The United States exports a growing number of weapons to Mexico with almost no controls on where they go. These gun exports, together with massive illegal trafficking from U.S. retail gun sales, are part of the growing human rights crisis that is devastating migrants as well as Mexican communities.
And Trump wants to make it even easier for weapons manufacturers to sell and export firearms in Mexico and other countries. “Semi-automatic weapons, flamethrowers and even some grenades will become easier for U.S. weapons manufacturers to export overseas under new rules being put in place by the Trump administration and obtained by NBC News.”
View our webinar to learn more about this issue and how you can join a growing movement working to stop U.S. guns from getting into the hands of human rights abusers.
Hear from expert panelists including:
- Eugenio Weigend is a senior policy analyst [2] at the Center for American Progress and author of numerous articles on U.S. gun trafficking to Mexico. [3]
- Jessica Molina is a human rights defender from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas whose husband was disappeared by Mexican Navy troops in March 2018. Jessica has become a leading spokesperson for dozens of family members of disappeared people in Nuevo Laredo. [4]
- Yanira Arias is the National Campaigns Manager for Alianza Americas, where she has coordinated actions in response to the detention and stigmatization of thousands of Central American children and their families. A Temporary Protected Status holder from El Salvador, she brings expertise on health disparities and community participation.
- John Lindsay-Poland coordinates the Stop US Arms to Mexico project [5] of Global Exchange, and also has written extensively about the U.S. gun trade and its impacts in Mexico. [6]
- Moderated by Janice Gallagher, assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, Newark. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Mexico and Colombia and wrote “Tipping the Scales of Justice: The Role of Citizen Action in Strengthening the Rule of Law.” A true public intellectual, Janice also recently led an international elections observation mission in Tamaulipas, Mexico’s most dangerous border state.
[1] “Trump Administration Eases Regulations on Gun Exports, Raising Concerns,” The New York Times, January 31, 2019.
[2] Eugenio Weigend biographical page
[3] “Should Mexico Adopt Permissive Gun Policies: Lessons from the United States,” Mexican Law Review, January 24, 2019. 8
[4] “Will Mexico’s New President Seek Justice for the Disappeared?” The Nation, January 28, 2019.
[5] Stop US Arms to Mexico web site
[6] “How U.S. Guns Sold to Mexico End Up with Security Forces Accused of Crime and Human Righhts Abuses,” The Intercept, April 26, 2018.