Just where do Mexican cartel weapons come from

This essay will provide an overview of the major policy positions articulated in the literature pertaining to Mexican cartel weapons origins. The four major positions related to firearms are those of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), the Mexican government under the Felipe Calderón administration, US interest groups focusing on firearms regulation, and US interest groups focusing on firearms deregulation. The essay will then analyze the major sources of Mexican cartel weapons and then provide conclusions stemming from this analysis and the future trends identified. A component of this assessment will be the provision of gross estimates of the weapons sources themselves in order to show that Mexican cartel weapons origins are diverse in nature and have been increasing in sophistication over time from basic civilian arms into paramilitary and military arms. Part of the reason for this increase in sophistication has been the rise of Los Zetas which has resulted in a deadly ‘arms race’ taking place between the various Mexican cartels. Keywords: BATFcorruptiongrenadesinfantry weaponsLos ZetasMexican cartelspolicy agendassmall armssmugglingstraw purchasesweapons transfers Acknowledgements These views do not represent those of Dade County or any other US governmental body or agency. Special thanks to Graham H. Turbiville, Jr., Lisa J. Campbell, Sid Heal, and Kurt Hofmann for providing research support. All weapons identification, derived from photos of seized cartel arms, was conducted by David Kuhn. Document handling and analysis of US State Department cables, published by WikiLeaks, was conducted solely by Robert Bunker. Notes 1. CitationBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives website, ‘About ATF’. 2. CitationGoodman and Marizco, ‘US Firearms Trafficking to Mexico’, 167. Note reference to United States of America vs. Juan Pablo Guiterrez, Criminal Complaint, Case Number H-08–695 m, United States District Court of Southern Texas, filed on 2 October 2008. 3. CitationStatement of William Hoover, 9. 4. These sound bite examples were taken from CitationLevi, ‘Mexico: US Supplies 90% of Cartel's Guns’ and CitationGore, ‘Counting Mexico's Guns’. 5. CitationUS Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Office of Field Operations, Project Gunrunner, 5. 6. Levi, ‘Mexico: US Supplies 90% of Cartel's Guns’. 7. CitationSheridan, ‘Mexico's Calderón Tells Congress He Needs US Help in Fighting Drug Wars’. 8. From the text of a letter sent by Senator Feinstein to President Obama on 9 March 2009. Citation Senators Feinstein and Durbin Request Senate Committee to Take up Inter-American Convention Against Illegal Arms Trafficking . Authors' note: A discrepancy exists between the 17 March 2009 William Hoover (ATF) testimony concerning the 90% figure and the 9 March 2009 Diane Feinstein letter which quotes that figure but predates it by 8 days. Typically Congressional testimony is submitted in writing prior to the actual hearing date and Feinstein probably utilized it prior to its public release. 9. See CitationViolence Policy Center, Indicted; CitationHenigan, ‘Guns to Mexico’; and CitationMayors Against Illegal Guns, ‘Mayors Against Illegal Guns Releases New Report’. This last group is more mainstream than the others; however, it supports enforcement of the Ban on the Importation of Non-Sporting Firearms – also known as the Assault Weapons Ban – (Recommendation 38) and that would seemingly place it in the firearms regulation group. See CitationMayors Against Illegal Guns, A Blueprint for Federal Action on Illegal Guns, 30. 10. CitationCordea, ‘Do US Government Arms Exports Play a Part in Arming Mexican Cartels?’; CitationNational Rifle Association – Institute for Legislative Action, ‘Heavily-Armed Cartel Attacks Mexican Army’. CitationHofmann, ‘Mexico City Newspaper Points to Source of Drug Cartels' Guns – the Government’. 11. CitationLevine, ‘Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Homeland Security’, 69. 12. Goodman and Marizco, ‘US Firearms Trafficking to Mexico’, 170. 13. Goodman and Marizco, ‘US Firearms Trafficking to Mexico’ 185. 14. CitationStatement of Kenneth E. Melson. 15. CitationStatement of Kenneth E. Melson 16. CitationUS Embassy in Mexico, Mexico Arms Trafficking. 17. Instead of corruption on the American side of the border the covert BATF ‘Fast and Furious’ operation that has recently come to light is now causing its own methodological tracking issues pertaining to arms smuggled into Mexico. This will be discussed in the following paragraph of this essay. 18. The 2,500 figure is based on a BATF agent estimate. Citation Dallas Morning News , ‘Editorial: Federal Gun-Smuggling Surveillance Program Backfires’. 19. CitationRobberson, ‘Project Gunrunner, an ATF Operation Run Amok’. Also see the embedded CBS News video. 20. CitationAttkisson, ‘Agent: I was ordered to let US guns into Mexico’. 21. CitationAttkisson, ‘Agent: I was ordered to let US guns into Mexico’ 22. CitationAttkisson, ‘Atf Gunwalking Scandal: Second Agent Speaks Out’. Also see embedded CBS News video and related stories. 23. CitationAttkisson, ‘Gun Shop Owner Expressed Concerns Early on in ‘Gunwalker’ Scandal’. 24. That author is a trained forensics examiner of small arms and documents pertaining to them and has worked in law enforcement for over two decades. Dozens of documents were reviewed in the creation of these gross estimates. 25. CitationAssociated Press, ‘Mexico Seizes Hundreds of Drug-Cartel Weapons in Record Raid’. 