The Mexican government is suing six major US arms manufacturers. Mexico thinks they are not doing enough against illegal arms smuggling. Smuggled weapons often end up with drug cartels, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths from gun violence every year.
According to the indictment, the arms manufacturers are aware of these illegal practices. An estimated 2.5 million firearms have entered the country from the United States in the past decade.
It is remarkable that the Mexican government is taking this step. “In any case, such a lawsuit has never been filed before in Latin America,” says journalist Jan-Albert Hootsen from Mexico City on NPO Radio 1. The Mexican government is demanding compensation from the manufacturers. The amount has yet to be determined in court.
Well protected
Mexico emphasizes that it is not an indictment of the US government. “They are the companies, which they believe have been negligent and have ensured that hundreds of thousands of those weapons ended up in the hands of criminal Mexican organizations,” Hootsen said.
But whether this legal step will have any effect remains to be seen. “American arms manufacturers are well protected by law against these kinds of lawsuits. There is no precedent, so the question is how far this will go.”
Huge Disruption
In 2019 alone, 17,000 murders in Mexico were linked to weapons illegally smuggled from the United States. “One is the murder of a journalist in the north of the country. The government has been able to trace the weapon and link it to American manufacturers,” says Hootsen.
The Latin American country has been plagued by drug violence for decades. “The scale of the problem is really big. The drug war in Mexico is responsible for a huge disruption of society,” said Hootsen. “Mexico is currently experiencing the largest wave of violence in the country’s modern history.” Much of this violence kills innocent people.
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