Mexico has strict gun laws and the country’s only legal gun shop is inside a military compound in the capital, Mexico City. The Mexican drug cartels have therefore been completely dependent on the illegal arms trade in order to build up their capital of violence.
About 400,000 Mexicans have been killed since President Felipe Calderón declared war on the cartels in 2007. According to Mexican authorities, at least 70 percent of murders are carried out with firearms, and an overwhelming majority of the weapons come from the United States.
The US promises tighter controls
Firearms that cannot be legally purchased by individuals in Mexico can be easily obtained at any of the United States’ approximately 17,000 gun stores. They can then be smuggled across the border into Mexico, where they are resold to the cartels via local arms dealers.
According to estimates, 85 percent of the weapons used by Mexican cartels come from the United States.
In April 2023, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, promised to introduce tougher controls on manufacturers and sellers of firearms, to stop the illegal flow from the United States. The initiative was welcomed by the Mexican government, but there is great frustration in Mexico that the United States is not doing more to control the arms trade.
Mexican legal process in the United States
The Mexican state has therefore taken matters into its own hands in recent years and is now pursuing a high-profile lawsuit in American courts against American arms manufacturers.
Mexico claims that arms manufacturers have known for a long time that their weapons were in the hands of violent Mexican cartels – but have nevertheless taken no action.
On Sunday, 98 million Mexicans will elect a president but also members of Congress, governors, mayors and representatives to municipal assemblies. Over 19,000 posts are up for grabs in the biggest election in the country’s history. But it is also one of the most violent electoral movements in Mexico.
The illegal firearms from the USA thus cast long shadows over Mexican democracy.