A River of Weapons Flowing from the United States into Mexico

An iron river of weapons flows from the United States to Mexico, empowering criminal organizations and accelerating forced migration through chaos and violence. The river of guns has its headwaters in the United States, originating from hundreds of gun manufacturers, passing through thousands of local U.S. gun dealers before eventually finding its way into Mexico.

In reaction to the flow of illicit weapons, a firearms race has developed, in which gun companies export more and increasingly militarized weapons to Mexican police and military forces.

As a result of the flood of weapons, the number of lives lost or disappeared through violence in Mexico continues to increase, while migrants fleeing through Mexico have become understandably more desperate to get to safety. Political discourse focuses on the U.S.-Mexico border. But the unregulated, massive and militarized U.S. gun market that feeds the violence, drug trafficking, and displacement is growing – and often ignored.

The Stop US Arms to Mexico project obtained finely grained data, never before disclosed, on the origins of guns trafficked and exported to Mexico and Central America from the United States since 2015. This data, and the visualizations assembled, provide a clearer picture than ever before of the extent of the weapons being sold and trafficked.

The full report is available here: stopusarmstomexico.org/iron-river.
You can help us slow this river of weapons. We have a critical opportunity to make a real difference in the fight against gun violence and arms trafficking by organizing support for the ARMAS Act (H.R. 6618) and Stop Arming Cartels Act (H.R. 8427 / S. 2926).

Join us! Call or Write your Congress Member and ask them to co-sponsor these two life-saving bills!

Gun violence in Mexico, the United States, in Central America, Haiti and other countries in the Americas has created chaos and heartache on an unimaginable scale. We can do something to stem the tide of violence.

Can you take a moment and send a message in support of legislation to reduce the use of U.S. sourced weapons in violence throughout the hemisphere?

The Iron River can be stopped with the courage and commitment of people like you. Thank you.

The situation at the Chiapas-Guatemala border paints a deeply troubling picture of a region engulfed in violence and human rights violations due to the activities of organized crime groups vying for territorial control. The complexity and severity of this situation highlight several critical issues that require immediate attention and action from both national and international actors.

This summary presents key points raised in the recent report titled “Siege of Daily Life, Terror for the Control of Territory, and Serious Violations of Human Rights”, released by civil society organizations in the border region of Chiapas.

Human Rights Violations and International Humanitarian Law

Widespread human rights violations—including forced displacement, extortion, sexual exploitation, and the infiltration of various levels of government and public services—underscore the profound impact of this conflict on the civilian population. The report reveals a serious crisis that not only disrupts the daily lives of thousands but also challenges the fundamental principles of human rights and humanitarian protection.

The report asserts that this situation could be classified as a Non-International Armed Conflict (NIAC) under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which is a significant development. This classification implies that certain rules of IHL should apply to the conflict, aimed at protecting those not participating in hostilities, including civilians and those who have ceased to be active combatants. The application of IHL could also hold parties accountable for war crimes and other serious violations.

The Role of the Mexican State

The Mexican State’s omission, acquiescence, and in some cases, collaboration with organized crime groups point to a troubling complicity that exacerbates the vulnerability of the population. The demands for urgent intervention by state security forces, like the Ejército Mexicano and the Guardia Nacional, contrast sharply with reports of inaction and complicity, revealing a profound mistrust between the civilian population and state institutions.

This mistrust and perceived betrayal by state institutions not only deepen the crisis but also complicate efforts to resolve the conflict and restore peace and security in the region.

Urgent Need for Intervention and Support

The ongoing violence and human rights abuses at the Chiapas-Guatemala border region call for immediate and coordinated intervention by the Mexican government, international organizations, and human rights bodies. Addressing the root causes of the conflict, providing support and protection to the affected populations, and restoring the rule of law are essential steps toward resolving the crisis.

Efforts must also be made to ensure accountability for human rights violations and to dismantle the criminal structures that have infiltrated government institutions. This includes strengthening the judiciary and law enforcement agencies to resist corruption and collusion with criminal groups.

International Attention and Solidarity

The international community must lend its support and attention to this crisis, helping mediate and provide resources for conflict resolution and humanitarian assistance. International NGOs, UN agencies, and other global bodies can play a crucial role in monitoring the situation, offering aid to displaced populations, and advocating for a resolution to the conflict.

Conclusion

The situation at the Chiapas-Guatemala border represents a critical challenge to human rights, state sovereignty, and regional stability. Addressing this crisis requires a concerted effort from the Mexican government, the international community, and civil society to protect the affected populations and restore peace and order in the region.

