A crowd holds their phones during a vigil for the victims of the mass shooting August 4, 2019 in El Paso, Texas.MARIO TAMA
On July 7, in my capacity as senator of the Republic, I sent to the Permanent Commission of the H. Congress of the Union a point of agreement that urges the federal Executive Power, through the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. the National Defense and the National Intelligence Center, attached to the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, to develop a report on the illicit arms trafficking to the United Mexican States. It was approved unanimously.
According to the firearms seizures made by the corresponding Mexican authorities, approximately 70% of this weapon originates from manufacture or sale in the United States of America.
The remaining 30% comes from imports or local production by European licensees, mainly from the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic and Romania.
For this reason, at the point of agreement I stated that, from a national and international security perspective, it is necessary to generate a bilateral and multilateral public agenda to undertake specific actions focused on stopping the trafficking and illicit manufacture of weapons in two ways.
The first is the exchange of information and the use of intelligence aimed at sharing, developing and implementing regional, hemispheric and global strategies;
the second refers to the deployment of coordinated transnational operations at exit points, both for people and cargo, including sea, air and rail ports.
In this sense, in the company of the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard, on August 4 I attended the presentation made by the Mexican Government of the litigation against the negligent commercialization of arms in the United States and their illicit trafficking to Mexico, convened at the Museum Memory and Tolerance of the country's capital.
In that forum, they discussed the civil lawsuit filed before a federal court based in Boston, Massachusetts, by the Government of Mexico, which seeks not only to repair the damage caused by this illegal arms trade from the United States to our nation, but to avoid the tragedy of violence that it suffers and that primarily affects the families of the victims.
This illegal arms trade has a direct impact on Mexico, which has an impact on the increase in violence, the empowerment of cartels and criminal groups that are dedicated to drug trafficking, kidnapping, assassinations and homicides and many other related crimes. with the use of weapons introduced clandestinely.
Although violence and the misuse of weapons seriously affect our country, the American Union also suffers from them.
In 2019, for example, approximately 37,096 firearm deaths were recorded there, which is equivalent to 102 deaths per day: 60% by suicide, and the remaining 40% linked to homicide.
Among these figures are the victims of shootings, of which 611 were registered in 2020 alone, and so far in 2021 there have been 119, with a result of 141 people killed and 466 injured, according to information from Gun Violence Archive.
Likewise, the tragedy experienced two years ago at the Walmart shopping center in El Paso, Texas, where 23 people were murdered (nine Mexicans, 13 Americans and one German), was a hate crime and an act of barbarism.
Therefore, our country can no longer remain silent.
The step that has been taken to civilly sue various arms production and distribution companies in the United States is correct, timely, courageous and fair, especially in light of the victims and their families, as well as regarding the pacifist vocation and conflict mediator who has highlighted Mexico to the world.
Ricardo Monreal
is a senator for Morena.
Twitter and Facebook:
@RicardoMonrealA
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