Drugs and Arms Trade - A Shared Responsibility

FNC 4/2/2009 2:52:43 PM: ...90% of the illegal
weapons used in drug violence in mexico come from the united states --
a lot of people said this. it is not true....where are these things
coming from? >> you cannot buy a lot of these military-style
weapons in a pawnshop and take them to mexico. people cannot just buy
these guns in the united states. a lot of these guns coming from
guatemala and the mexican military...for example, these two rifles are
a semi-automatic version that can be legally purchased in the u.s. this
is a fully automatic gun that can only be bought with permission from
the federal government. this is the kind of gun people just cannot buy.
that is a fully automatic weapons....

Unfortunately, everything else contradicts these contentions: 

1. Most recently - As reported by BBC, The Washington Post, MSNBC, and other outlets - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recognized:

"Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally
smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of
police officers, soldiers and civilians."  "I feel very strongly we
have a co-responsibility," Clinton told reporters, adding: "Our
insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability
to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to
arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and
civilians."  Criminals are outgunning law enforcement officials, she
said, referring to guns and military-style equipment such as
night-vision goggles and body armor that the cartels are smuggling from
the U.S.  Clearly, what we have been doing has not worked and it is
unfair for our incapacity ... to be creating a situation where people
are holding the Mexican government and people responsible," she said.
"That's not right."

2. According to estimates by both Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials, 90 percent of the assault weapons and other guns used by Mexican drug cartels are coming from the United States, fueling drug-related violence.

3. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says it has traced up to 95 percent of guns seized at scenes of drug violence in Mexico to U.S.commercial sources. "These weapons are increasingly higher-powered, including .50 caliber Barrett rifles and ammunition that can pierce the armor of Mexican soldiers and police."  "A year ago, we never saw those guns going south into Mexico," said Tom Mangan, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "Now we refer to it as one of the weapons of choice."

4. Based on data from government sources in 2008, the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) found:

The State Department (under the Bush administration) also
estimated 90% of cocaine entering the United States transits Mexico. In
the United States, wholesale illicit drug sale earnings estimates range
from $13.6 to $48.4 billion annually.9As a result of their dominance of
the U.S. illicit drug market, Mexican cartels are the leading wholesale
launderers of drug money from the United States. Mexican and Colombian
trafficking organizations annually smuggle an estimated $8.3 to $24.9
billion in drug proceeds into Mexico for laundering.  In October 2007
the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reported that
the Mexican government's increased pressure on cartels coincided with
cocaine shortages in 37 U.S. cities and a 24% increase in the retail
price of cocaine during the second quarter of 2007.

Mexican authorities seized more than twice the amount of cocaine in
2007 than it did in 2006 and over $200 million in cash from a
methamphetamine precursor operation.

Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have
existed for quite some time, they have become more powerful since the
demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s. Mexican
drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the
United States.
Additionally,a high-ranking member of the Mexican armed forces has
stated that the military has to be involved in fighting drug
traffickers because the police force cannot compete with the type of
heavy weaponry that the drug cartels are now using.

5. Organizations have also written on the topic: in State of Siege: Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) called for reducing arms trafficking into Mexico by requiring background checks for all U.S. gun purchases and limiting the number of weapon and ammunition purchases to prevent the re-sale and trafficking of weapons legally purchased in the United States to Mexican cartels.

Michael Shifter, of the Inter-American Dialogue, also calls for renewed focus on demand reduction and reduction in arms trafficking from the United States and calls for increased multilateral efforts.

Another CRS report noted:

Arms purchased here or otherwise acquired and smuggled
into Mexico equip the cartels with anti-tank weapons, military hand
grenades, and high powered sniper rifles. International smuggling also
equips the cartels with high-tech equipment such as night-vision
goggles, electronic intercept capabilities, encrypted communications
and helicopters. In addition, some of the groups, such as the "Los
Zetas" (former military who have become the enforcement arm of the Gulf
Cartel), have received specialized training in weapons and tactics.
Municipal and state police, and even the military, are ill equipped to
confront such well armed and trained forces.

6. A prime example of the trade on the U.S. side - George Iknadosian, owner of X-Caliber gun store in Arizona, was arrested on charges of knowingly selling guns to traffickers smuggling arms into Mexico.  Prosecutors alleged more than 700 high-powered rifles were sold to purchasers whom 47-year-old Iknadosian knew were acting as so-called straw buyers for Mexican customers. "We had a direct pipeline from Iknadosian to the Sinaloa cartel," said Thomas Mangan, a spokesman for ATF.  It was reported that during one transaction, Iknadosian went so far as to advise an informant, recommending that he break the sales up into batches and never carry more than two weapons in a car because, "if you got pulled over, two is no biggie."  While the case against Iknadosian did not advance on nuanced grounds, most recently, a Texas man who purchased more than 70 guns from licensed dealers in southern Texas and smuggled them to Mexico was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

So while Mexico is right to take responsibility for its part in the drug violence, the problem will not be resolved by looking solely to Mexico, or solely to the U.S.   Undoubtedly, this challenge is a shared responsibility, and any campaign to undermine the authority or credibility of our governments does not help strengthen the Mexican
state nor the U.S.