year, up from 3,300 the year before and about 2,100 in 2006.
Cartels turn to the U.S. because Mexico's gun laws are relatively restrictive.
Mexicans must get approval for a gun purchase from the Mexican defense department and are limited to guns with a calibre no higher than the standard .38-calibre.
Larger calibres are considered military weapons and are off-limits to civilians.
“What kind of inbound inspection process do they have”
A very sophisticated system called red light/green light
I thought the Mexican government was against the Fence.
That’s of course the only solution to their problem, as well as our problem with illegal aliens.
Seems as if the 2 nations have interests that could be solved simultaneously with a single solution.
The thing is if we DID seal the border to stop the gun smugglers, it would also stop the illegal immigrants, and the Mexicans would purely hate that.
How many otherwise law abiding Mexicans are buying guns in the U.S. for self-protection. If you live in Mexico, you don’t really know if you can trust the police or the military. I don’t see anyone asking that question.
Mexico should probably take a close look at its own military when it comes to stopping the supply of these weapons.
Note to CBS - Mexico is not a landlocked country that shares a border only with the US. Mexico has two coasts and a southern border; all of these are excellent avenues for smuggling. Also, Mexico has an military arms industry. I imagine that millionaire druglords can afford to procure arms from Mexican arms factories and from morally ambiguous police and federales. Sure, some smuggling is done across the US-Mexico border, but there are many, many other ways for druglords to get their paws on guns in Mexico.
It was a blue light special. 37 bucks each or two for 50 bucks. Hell of deal. The sold out of tow missiles but did give me rain check.
There is no way that the US is sending them grenades, machine guns and missile launchers. It's their own military’s stuff, bought and sold to the cartels by indigenous criminals.
So... let’s see if I’ve got this right. The weapons originate in the United States, so the trade in weapons is the fault of the United States. The drugs, meanwhile, originate in Mexico, so the trade in drugs is the fault of... the United States.
Okay, I think I’ve got it straight now.
I can't imagine the cocaine might be coming across Mexico's southern border, could it?
“A very sophisticated system called red light/green light”
I’ve actually seen people arguing with that light at the border.
No, I say let the Mexican government fight it out with the drug lords, and see who wins.
Oh, btw Eric Holder, Mexico is not now a state in the Union, you richard cranium.
5.56mm
We complain about the drugs and they complain about the guns. It’s funny how they say we need to dry up the market here in the US in order to curb the drug flow from Mexico. Well, if they would just: you get the point.
Could be this bit of propaganda is not aimed at gunowning US Citizens, Calderon is more then likely trying to stir up the Mexican Communities in the US to scare the hell out of them.
C..BS...though...”rocket launchers”...are those people that stupid?
These weapons originally came from America but they made their way to Mexico by a third party. I bet someone like the Palestinians were the ones who sold American weapons to the cartels. How many times have we sent the Palestinian security forces weapons? If by some chance they were coming from America it could be stopped by securing the border. We know that won’t happen because it’s not about Mexico it’s about disarming America.
With AK-47s going for $50 in bazaars all over the world, I imagine closing the "gun show loophole" won't have much effect on the guns available - except for law abiding Americans.
But then, that's the idea, isn't it?
I agree. Why should drug cartel troops use semi auto AR-15 against Mexican troops with full auto rifles?? Class III weapons should be the weapons of choice, and one cannot just waltz into a gun store and buy one. Not unless the Mexican Army is like the Mumbai police, they are still using WWII bolt action rifles and riding horses.
This crap about Mexico is the latest in the talking points. Bozos a**clown mentioned it Friday when he was talking about banning assault weapons again. The DNC must have passed the talking points on to the MSM for a saturation campaign.
To claim they are getting rocket launchers, machine guns and other class III weapons through gun shows is just about the biggest lie these ba****s have told yet.
Where are they getting missile launchers? I want one
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