Where do the mexican drug cartels obtain their weapons from - Assignment Example

? Literature Review: Where Do The Mexican Drug Cartels Obtain Their Weapons From? Introduction The raging war in Mexico has been a great concern for both United States of America and the Mexican government. This war has been between various drug cartels where their dynamics and strategies of acquiring weapons have been entirely based on the notion that the major source of Mexican drug cartels weapons are smuggled and trafficked from U.S.A. However, the increasing use of various ammunitions has led to many questions on where the weapons are being smuggled from with the Mexican government leaving responsibility in great aspect on the cheap and easy access of the weapons from the ready markets in the U.S.A. Mexico has deflected responsibility to the cartels wars away from itself and onto the United states on the question “Where do Mexican drug cartels obtain their weapons from?’’.The government blames it all on America by promoting the insatiable American appetite for narcotics and the continuous flow off guns that stream from United States into Mexico and then fueling the violence on cartels wars resulting from narcotics smuggling.1 The developing brutality in Mexico is connected with few “large, sophisticated and vicious criminal organizations” engaged in the illicit drug trade. Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) have also increasingly engaged in public conflicts and assassinations of Mexican officials. The DTOs attempts to exert political and social control mean their plan to extend their energy past what may ordinarily be connected with criminal conglomerations. Case in point, medicate weapons have upheld their particular laws and even infringe "expenses like expenses" as a method of supporting social and geographic control over trafficking regions.2 1Malcolm Beith, The Last Narco (New York: Grove Press, 2010), 12. 2Jacqui Goddard, Interpol agent passed information to Beltran-Leyva cartel in Mexico (London: Times, 2008), 23. U.S. and Mexican government authorities gauge that DTOs basically utilize weapons beginning as a part of the United States, and evaluates that many firearms are snuck into Mexico each year, frequently coordinated by the DTOs themselves. The United States has practically 7000 firearm stores along the Mexican fringe. The private declaration by the US authorities that 90% of the weapons utilized by the Mexican medication cartels hail from the United States is true. Notwithstanding, a nearby examination of the motion of the cartel wars in Mexico however how the asserted rate exhibits, is more talk than the accurate experimental certainty. Drug trafficking violence in Mexico has reached epidemic proportions and has greatly impacted on both Mexican and United States governments. Despite the increased fight of the ‘war on drugs’’ the illegal smuggling within both nations continues to cause violence and even increase the purchase of illegal firearms from United states to Mexico and also from corrupt authorities in Mexico and from other countries. A drive to reduce the illegal firearms in Mexico has been tightened but it still proves to be a challenge for the various operations. The weapons have been coming from within Mexico, United States and other countries as research has showed.3 An investigation of the Operation Fast and Furious and other law implementation endeavors to stop guns trafficking and sedate cartel roughness in Mexico, shows that the improvement and plans of the aforementioned operations need a more exhaustive approach to the issues challenging Mexico and United States. The question on “where Mexico drug cartels obtain weapons from” raises a growing concern too clearly.4 3Ioan Grillo, El Narco: The Bloody Rise of Mexican Drug Cartels (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012), 23. 4Aire Gutierrez Jose, Blood, Death, Drugs & Sex in Old Mexico (Mexico: CreateSpace, 2012), 12. Ascertain about the sources of the firearms and the trafficking path by the cartels which have been causing violence in Mexico. Quite a wide variety of firearms have been reported used by the cartels in violence and the avenues of purchase traced to be United states highly due to the emergence of the weapons that are largely available there. The following analysis best explains and brings out a clear cross overview of where these firearms might be coming from. Weapons are primarily procured with legitimate documentation at weekly gun shows in Texas, Arizona, and California and then systematically smuggled to Mexican syndicates based across the southern U.S border. Couriers typically transport the consignment of up to five weapons at a time that comes with also compartments of a car or even carried by foot by the smugglers. There exists a direct relationship between the trafficking of the illicit arms of U.S made arms and