26. CitationAssociated Press, ‘Mexico Seizes Hundreds of Drug-Cartel Weapons in Record Raid’ 27. CitationAssociated Press. ‘Mexico's Weapons Cache Stymies Tracing’. 28. Goodman and Marizco, ‘US Firearms Trafficking to Mexico’, 185. 29. Goodman and Marizco, ‘US Firearms Trafficking to Mexico’ 170. 30. This inventory of cartel weapons was compiled from numerous OSINT sources including reports and the review of images of cartel small arms seizures. These documents include CitationCampbell, ‘Los Zetas: operational assessment’, 64–65; Miroff and Booth, ‘Mexican Drug Cartels' Newest Weapon’; CitationSanchez, ‘Mexican Drug Cartels Armed to the Hilt, Threatening National Security’; and CitationStewart, ‘Mexico's Gun Supply and the 90 Percent Myth’. 31. CitationLicón, ‘Fighting Back’. For the actual estimate see http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/mexico which cites CitationKarp, ‘Completing the Count: Civilian firearms.’ 32. Most of the US domestic sourcing information is derived from David Kuhn's professional law enforcement and weapons tracing experience. 33. See CitationBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Federal Firearms Regulation Reference Guide 2005, 4–31. 34. National Firearms Act of 1968; 26 USC, Sec: 5801 et seq. 35. National Firearms Act of 1968; 26 USC, Sec: 5801 et seq 36. This BATF statement has been made numerous times over the last two decades according to David Kuhn. 37. CitationMartinez, ‘Columbus, NM Mayor, Police Chief Indicted on Drugs, Weapons Charges’. 38. CitationPotter, ‘Mexican cartels corrupting more US border officials?’ 39. CitationKouri, ‘Mueller to US Congress: FBI's focus has shifted’. 40. CitationCorchado, ‘Drug Cartels Taking over Government Roles in Parts of Mexico’. 41. Mexican reporters are killed for far more benign cartel related stories and are increasingly being threatened, tortured, and killed if they do not follow the various dictates of the warring cartels. See CitationCommittee to Protect Journalists, ‘Silence or Death in Mexico's Press’. 42. CitationLloyd, ‘Desertion Rate Plagues Mexico's Army / Poor Pay, Tough Conditions, Drug Cartels Blamed’. 43. CitationLloyd, ‘Desertion Rate Plagues Mexico's Army / Poor Pay, Tough Conditions, Drug Cartels Blamed’ 44. Sanchez, ‘Mexican Drug Cartels Armed to the Hilt, Threatening National Security’. 45. Citation Borderland Beat , ‘Nearly 1,700 Special Forces Troops Desert Mexican Army.’ 46. Citation Borderland Beat , ‘Nearly 1,700 Special Forces Troops Desert Mexican Army.’ 47. CitationEllingwood, ‘Mexican President Wants to Do Away with Local Police’. 48. Police in the states of Zacatecas, Guerrero, Coahuila, and Yucatan already have access to grenades. Police in Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Veracruz should be so armed by the end of the year. At least nine state governments are requesting grenades for their police forces. See CitationRamsey, ‘Mexican State Police Seek Increased Firepower’. 49. CitationValdez, ‘Ex-Calderón Guard Leaked Secrets to Drug Cartels'. See also CitationUS Embassy in Mexico, Mexican Army Major Arrested for Assisting Drug Trafficking Organizations. 50. Sanchez, ‘Mexican Drug Cartels Armed to the Hilt, Threatening National Security’. 51. CitationLa Jeunesse, ‘America's Third War: Is the US Arming Mexican Cartels?’ 52. CitationUS Embassy in Mexico, Scenesetter for the Firearms-Trafficking Conference, April 1–2. 53. CitationMiroff and Booth, ‘Mexican Drug Cartels' Newest Weapon’. 54. CitationEllingwood and Wilkinson. ‘Drug Cartels' New Weaponry Means War’. 55. CitationUS Embassy in Guatemala, Under Narco Threat, Rule of Law Collapsing in Coban. 56. CitationAssociated Press, Guatemala City, ‘Mexico Cartel's Grenades Came from Guatemalan Army’. 57. CitationSTRATFOR, Mexico Security Memo: Los Zetas in Honduras. 58. CitationUS State Department, DeMarche: Lax Honduran Controls on US-Supplied Weapons. 59. CitationBeith, The Last Narco, 46–48. 60. See CitationFuss, Sea of Grass. 61. CitationMiro, Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity in Mexico, 1999–2002. 62. CitationLogan and Morse, The FARC's International Presence, 1–16. 63. CitationUS Embassy in Mexico, The FARC in Mexico. 64. CitationBrophy, ‘Mexico: Cartels, Corruption, and Cocaine’. 65. Logan and Morse, The FARC's International Presence, 1–16. 66. Miro, Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity in Mexico, 1999–2002. 67. US Embassy in Mexico, The FARC in Mexico. 68. Citation Janes Defence & Security Report , ‘Colombia Seizes Rocket Launchers from the FARC’; and CitationDevereux, ‘Colombia and Venezuela Face Off’. 69. CitationCurtis and Karacan, The Nexus Among Terrorist, Narcotics Traffickers, Weapons Proliferators, and Organized Crime Networks in Western Europe, 1–33. 70. Associated Press, ‘Mexico Seizes Hundreds of Drug-Cartel Weapons in Record Raid’. 71. CitationUS Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico: Trafficking Narco-Grenades. 72. Weapons in photograph seized during operations against drug-trafficking gangs at a military base in Reynosa, on Mexico's northeastern border with the US. See CitationSusan Gamboa, ‘Gun Control Debate Hangs Over US – Mexico Violence’. 73. Stewart, Mexico's Gun Supply and the 90 Percent Myth

Accidental · Arms race · Business · Cartel · Collusion · Economics · International trade · Nuclear weapon · Organised crime · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Sophistication · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Law

• Mexico

  Stephanie Brophy•Global Crime•2008

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• Los Zetas

  Lisa J Campbell•Small Wars and Insurgencies•2010

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