Mexico Citizen Groups Mount Campaign Against Arms Trafficking Between the U.S. and Mexico

Mexican groups protest U.S. arms trade
Photo: Eduardo Miranda

Proceso: The Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD), Amnesty International (AI) and the Memory and Tolerance Museum, among other organizations, launched the "Post for Peace: a Digital Demonstration" intended to alert people regarding the serious problem of arms trafficking from the United States to Mexico. According to estimates, 2,000 weapons arrive daily in Mexico, most of which end up in the hands of organized crime.

At a press conference in the Memory and Tolerance Museum, Javier Sicilia of the MPJD, Daniel Zapico of AI and Jacob Dayan, Director of Contents of the Memory and Tolerance Museum, and the political scientist, Sergio Aguayo, said that they are demanding that the U.S. government require tighter customs controls to stop the traffic of weapons across the border into Mexico.

Last year, during the Caravan for Peace that the MPJD conducted in the U.S., it presented a petition to the U.S. Congress to establish stricter rules on arms sales and increase monitoring mechanisms to stop the smuggling into Mexico.

Now the organizers of "Post for Peace: A Digital Demonstration" indicated that they seek to bring together multiple supporters to demand from the governments of Mexico and the United States more control over the arms that come into our country, a phenomenon that has a high cost in lost lives.

For 15 days people can sign the petition using the hashtag #AdiósalasArmas on Twitter, or posting it on Facebook, and on April 29 the campaign will culminate with a "virtual march" and delivery of the signatures to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

The organizers stressed that they will ask U.S. President Barack Obama to enforce the existing ban on importing assault rifles manufactured abroad, including handguns of the type FN Five-Seven and the new AK-type hand guns.

They also ask Obama to expand the mandate to report on the sale of assault weapons in U.S. which is currently in force in border states, improve the analysis of the clues left by firearms and other available information, including weapons identified in criminal investigations and in the Suspect Gun Database, helping to identify vendors of arsenals supplied to traffickers.

They also demand that the U.S. sign and ratify the international treaty on the arms trade that was recently approved in the United Nations.

"The weapons come from the United States, and those weapons enter Mexico through porous borders. These weapons are a trade product that fuels the war and feeds our pain. I think this is fundamental," said poet Javier Sicilia in presenting the campaign.

Spanish original