the violence that has been observed in Mexico emerging from the cartels themselves. According to Brookings Institution, approximately 2,000 guns are smuggled illegally across the U.S border to Mexico and are legitimately purchased cheaply in the States of the United States at a very affordable rate. The most influencing factor that has significantly availed this criminal penetration is due to lack of an appropriate close examination on consignments which the experts believe to be one of the most –effective method of identifying and eliminating out the illegal activity. Due to high number of people that cross the border in a sheer manner it reduces the instances of thorough and comprehensive searches on illegal weapons. This therefore promotes a steady flow of munitions to drug cartels in Mexico. Routes follow one of the four corridors namely Gulf, Pacific, Central and Southern clearly showing the entry of all the conduits and their locations on possible destination s for the weapons in Mexico .Machine guns, assault rifles and high caliber pistols constitute the most frequently purchased arms in the U.S although heavier weapons can also be obtained as due to the low/small cost of some of the firearms that even attract a premium one it is sold in Mexico hence promoting the illegal trafficking of the weapons that fuel the cartels wars in Mexico resulting to violence claiming a number of lives just due to the illegal owning and holding of the firearms.5 More interestingly is that they are readily available allowing the cocaine smugglers to carry out their activities in a higher and more deadly plane in Mexico indicating the increased violent actions are fueled by these ease of access of weapons where most gangs have members with weapons with even more lethal and powerful weapons compared to the standard ones that are used in law enforcement in Mexico and even at the U.S and Mexico border making it difficult to contain the situation. Mexican drug trafficking organizations and cartels are the greatest suppliers of illegal pills to the United States.6 In this regard, they have also grown to largely rely on highly advanced high power weapons and use of smuggling corridors and local drug production areas that are involved in corrupt business where the law enforcement is a major challenge.7 Cartels are also linked to nearly 40,000 deaths in Mexico that is committed by illegal weapons that have been smuggled from the United States of America. This therefore indicates that the predominant source of these weapons is the United States making the Cartels to be violent whatsoever and at a more deadlier way posing greater danger in security not n just at the border but also in the country.8 5Sylvia Longmire and John Longmire, “Redefining Terrorism: Why Mexican Drug Trafficking is More than Just Organized Crime,” Journal of Strategic Security 1.1 (2008): 35-52. 6Laura Mehalko, "This Is Gun Country: The International Implications of U.S. Gun Control Policy," Boston College International & Comparative Law Review 35. 1 (2012): 297-330. 7Katherine Peters, “Guns & Drugs," Government Executive 41 (2009): 14: 20-26. 8Edward Vulliamy, America: War along the Borderline (New York: Bodley Head, 2010), 12. This case is supported by the current gun policies in both countries where Mexico has a strict gun control laws that contrast and are far away stringent compared to lenient law regulations on guns in the United States of America. In this connection therefore, both nations have tried to implement these laws with domestic policies regulating and controlling southern flow of arms into Mexico cities but there has been just little success in this undertaking with that of U.S being lowly implemented providing an avenue for the ease of trafficking the arms facilitating drug cartels to continue promoting the sale and use of marijuana, cocaine and other hard drugs in Mexico. This therefore draws a line on the commitment of U.S foreign and domestic policies on the implementation of illegal firearms to reduce the ease purchase and acquiring of these weapons. The threat posed by the Mexican drug cartels is a big menace that which puts the Mexican government in a very hard position by facing an opponent that spends it in the fight, while utilizing a government team that has been tormented with homicides from defections to the cartels themselves. Mexican government efforts to reduce drug trafficking in the country and the associated gun crime has been faced with violent responses from the cartel where they get far too including executions and mutilations as well as a drug related murder rate that has continued to rise since 2007 and 2008. The increased demand for drugs in United States fuel the illegal operations of cartels as many use their returns to purchase powered firearms from states along the Mexican and U.S border. Here the cartels obtain legally weapons that are