Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
.

Friday, October 25, 2019

U.S. and Mexico enter an agreement to tackle arms at border

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat TY Steve San Diego Union Tribune

“Operation Frozen” will attempt to curb illegal gun trafficking from the United States into Mexico. 


The U.S. and Mexico have agreed to jointly tackle arms trafficking, naming the San Diego-Tijuana border crossing as one of five main ports where resources should be focused to stem the southbound flow of illegal guns.

Dubbed “Operation Frozen,” the new joint effort was first discussed in a telephone conversation Saturday between Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and President Donald Trump, according to Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who released the information on Twitter.

The agreement comes after last week’s failed attempt to arrest Ovidio Guzmán, who faces a U.S. extradition request and is the son of the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The elder Guzmán is serving a life sentence in the U.S., and his 28-year-old son has stepped into a leadership role in the organization since his capture.

After the son’s arrest last week, Mexican security forces were outgunned and outnumbered as cartel militia seized control of the northwestern city of Culiacán, lighting tires and trucks on fire, taking security officers hostage and blocking roads. Before night fell, the country’s president agreed to release the younger Guzmán to prevent further violence.

The majority of the guns used to subdue the Mexican security forces, compelling the release of Guzmán, likely came from the U.S., according to law enforcement and government officials on both sides of the border.

López Obrador told Trump “he was very concerned” that cartel gunmen used .50 caliber, armor-piercing rifles during the breakout of violence in Sinaloa’s captial, according to Reuters.

Operation Frozen will attempt to curb illegal gun trafficking from the United States into Mexico by using detection technology at key ports, including the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to a statement released by Mexico’s Public Security Secretariat.

The other border crossings where both federal governments will focus resources and technology are all in Texas: El Paso-Ciudad Juarez; Laredo-Nuevo Laredo; McAllen-Reynosa; and Brownsville-Matamoros.

Though details about how the operation will be carried out remain unclear, the two countries have agreed to meet every 15 days to review the operations, according to Mexico’s federal law enforcement agency.

Ebrard told reporters this week that plans include installing advanced lasers, X-rays and metal detectors capable of detecting chemical products at southbound ports, according to Reuters.

In San Diego, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said he did not yet have any details about the deal reached at a presidential level over the weekend. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for more information.

Southbound travelers are not typically stopped at the border, although CBP has been experimenting at some ports with facial recognition and biometrics to track people leaving the U.S.

CBP also conducts spotty outbound operations as part of its law enforcement mission, mostly to track guns, drugs and money flowing south.

The border crossing has been undergoing a major expansion, which includes the construction of a CBP inspection canopy for southbound inspections.

One weekday last month, southbound pedestrian traffic at the El Chaparral border crossing was rerouted into the CBP facility where an officer verbally asked travelers if they were carrying any arms into Mexico. It remains unclear if the questioning was a precursor to Operation Frozen.

U.S. authorities have agreed to “confront transnational weapons trafficking in a serious way,” according to Ebrard.

Mexico’s Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo, Ebrard and the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, met Monday to hammer out the details of the accord, according to a statement released by Landau.

The governments are discussing increasing the number of Mexican intelligence agents in the United States and targeting the shell companies of criminal organizations in Mexico, according to national news reports. They also plan to investigate U.S. service members and police officers allegedly involved in gun trafficking, according to Ebrard.

In a message posted to Twitter on Monday, Landau said part of the problem is that there are “too many governmental agencies involved in the issue.”

“Starting today, we’re getting rid of the bureaucracy,” he wrote.

The exact number of firearms trafficked to Mexico is unknown, but researchers at the University of San Diego estimated that more than 750,000 guns were purchased in the United States between 2010 and 2012 to be smuggled into Mexico.

Data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives show that of 132,823 guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico from 2009 to 2018, some 70 percent were found to have originated in the U.S.

Ebrard has been pushing for greater control on arms entering Mexico, bringing up the topic any time the U.S. calls for greater efforts from Mexico on immigration or illicit drugs entering the United States.

According to Mexico’s Department of Exterior Relations, Mexican authorities seized 98,654 weapons at crime scenes between the fiscal 2012 and 2017, of which 69,140 were traced by ATF as having a U.S. origin.

The Sinaloa Cartel issued a press release Tuesday about its involvement in the violence in Culiacán, apologizing to citizens for their role in the Oct. 17 siege, which left at least eight people dead — but also largely placing blame on Mexico’s government.


wendy.fry@sduniontribune.com












25 comments:

  1. Nearly 15 years later they decide to do this, smh. Gun trafficking will be more profitable than ever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same goes for Mexicos part in stemming the flow of drugs coming to the US. American cities have been engulfed with drugs creating an epidemic of mass proportions.
      Not suggesting Tic for Tac but both countries need cooperation. The release of suspected drug traffickers by Mexico has become a problem for the US.

