Gypsy Jan - 11-12-2008 at 12:58 PM
November 12, 2008
Security News
Guns Galore
A man arrested in connection with the largest reported weapons seizure in
recent Mexican history remains jailed in a maximum security prison outside
Mexico City. Jaime Gonzalez Duran, alias “The Hummer,” was arrested
November 7 along with two other men in the northern border city of
Reynosa, Tamaulipas, by the Mexican army and Federal Preventive Police.
In the Reynosa raid, federal authorities confiscated 428 guns, 287
grenades and more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition. A rocket launcher,
fourteen sticks of TNT and other explosive material were also recovered. A
military deserter, Gonzalez is alleged to be a co-founder of the Zetas
crime gang, which hatched as the armed wing of the Gulf drug cartel but
reportedly later branched out on its own to at least 17 Mexican states and
the Federal District.
In the aftermath of Gonzalez’s detention, the Mexican press quoted a
document attributed to federal security agencies and the armed forces that
detailed weapons confiscations from December 1, 2006 to October 30, 2008,
the first 23 months of the administration of President Felipe Calderon.
Mexican officials purportedly seized 25,657 guns- including 13,807 assault
and other rifles- 1,642 grenades and 2.4 million rounds of ammunition.
Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the arms were seized in the states of
Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Jalisco, Sonora, and Chihuahua, all entities with
high degrees of narco-violence. The Gulf Cartel was the organization hit
hardest by the law enforcement actions, according to the report.
Authorities linked seizures of M72 and AT-4 anti-tank rockets, RPG-7
grenade launchers and other military weaponry to the criminal
organization.
The Reynosa bust and subsequent revelations of weapons confiscations raise
important questions. Mexican and US law enforcement authorities routinely
pin the soaring levels of narco-violence in Mexico on gun-smuggling from
the United States, where firearms are much easier to legally obtain. Legal
gun shops and gun shows are frequently cited as sources for the deadly
contraband, and sometimes arrests are made.
To stem the flow of weapons across the border, proposals are or in place
or in the air to tighten sales at US gun shows, increase vehicle
checkpoints at border crossings and improve data bases of weapons
purchases by US citizens so guns could be better traced if they wind up in
the wrong hands south of the border.
Recently, Mexican military police randomly stopped and searched
pedestrians on one of the international bridges between El Paso, Texas,
and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Yet many of the weapons confiscated in Reynosa and elsewhere in the
Mexican Republic are not run-of-the mill guns for sale at the corner store
or weekend show. In the US, it is simply not legal to sell grenades and
anti-tank missiles alongside deer rifles. And AK-47s, the preferred weapon
of the narco gunslinger, are manufactured in many different countries.
So, what then is the origin of the bulk of illicit weapons used in Mexico?
Are significant numbers of US gun dealers maintaining legal fronts just to
run an illegal cross-border business? Are crates of automatic weapons from
throughout the world somehow sneaking by Mexican port inspectors? Are
government officials in both the US and Mexico with access to military
weaponry operating a bloody but profitable business? Unfortunately, few
answers to these questions have been forthcoming. With respect to
grenades, for example, Mexican authorities have yet to publicly reveal how
so many of the devices are floating around and exploding across the
country.
Meanwhile, guns and bombs continue to blaze across Mexico. In one 24-hour
period in Ciudad Juarez earlier this week, at least 11 people were slain
gangland-style, including two men and two women who were gunned down
during broad daylight in front of a hospital. A headless body was dumped
in front of a police station, while another couple was machine-gunned
while driving on a busy street in the center of the border city.
In the Baja California cities of Tijuana and Playas de Rosarito, 9
killings initiated a bloody week that continued to get bloodier. The
victims included Omar Rodriguez, an ex-state police agent and a former
bodyguard for world boxing champ Erick “El Terrible” Morales, and
33-year-old Alejandro Esquivel Baez, who was shot in his home by assassins
as he ate dinner with his wife and two young daughters.
In Sinaloa, between 50-100 armed men traveling in 15 pickup trucks
kidnapped 27 men identified as agricultural laborers November 10 from La
Guajira tomato and cucumber farm, a property linked to an in-law of the
Carrillo Fuentes family of Juarez Cartel fame. And in Chihuahua City, also
the scene of numerous executions, firebombs scorched the chic Maria
Chuchena restaurant and El Dorado seafood diner in an upscale section of
the city. On November 11, bomb threats prompted the closure of one
university campus and the evacuation of the Plaza del Sol mall.
According to a story in El Universal, nearly 4,500 people have been
murdered in narco-related incidents during 2008 so far-a record high.
Sources: Norte, November 11, 2008. Article by Carlos Huerta. Frontera,
November 11, 2008. Univision, November 11, 2008. Lapolaka.com, November
10, 11 and 12, 2008. La Jornada, November 8, 10 and 11, 2008. Articles by
Gustavo Castillo, Miroslava Breach, Antonio Heras, editorial staff, and
the Notimex news agency. El Universal, November 11 and 12, 2008. Articles
by Javier Cabrera and the EFE news service.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
BajaBruno - 11-12-2008 at 11:05 PM
The drugs are coming from Columbia and it is likely the military hardware is, too. Well, Venezuela (principally) to Columbia to Mexico. See Rand
report, "Arms Trafficking and Colombia," http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1468/MR1468.pdf
I have read a couple of the Mexican reports, but there is not enough detail to really determine the country of origin of the guns and explosives.
The US has sent billions of dollars of arms to the gov't in Columbia, and Venezuela has sent large shipments of military hardware to the insurgents
who control much of the drug trade. The guns could be coming from either side, but a good guess is that the Mexican cartel members get their guns
from the same place they get their drugs.
For some people, the ready access that Mexican criminals have to guns calls into question the Mexican policy of restricting gun sales for law abiding
citizens. Of course, there is another well-considered side to that debate as well.
Iflyfish - 11-12-2008 at 11:16 PM
Eye popping.
Iflyfish