Alberto Solís Castro
Mexico Human Rights Senior Fellow at Global Exchange

Download the full report (in Spanish) at grupotrabajofronterachiapas.org.mx.

We will never give up demanding justice for the disappeared.

Right now, the family of Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and representatives of Antonio Díaz Valencia are in Washington DC, meeting with policy makers and the international diplomatic community to push for answers and to demand accountability.

They violently disappeared after participating in a community assembly discussing the next steps after winning the case. There are allegations that both received threats from Ternium, the company operating the Aquila mine – a company that has received scrutiny for its blatant disregard of Indigenous rights in the region.

Unfortunately, the plight of Ricardo and Antonio is far from unusual in the region. Between 2002 and 2023, 96 environmental defenders and 62 Indigenous Rights activists have disappeared.

Since their disappearance, Ricardo’s relatives have been demanding a full investigation from the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances and Inter-American Commission.

Ana Lucía and Antoine Lagunes Gasca, Ricardo’s siblings, are visiting Washington D.C. this week, from November 8 to 11, for a meeting with the U.S. State Department’s Task Force of Environmental defenders, a private hearing with the Inter-American Commission, the Office of the High Commissioner and the Mexican Government, and with several allies.

They are seeking support from the international community and international organizations to advocate for the return of both defenders and achieve international technical assistance in the search and investigation in order to seek their humanitarian recovery, find the truth and seek justice in the case.

Watch a video (in Spanish) featuring the families of Ricardo and Antonio below:

One of the key demands of the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice is accountability and justice for the disappeared. Further, Global Exchange has been an ally of human right defenders in Mexico for over 30 years. Our Mexico Human Rights Senior Fellow, Alberto Solis, was contacted by the families and the lawyers of Ricardo and Antonio to support them in their visit to DC. We will be with them to make sure the US State Department follows up on their commitments with the case and the victims. The People’s Movement for Peace and Justice stands with these families, and with all the families of the disappeared.

Will you stand with us, and sign our petition calling for justice for the disappeared, as well as a set of demands to bring peace and accountability to the region?

Press Statement: Families of Disappeared Mexican environmental and Indigenous land defender visit Washington to Seek Justice.

The family of Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and representatives of Antonio Díaz Valencia will be in Washington from November 8 to 11 to meeting with policy makers and the international diplomatic community to discuss their enforced disappearance for defending the environment and Indigenous land from mining development in Aquila Michoacán, Mexico.

Ricardo Lagunes Gasca, a human rights and Indigenous territories lawyer, and Professor Antonio Díaz Valencia, the leader of the Nahua Indigenous community of San Miguel de Aquila, Michoacán, Mexico, were victims of enforced disappearance on January 15, 2023 for successfully defending Indigenous rights in courts. They violently disappeared after participating in a community assembly discussing the next steps after winning the case. There are allegations that both received threats from Ternium, the company operating the Aquila mine disregarding Indigenous rights.

Since their disappearance, Ricardo’s relatives have been demanding a full investigation with Mexican and international organizations and an humanitarian recovery. They also obtained recommendations from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Committee against Enforced Disappearance, several UN Special Procedures and the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.

Ana Lucía and Antoine Lagunes Gasca, Ricardo’s siblings, will be visiting Washington D.C. from November 8 to 11, for a meeting with the U.S. State Department’s Task Force of Environmental defenders, a private hearing with the Inter-American Commission, the Office of the High Commissioner and the Mexican Government, and with several allies. They are seeking support from the international community and international organizations to advocate for the return of both defenders and achieve international technical assistance in the search and investigation in order to seek their humanitarian recovery, find the truth and seek justice in the case.

For more information and to interview the Lagunes, please contact:

Alejandra Gonza, Director Global Rights Advocacy at:
alejandragonza@globalrightsadvocacy.org
Cel. 2063054919

Alberto Solis Castro, Senior Fellow on Mexico, Global Exchange at:
asolis@globalexchange.org
Cel. 7736684593

Binational-Agenda-PMPJ Download

It has been nine years and we still don’t know the full truth about what happened in Iguala, Mexico on the night of Sept 26th, 2014 when police disappeared 43 students from the rural teachers college in Ayotzinapa.

Recently, a blockbuster article in the New York Times detailed the complicity and involvement of the Mexican Army and police in cartel activity as well as the disappearance of the 43 students and the murder of 6 people that night. The students had gone to Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico to commandeer buses to travel to Mexico City to participate in protests.

Since 2014, the families of the disappeared, as well as civil society organizations both within Mexico, the United States and beyond, have demanded answers and accountability.