      E42

      Delete
  2. Operation frozen will attempt to curb illegal guns from flowing into mexico and operation fast and furious attempt was to let the guns flow into mexico

    ReplyDelete

  3. U.S. authorities have agreed to “confront transnational weapons trafficking in a serious way,” according to Ebrard


    So how were y'all confronting it before?

    Oh.. yea.

    Fast and furious.

    Dont forget that not all Mexicans are bad guys!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This operation frozen :United States has the same change stoping firearms or slowing them from entering MX as Mexico has stop or slowing down drugs into the United States i don’t know in what world some people been living in cause they act like the firearms they used in Culiacán are used by mostly all the groups in Mx for a very long time 50cals AR15 RPGs Ak47 etc the people who don’t really know about firearm sales and the law in the United States it’s easy for them to assume that the government sale to the cartels cause in Mx the government is the only one that supposed to have them firearms.But as we all know that with money in the USA you can buy the firearms you need and even have them made to order I remember back about 15yrs ago ther was this older white guy that come to the rancho in Mx with his reloading machine lead,,gun powder and make 45 38 super 9mm ammo and fix firearms this was in SNL last I heard he got arrested in Durango in the Sierra by el ejército you know that the cartels have been sold mini guns I never heard them being used before but Who knows what happened to them maybe the Mx government got them or ther some were hidden and the people who no were ther at are dead cause I would have but them on a helicopter all read and used them for the price they paid $250,000 or more and they said the got a few so it’s strange not to use them

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great! Now we gotta deal with more traffic thanks to these aholes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Eric Holder is eligible for extradition and Mexican authorities would be wise to demand reciprocity. You want fugitives coming here, your Attorney General under Obama approved Fast & Furious, a government gun-running operation that continues today. Over 200 citizens in Mexico murdered by guns traced to this operation , also killing Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Why not indict him and demand his arrest ? The corruption is as deep in American circles as it is in Mexico. Mexican leaders need to fight back and help Americans clean the rot that invades your skin under U.S. citizenship.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. News flash: every single govt on the face of this planet has some degree of greed. $ or power corrupt most people

      Delete
  7. What a joke. The USA swamps Mexico with weapons on purpose, lookup , Operation Fast and Furious

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lol it’s just funny at this point... after all the years of killing and now someone said “hey maybe we should try to stop the guns” yeah no shit maybe you should of started 20 years ago now the cartels are armed better then the Mexican military

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whining?
      Money purchases everything. Weapons enter Mexico from many foreign countries.
      Y4s it would be helpful if more enforcement of weapons were implemented to go south. But in the end: weapons will find a way like drugs enter in countries where its forbidden.

      Delete
    2. @1142 just like drugs enter US from many countries i.e. China, Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Netherlands etc, etc, etc......if the U.S. was serious fast n furious and iran-contra would have never taken place.

      Delete
  9. We all know we trade drugs with the U.S government and in return we get guns just like it has for the last 40 years

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trade lol your way off.

      Delete
    2. @9am. Have you ever heard of the iran contra affair. Drugs, guns, and CIA all included

      Delete
  10. Who is speaking for Obrador? Since when does he care about violence, since he took office he has done little effort to quell the high homicide rate, which will top off, at the end of the year.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Too late now, ALL CARTELS ARE STRAPPED AND DON'T NEED ANY MORE FIRE POWER 😆
    Fast and furious gave them MORE than enough

    ReplyDelete
  12. US does not inforce what's goes into MEXICO, they inforce what comes into the US. But now MEXICO wants inforcement what a joke.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The kettle calling the other black.

      Delete
    2. @905 so its ok to sell drugs to other countries as long as US citizens don't sell drugs to other US citizens. Twisted point of view

      Delete
  13. Very smart and mean for the American government to do this. They sell American guns to the cartels then catch them at the border. The confiscated guns will then be sold back to the gun shop by DEA. Wow. That is one business deal for the DEA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies





















    1. lol I cant stop laughing government has nothing to do with this, its the stupid fools that buy the guns, and send them to Mexico, next you will say the drugs are given free to people by the government.

      Delete
  14. What about all of the Guns coming from other places? Ak47s? Guns from China, Russia, etc.. I’m pretty sure they are not supposed to receive thousands of pounds of coke or meth precursors but somehow it happens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bet almo will also tell the US, to watch thier oceans for boats with shipments of guns.

      Delete
  15. Mexican gun laws are all the Mexicans need to pick up every gun in the country. They do not want to pick up any guns...too scared or too much bribe. All this is just talk.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated, refer to policy for more information.
Envía fotos, vídeos, notas, enlaces o información
Todo 100% Anónimo;

borderlandbeat@gmail.com