Mexico has expressed that it wants an immediate investigation into how U.S. military-grade weapons have ended up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. The nation’s military has discovered belt-fed machine guns, rocket launchers, and even grenades, according to the Associated Press.
The weapons the Mexican military has discovered are not available for retail to Americans, which raises questions about how drug cartels have them.
Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Barcena said that “the [Mexican] Defense Department has warned the United States about weapons entering Mexico that are for the exclusive use of the U.S. army.”
“It is very urgent that an investigation into this be carried out.”
The report noted that the Mexican military had confiscated 12 rocket launchers, 56 grenade launchers, and 221 fully automatic machine guns from the drug cartels since 2018. The existence of the weapons has made it difficult for the Mexican government to effectively monitor and take action against the cartels, per the report.
U.S. ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said that the Mexican government had brought up the issue during meetings last week. And while he claimed he was not aware of the issue, he said the U.S. government would be looking into the matter.
“We are going to look into it, we are committed to working with Sedena [Mexico’s Defense Department] to see what’s going on,” he said.
Last month, Reuters reported that one possible way cartels are getting American-made weapons is from Racine, Wisconsin. The Midwestern town is most known for its factories and farms, but in 2018 it was a source of high-caliber weapons for one of Mexico’s most notorious fentanyl trafficking gangs.
The cartel took advantage of permissive federal and state-level gun control parameters to purchase some of the most powerful weapons available to the American public. However, these weapons do not include rocket launchers or machine guns.
The firearms purchased in Racine were then moved to California and south of the border, according to an indictment, per Reuters.
CBS News reported in September 2023 that U.S. intelligence documents and interviews had revealed that current and former officials said the government has known about weapons trafficking for years, but that it has not done enough to stem the spread of it.
The report noted that these weapons have come from Wisconsin and as far away as Alaska.
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