World
Mexico demands answers amid flood of US military-grade weapons to drug cartels
The Mexican government has demanded an “urgent” investigation into how U.S.-grade weapons have ended up in the hands of drug cartels.
“Weapons like this present an extreme danger when they land in the hands of criminals,” Kristina Mastropasqua, a spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told Fox News Digital. “A danger not only to the public, but to the law enforcement agents on both sides of the border as well.”
“Operation Southbound is ATF’s primary operational initiative to disrupt the trafficking of firearms from the United States to Mexico,” Mastropasqua explained. “Operation Southbound is focused on the four southwest border states, as the majority of the firearms being trafficked to Mexico originate from there, but it is not exclusive to just those states.”
“Cross-border firearms trafficking is diffuse, does not only occur on the border, and does not always include dozens of firearms being illegally transported at once; often only a few are trafficked, and they originate in states far from the southwest border,” she added.
CARTEL HUMAN SMUGGLING BUSINESS IS TURNING ENTIRE BORDER TOWNS INTO WAR ZONES
Voice of America reported in June that the number of weapons smuggled into Mexico could top half a million a year, but the total remains uncertain.
The issue has plagued the U.S. for years. President Obama in 2012 formalized the Border Enforcement Security Task Forces, which focused on tackling cartel activities, including and primarily focusing on arms smuggling, but the issue has not significantly abated, Mexican officials claim.
Mexican marines escort five alleged drug traffickers of the Zeta drug cartel in front of an RPG-7 rocket launcher, hand grenades, firearms, cocaine and military uniforms seized from alleged members of the Zetas drug traffickers cartel and presented to the press on June 9, 2011 at the Navy Secretaryship in Mexico City. (Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images)
“The (Mexican) Defense Department has warned the United States about weapons entering Mexico that are for the exclusive use of the U.S. Army,” Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said.
The Mexican army said it has seized 221 fully automatic machine guns, 56 grenade launchers and a dozen rocket launchers from cartels since late 2018.
MEXICAN SOLDIERS FIND FACTORY PRODUCING DRONE BOMBS, GRENADE LAUNCHERS, FAKE MILITARY UNIFORMS
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar on Monday told reporters that “70% of the weapons that cause violence here in Mexico come from the United States.” He stressed that reducing the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexico remained a top priority for President Biden, the AFP reported.
“We are going to look into it, we are committed to working with Sedena (Mexico’s Defense Department) to see what’s going on,” Salazar said.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena, center, speaks during a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss U.S.-Mexican migration, in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the State Department in Washington, Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
A Reuters report from Dec. 2023 delved into one example of a U.S. weapons factory in Wisconsin that in 2018 allegedly started supplying high-caliber weapons, including sniper rifles, to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion.
The report claimed that the cartel exploited “permissive federal and state-level gun control rules to buy some of the most powerful weapons available to American civilians,” citing former U.S. ATF agents.
BRIDE ARRESTED FOR EXTORTION SCHEME IN MEXICO, HANDCUFFED IN HER WEDDING DRESS: PROSECUTORS
Members of a local family in Racine, Wisconsin, with connections to a cousin in Mexico, would buy the guns and ship them to California, where they could then ship the weapons across the border, according to an indictment from Wisconsin’s Eastern District Court.
Mexican authorities found that same cartel in possession of five rocket launchers during the summer of 2023, with four more launchers confiscated from the rival Sinaloa cartel and three more seized from other cartels.
The initials of the drug cartel “Jalisco Nueva Generacion” (CJNG) are seen in graffiti on a wall in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco State, Mexico, on Aug. 29, 2023. (Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images)
“In Mexico, too often, when firearms are diverted to unlawful markets, they are going to arm dangerous drug cartels,” Mastropasqua said. “They are getting into the hands of extremely violent organizations that seek to use firearms to further other criminal and illicit activities.”
“Many times these cartels are not looking for just any firearm to fuel their criminal enterprises,” she continued. “They are seeking a level of weaponry that outguns Mexican law enforcement authorities, including weapons that are used by the American military.”
32 MIGRANTS KIDNAPPED NEAR US-MEXICO BORDER WERE FREED, NOT RESCUED, AMLO CLARIFIES
“ATF’s Mexico Country Office works closely with Mexican authorities to increase the volume and timeliness of firearms tracing through ATF’s eTrace system: That is, tracing a crime gun back to its first known retail purchase,” Mastropasqua added. “This capability is incredibly important because so many of the firearms recovered from crimes in Mexico originate in the United States. Between 2017 and 2022, trace submissions from Mexico nearly doubled.”
A U.S. federal judge in 2022 dismissed Mexico’s $10 billion lawsuit against seven American gun manufacturers and one distributor, in which officials argued the companies knew the weapons they made would end up sold to traffickers and decided to profit.
However, on Monday, an appeals court in Boston revived the lawsuit, saying the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields gun manufacturers from damages “resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse” of a firearm, did not apply to such cases that occurred in Mexico.
The Pentagon referred Fox News Digital to the Mexican government or the U.S. State Department when asked for comment. The State Department did not respond by time of publication.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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A suspect is in custody after six people were shot and killed Monday at a youth welfare facility in northern Germany, officials said.
The shooting happened around midday in Stade, a town of about 50,000 people near Hamburg. Authorities said the victims — four women and two men — all worked at the youth center or affiliated organizations. Five were pronounced dead at the scene, while a sixth died later at a hospital, according to The Associated Press, citing authorities.
Several others were wounded in the shooting, which may have been tied to a child custody dispute, the outlet reported.