prohibited for use in Mexico and also for sale. In an effort to curb the menace presented by the Mexican cartels, the U.S government provided an aid to Mexican government. This provides a package funding to its military, police and the joint intelligence operations but ironically, by increasingly supporting the Mexican military it has been arming both conflicting parties. The Federal gun policies on control have been fueling violence among the Mexican and U.S citizens in the southern states in increased murders and domestic kidnappings. Due to t his fact on the lenient laws smoothening the access to fire arms where some of them are in fact highly powered, has seen the alleged arming of the top cartels operating in Mexico. The trafficking of arms is unlikely to go down without the increased cooperation between the United States and Mexico. Bearing in mind that the regulation restricting trafficking are constitutional, the cultural factors at the southwestern states makes the reform agenda to tighten the restrictions on firearms unlikely. State gun control laws impose few restrictions on firearms sales, making prosecution of the people accused of the menace tractions with the Mexican cartels more than an impediment. The state laws creating an individual right to acquire and own arms still encourages smuggling of firearms hence promoting drug cartels in exercising their illegal activities in Mexico. Despite the Mexican government attempts to regulate the trafficking of illegal arms, their smuggling has been increased by either due to the gun control regulations that the government is not in a position to deal with. The increased rates in the international crimes crossing and proliferating the international borders, has been fueled by lack of international cooperation and efforts that are intended to reduce access to high powered weapons by the Drug Trafficking Organizations. A close examination of the cartels in Mexico drug cartels weapons come from United States which stands at 90 percent but how the figures were reached exhibits a number that is more political than a factual empiric. To demonstrate this argument, it is only imperative to show by the following case studies analyzing the weapons in Mexico and United States.9 9Bill Weinberg, "Guns: The U.S. Threat to Mexican National Security (Cover story)." NACLA 41. 2 (2008)21-26. a) By numbers The 90 percent number of guns was inferred from June 2009 US Government Accountability Office (GAO) show up for the Congress on US undertakings to battle guns trafficking to Mexico. Practically, 30,000 guns were seized from lawbreakers through the Mexican dominant presence in 2008. Of the same, and considering those that were given to the UBATFE for tracing of these 87 percent found to be from U.S. This implies that the 87 percent figure just relates to the weapons submitted that could be traced and not the 30,000. The remaining 22,800 firearms were not traces for a variety of reasons. Such weapons are identified as hailing from their particular military or police strengths or firearms that they can follow back themselves as being sold through Mexican resistance division. Also they do not ask the military to trace them from the South Korean fragmentations grenades commonly used in cartels attacks. There is no proof to back the attestation that 90 percent of the firearms utilized by the Mexican cartels claim roots in the United States, in particular when not even 50 percent of the aforementioned that were submitted for following were eventually discovered to be of U.S. root. Types and sources of Guns This helps in understanding the dynamics of flow of guns to Mexico i) Type 1 : Guns legally available in Mexico The classification of weapons experienced in Mexico includes weapons available legally for sale in Mexico such as handguns smaller than a. 357 magnum such as. 380 and. 38 special. A large portion of the main sort of weapons utilized by lawbreakers is obtained as a part of Mexico, or taken from their true blue managers. Cartels use 380 guns furnished with sound silencers in their dispatchings. In numerous cases, they are bought in Mexico, and the silencers are mainly made and the weapons are acclimates to accept silencers by Mexican gunsmiths. Guns legally available in the U.S. but not in Mexico Numerous famous handgun gauges for example 9mm, 45 and 40 are held for military and police, and are not available for sale in Mexico. The aforementioned weapons that a lawfully obtained in the US contain the 50 bore rifles, and the greater part of them are obtained from degenerate Mexican powers or even acquired from South America (firearms made by producers for example Taurus and Bersa). The aforementioned likewise incorporate self-loader variants of ambush rifles and primary fight rifles, which are regularly changed over by Mexican gunsmiths to be fit for completely mechanical shoot. Likewise, one can