The first, sham investigation from the Peña Nieto administration tried to fool the parents by pointing to a site where the government planted false evidence. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) committed to finding the students and the truth and bringing the perpetrators to justice. And though his administration took early steps to fulfill his promise, it has since shut down the investigation. There is significant evidence that the Army was monitoring everything, was in telephone communication with police and cartel members, and was present as the students were being disappeared.

Independent investigators under-covered the existence of military documents that could further illuminate the full truth of what happened that night. Both the Army and AMLO deny those documents exist. The families are demanding the information be turned over.

The AMLO administration wants to move on, to achieve only a partial truth that papers over the degree of military complicity, and fails to bring all those responsible to justice.

But the families of the disappeared will not give up, and neither will we. To mark the nine year anniversary of the disappearance, civil society organizations throughout the United States and Mexico are taking action to put pressure on the AMLO government to come clean and pursue justice.

Global Exchange and our partners at the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice are organizing actions in Mexico and here in the U.S. Find more information and how you can take action with us here.

If you cannot make it to one of these in person events, we hope you can take a moment of your time to send a letter to Mexican President Obrador calling for a full accounting of the events of September 26, 2014.

Nine years is far too long. The truth must come out, no matter the cost.

There are still spots remaining on this year’s annual Day of the Dead trip to Oaxaca, Mexico! Join us from October 28th to November 5th, 2023 to experience one of the most renown Day of the Dead celebrations in the Americas.

Curious about what you might experience? Here are some thoughts from a past participant, Catherine Suarez, a Spanish Instructor at Las Positas College in California who traveled with Global Exchange to Oaxaca.

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Our trip with Global Exchange to Oaxaca, Mexico was more than a typical educational opportunity. The participants were able to actively participate in many authentic aspects of everyday Oaxacan life associated with the preparation for the Days of the Dead. In addition, the group experienced social processes and was able to participate in meetings and workshops about sustainability, indigenous people’s human rights and the historical importance of corn in the Valley of Oaxaca.

Our group leader, Juan de Dios Gómez Ramírez, a Doctor of Sociology, provided us with much more than the basic information about the Valley of Oaxaca, its people and their social struggles. The level of information and the way in which it was delivered resembled a college-level course. I purchased a notebook in the Mexico City airport “in case I needed to take a few notes”. By the end of the study/travel program, I had completely filled the notebook with information that I cannot wait to incorporate into my lessons and future presentations.

We met with several authors and also attended a week-long Book Fair in the Zocalo where we were able to take part in workshops, presentations by authors from different states of Mexico, Cuba and South America, and search for rare and difficult-to-find books. For example, I have been researching Afro Caribbean Peoples, including Afro Cubans, Afro Puerto Ricans, Afro Dominicans and Afro Mexicans. I was able to purchase several books about Afro Cubans and Afro Mexicans at the fair. The Book Fair was dedicated to the memories of Mexican author José Agustín and Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez.

At around midnight on November 1^st, while we were in the cemetery, one observer commented that he “will never view death the same way again.” I think that he spoke for many of the people in the cemetery that night. If I could edit his quote, I would add that our group will “never think about human rights and the importance of sustainability, especially corn, for the people of the state of Oaxaca the same way again.”

We are devastated by the news that 54 migrants lost their lives and more than 105 were seriously injured last night when the trailer in which they were traveling overturned in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico. This tragedy is a direct consequence of the anti-immigrant policies – put in place by Trump and continued by Biden – that put already at-risk populations (families and individuals fleeing violence, persecution, and poverty) at even greater risk.

The Biden administration has failed in its promise to reverse the worst of Trump’s draconian, anti-immigration policies – not only by continuing, but also expanding Title 42 and the Remain in Mexico Program to deny entry and due process to those seeking safety and refuge in the United States.

We know these policies violate the human rights of migrants and refugees and put these already vulnerable populations at grave risk of further persecution and violence.

Governments must end these deadly policies and focus their efforts on protecting the life and rights of everyone, but particularly of vulnerable populations that seek refuge from violence and poverty.

Global Exchange is continuing our work to advocate for an end to Title 42, the Remain in Mexico Program and all “Safe Third Country” agreements. (Watch my recent interview with Marc Lamont Hill on UpFront.)

But today, right now, we are asking you to help us protect those who face the gravest risks as these policies continue. Please make a gift to our Migrant and Refugee Relief Fund; 100% of the funds raised will go to frontline shelters and legal aid organizations across Mexico working to protect and support migrants and refugees.