2 PEOPLE ARE KILLED IN A KNIFE ATTACK IN GERMANY; SCHOLZ SAYS THERE MUST BE CONSEQUENCES
The shooting happened around midday in Stade, a town of about 50,000 people near Hamburg. (News5/Reuters)
Police said the shooting happened at a facility on Dankersstrasse that houses pregnant women and young mothers with children, according to The Associated Press.
The suspect, a 45-year-old man, had an appointment at the facility earlier in the day before the shooting unfolded around midday. His 3-month-old daughter and the child’s mother were safe, Reuters reported.
The suspected gunman was arrested. Police said two others were also subject to police measures on suspicion of involvement but did not provide additional details, according to The Associated Press.
CHILDREN AMONG 6 WOUNDED IN MARYLAND MASS SHOOTING AS DETECTIVES WORK TO DETERMINE WHAT OCCURRED
Authorities said the victims — four women and two men — all worked at the youth center or affiliated organizations. (News5/Reuters)
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “deeply shocked” by the violence at a place meant to protect women and children.
“The horrific act of violence in Stade claimed the lives of six people today. I am deeply shaken by the extent of the violence in a place that is meant to provide protection,” Steinmeier said.
“My condolences go to the families of the dead and injured, who must endure so much pain. My thanks go to all first responders and doctors.”
SUSPECT ‘NEUTRALIZED’ AFTER MONTREAL SHOOTING LEAVES AT LEAST 2 DEAD INCLUDING OFFICER
Police warned people to avoid the area after the shooting but later said there was no danger to the public. (News5/Reuters)
Police warned people to avoid the area after the shooting but later said there was no danger to the public. Investigators were still collecting evidence Monday evening, Reuters reported.
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Mass shootings in Germany are rare.
Earlier this year, a car plowed into a pedestrian zone in Leipzig, Germany, killing two people and leaving several others seriously injured.
Stade Police could not immediately be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.
European Union leaders must recognise that the most pressing challenge they face is an internal one — not possible disagreements with Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former national security advisor, Jacob Nagel, told Euronews.
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His comments come as EU-Israel ties are coming under strain. Earlier this month, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, severed all contact with the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, due to alleged comparisons of Israel to apartheid-era South Africa.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is under pressure from some of its member states to propose a range of options to restrict EU trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“At the end, I think that also the EU countries will come to their senses and will realise who are the good guys and who are the bad guys,” Nagel, who served for more than 40 years in Israel’s Defence Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office and is now a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies (FDD), said onEuronews’ interview programme 12 Minutes With.
He argued that the EU “is not relevant” — even though the bloc remains Israel’s largest trading partner — echoing a statement made to Euronews by Netanyahu last year.
Nagel went on to state that the EU and its leaders should focus on different, more pressing issues.
“See some of the countries inside Europe, and I don’t want to say names, you go in the streets, there is terror,” he said.
“There are some European countries that understood it, and they took their fate into their hands, but some have already lost the war against the immigrants. I think Europe is facing a big problem that it has to solve, and its problem is not Israel.”
US ‘remains our best friend’
Asked if US-Israel relations had recently come under strain over the latter’s military operation in Lebanon, Nagel acknowledged there may have been some tension but insisted that “Israel and the US are the best allies. They are our best friends.”
On the Israeli side, while Netanyahu avoided direct public criticism, some government and opposition figures denounced Washington’s apparent sidelining of Israel in the US ceasefire memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran, signed on 17 June, and for dragging the Jewish state out of the conflict before it achieved its goals.
On the US side, Trump reportedly angrily berated Netanyahu at the start of June over Israel’s threats to resume airstrikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs, jeopardising talks with Iran, which were ongoing at the time.
Later, Vice-President J.D. Vance told Israel it was isolated on the international stage, saying Trump is Israel’s only ally left in the world.
While stressing he understood Trump’s reasons for engaging with Iran, Nagel said the US president was nonetheless “making a mistake” by prioritising domestic interests, particularly the economy — the biggest concern for US voters — over securing a more favourable deal to end the Iran conflict and preventing the Islamic Republic from eventually acquiring a nuclear bomb.
“Iran is now getting exactly what it wants and needs,” he said, pointing to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the temporary waivers for Iranian oil exports, which means that Iran will, at least during the 60-day negotiation period provided by the MoU, receive direct, conventional hard-currency payments.
Experts estimate that selling oil legally could generate roughly $8 billion (around €7 billion) during this initial 60-day window alone.
“Trump is now listening to his close allies like Vice-President J.D. Vance, [Steve] Witkoff and [Jared] Kushner, and not listening to [Defence Secretary Pete] Hegseth and [State Secretary Marco] Rubio and others, and he decided to prioritise the American interests; he wants to bring down the price of oil.”
Both Hegseth and Rubio have been advocating a more hawkish line on Iran to limit its power and guarantee US security and that of its allies, including Israel.
However, Nagel recognised that Trump’s ‘America first’ drive and focus on bringing down the price of oil is “legitimate” given November’s mid-term elections and rising fears among Republicans over a Democratic takeover of Congress.
“The people in the US, they don’t know where Iran is, where Israel is, what enriched uranium is. They just know how much they are paying for a gallon of oil when they go to the gas station,” he said.
“We would very much like the US to be with us, but sometimes they have their own interests,” Nagel also said, adding that this is merely a temporary shift in attitude.
“The US will come to its senses very soon. We work together with them. At the end, they will understand who the Iranians are, and they will go back to make sure that the work is finished.”
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