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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2007 
Gonzales: US Trying to End Mexico Arms
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
| | U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, right, speaks as Mexico's Attorney General, Eduardo Medina Mora, looks on during a meeting with attorneys general from the United States, Mexico, Central America and Colombia, in Jiutepec, Mexico, Friday, June 8, 2007. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Cuernavaca, Mexico - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday that Washington is taking steps to address Mexican concerns the U.S. is not doing enough to stop illegal weapons from being smuggled across the border and into the hands of brutal drug gangs.
A meeting here of attorneys general from the U.S., Mexico and six other Latin American countries focused on Mexican complaints weapons from the United States are fueling a wave of cartel-related executions and violent crime that is battering the nation.
"We are concerned a110bout the number of weapons coming into Mexico and Central America illegally from the United States," Gonzales said. "There is more that we can do, and we are looking to do, to try and stem the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico."
Gonzales, who is embroiled in a controversy over the Justice Department's firing of eight federal prosecutors last year, said that officials engaged in "very frank, sometimes tough discussions."
Mexico is battling drug cartels responsible for a recent spate of executions, and has sent thousands of police and troops to several states. Nearly two dozen people were gunned down in separate incidents — many apparently drug-related — across the country on Thursday, local media reported.
Mexican officials have repeatedly complained that the U.S. must do more to stop the flow of potent weapons — including assault rifles and even .50-caliber machine guns — that drug gangs often purchase in the United States.
"The firepower we are seeing here has to do with a lack of control on the (U.S.) side of the border," Patricio Patino, Mexico's top anti-drug intelligence official, said last month. "What we have asked the American government ... is that they put clear controls on the shipments of weapons."
The two-day meeting that ended Friday also laid the groundwork for a future security plan to fight drug trafficking and street gangs in the region. The attorneys general agreed to call on experts to propose concrete actions on violent street gangs known as "Maras," human trafficking, money laundering and drug trafficking.
Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora argued that combatting violence was a cross-border issue, saying: "We recognize that we can't confront this problem alone."
Gonzales agreed, and said he and President Bush were "committed to collaborating in the development of a regional security and law enforcement strategy." |
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