We have been able to send critical support to shelters that provide humanitarian assistance to the migrant population in Mexico. With your contribution, we can continue to support these vulnerable populations who face increasing hardships and dangers that threaten their lives.

Thank you for supporting the Migrant and Refugee Relief Fund.

Never another night like last night.

I am an immigrant and I live in New York City. I know now is a time to stay home and be safe, but I work with other immigrants and families who don’t have that option.

So, while we fight for our health and applaud those essential workers on the front lines of the pandemic, we need to also remember that many of those on the COVID-19 battlefront are immigrants, some of whom will have no “normal” to return to when the fight ends.

Right now families across Mexico and the U.S. are being held in unsanitary immigration detention facilities for no good reason. Many of them are parents and children who left home to escape violence and unbearable conditions in their countries of origin. Now, as detainees, they face the deadly risk of infection by COVID-19. They are held in crowded conditions, are unable to socially distance, and lack access to adequate health care, medicine, and, in some cases, even basic things like soap to wash their hands.

This pandemic has reminded us how vulnerable all of us are, even as it casts a harsh light on economic fault lines and festering injustices in our society. Among those injustices is the inhumane nature of the U.S. immigration system. Even during this pandemic, undocumented workers – many of whom are out there doing essential work every day on farms, in warehouses, restaurant kitchens, and in nursing homes – and their families continue to be subject to detention and summary deportation.

As the pandemic began, Global Exchange took the lead to bring together organizations across the U.S., Mexico, and Central America to call on both U.S. President Trump and Mexican President López Obrador to immediately free all immigrants from unsafe detention centers to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Our letter underlines that “the health and safety of detainees who have committed mere civil infractions (often in the act of seeking asylum from violence in their homelands) is in the hands of Mexican and U.S. authorities, who are morally and legally bound to take immediate action to minimize their risk of infection without undermining their rights to due process”.

More than a hundred leading human rights, immigrant rights and social justice organizations from both Mexico and the U.S. have signed on.

As of writing, federal courts in Mexico have backed the demands to free detainees due to the public health conditions generated by COVID-19.

To give broader coverage to these issues, we hosted webcasts with immigrant rights leaders from Mexico and the U.S. in both Spanish and English. They addressed thousands of viewers on the pressures immigrants, especially women and indigenous migrants, are facing. They looked at the broad safety and legal issues faced by immigrants with a focus on detention centers in both countries where those imprisoned face greatly elevated risk from the pandemic.

In April, Global Exchange joined a fast-growing national campaign to support the nearly 100 migrants who had started a hunger strike to press their release demands at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in Southern California. The Otay Mesa facility, run by the private prison giant, CoreCivic, is the largest immigrant detention facility in the United States with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.

Our immigration system has long been broken. There will be no “normal” when this pandemic loses its grip – we will still face a long fight to build a new immigration system that respects basic human values, welcomes refugees, and has open arms for those who have suffered violence in their homelands.

Take Action and Demand an immediate total moratorium on the detention of immigrants.

Marco Castillo is the U.S.-Mexico Program Co-Director at Global Exchange.

This webinar looks at Mexico’s recently released regional development plan, that Mexican President López Obrador (AMLO) says will create jobs and opportunities for young people and other potential migrants to remain home in their own communities in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

We will discuss the related topic of the drug war and whether AMLO’s rejection of the of the “Merida Initiative (the U.S. funded counter narcotics program at the center of the U.S. backed “war on drugs”) represents a paradigm shift in a conflict that has spawned 120,000 murders and 40,000 more disappeared.

Things are moving fast – highlighted by Trump’s recent threat of tariffs on all Mexico goods. Tonight’s webinar is a chance to get up-to-speed by listening to and posing question to some of Global Exchange’s best allies on both sides of the border:

Laura Carlsen, journalist and director of the America’s program. She will assess the importance of Mexico’s rejection of the Mérida Initiative, new regional job creation plans and what the U.S. response may look like.

Zara Snapp, Co-founder of Instituto RIA. Zarah will share a close up view of the marijuana regulatory process in Mexico’s Congress — a process she closely accompanies.

Armando Gudiño, veteran drug war opponent from the Los Angeles office of Drug Policy Alliance. He will talk about California’s leadership toward ending the drug war and why we should support Mexico’s reform initiatives.

Bill Hing, Professor of Immigration Law at USF and founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Bill will describe the importance of immigrant labor to the U.S. and the region and why targeted development strategies bring benefits. He will also talk about how drug war criminalization hurts immigrants and why/how that can change.

Ted Lewis of Global Exchange will moderate the event.