purchase the aforementioned sorts of weapons on the international business yet one pays a premium for such firearms and it is shabbier and simpler to basically purchase from South America. There are numerous Mexican subjects who possess firearms in bores for example 45, 9 mm, 40 and 44 magnum for self preservation in spite of the fact that they are unlawful in Mexico. Guns not available for civilian purchase in Mexico and the U.S. These are military ordnance not generally available for sale both in Mexico and U.S. It includes hard grenades, 40mm grenades and rocket –propelled grenades. These weapons are fairy difficult and expensive to obtain in the United States, especially in hefty numbers in which the cartels are utilizing them. They are additionally unsafe to acquire in the United States because of overwhelming law requirement examination. Therefore, a large portion of them as utilized by the Mexican cartels hails from different sources, for example the worldwide arm showcase in an every expanding degree from China through the same systems that outfit forerunner chemicals, for opiate assembling or from degenerate components in the Mexican military, or even weaklings who bring their weapons with them. Additionally, things for example South Korea grenades often used by cartels simply are not from the U.S. This means that very few of these come from the United States. Latin America is flooded in such weapons that were sent there in the course of recent decades to supply the different agitators in the district. The cartels in Mexico have wide contacts that basically aid in moving opiates to Mexico, and generally they have the capacity to utilize this same system to get firearms from the illegal business in Central and South America, where they then smuggle them slowly into the Mexican networks. Majority of this category weapons come from third world countries but not directly from United States of America. Conclusion In understanding Mexico’s gun and other weapons problems, it is important to understand that the relationship between U.S. and Mexico on the legal framework governing the firearms is such a law that leaves a lot of loopholes for the cartels to enjoy. Of importance and most necessary is to distinguish that the same investment law of supply and request that energizes pill pirating into the United States additionally fills weapons getting into Mexico. Weapons in the black markets in Mexico sometimes fetch good profits to an extent of 300% of their purchase price at the normal rate a margin in profit that rivals the drugs the cartels sell in Mexico. The U.S southern border with Mexico remains an avenue for weapons smuggling but an almost seal in trying to shut off all weapons claiming roots in the United States, the cartels might in any case have the capacity to get the weapons to execute their illegal undertaking in Mexico and at the same way the narcotics would continue flowing to the United States from other regions of the world.10 10Stewart Young, "Going Nowhere "Fast" (Or Furious),” Journal of Law Reform 46. 1 (2012). 1-67. The United States does provide shabby and straightforward access to certain sorts of weapons and fire power, yet as exhibited by aggregations for example the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia; weapons could be effortlessly acquired from different sources through the illicit business though at a higher cost. There has been a long and decently archived history of arms sneaking over the U.S –Mexico outskirt. However, it’s essential to distinguish that United States is a noteworthy wellspring of certain classes of weapons and ordnance; it’s by no methods the wellspring of 90 percent of the weapons utilized by the Mexican cartels as is regularly asserted. Bibliography Beith, Malcolm. The Last Narco. New York: Grove Press, 2010. Print. Goddard, Jacqui. Interpol agent passed information to Beltran-Leyva cartel in Mexico. London: Times, 2008. Print. Grillo, Ioan. El Narco: The Bloody Rise of Mexican Drug Cartels. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012. Print. Gutierrez Aire, Jose. Blood, Death, Drugs & Sex in Old Mexico. Mexico: CreateSpace, 2012. Print. Longmire, Sylvia, and John Longmire. “Redefining Terrorism: Why Mexican Drug Trafficking is More than Just Organized Crime.” Journal of Strategic Security 1.1 (2008): 35-52. Mehalko, Laura. "This Is Gun Country: The International Implications Of U.S. Gun Control Policy." Boston College International & Comparative Law Review 35. 1 (2012): 297- 330. Peters, Katherine. "Guns & Drugs." Government Executive 41 (2009): 14: 20-26. Vulliamy, Edward. America: War along the Borderline. New York: Bodley Head, 2010. Print. Weinberg, Bill. "Guns: The U.S. Threat to Mexican National Security (Cover story)." NACLA 41. 2 (2008): 21-26. Young, Stewart. "Going Nowhere "Fast" (Or Furious).” Journal of Law Reform 46. 1 (2012): 1- 67. Read More