500K Illegal Weapons Enter Mexico Annually

Guadalajara, Mexico — Approximately 500,000 weapons enter Mexico illegally each year across three thousand kilometers of border. This figure translates to roughly five million weapons having entered the country over the past decade, the majority of which originate in the United States, according to Deputy Jesús Valdés Peña, President of the Commission for Social Economy and Promotion of Cooperativism of the Chamber of Deputies for the LXVI Legislature.

The deputy shared these statistics during the forum "Arms Trafficking in Mexico: Social and Economic Effects," organized by the University Center of Economic and Administrative Sciences (CUCEA). He emphasized that a fundamental objective is to place the issue of weapons and their impact on the public agenda, as it often remains absent from mainstream debate.

"If we ask where these weapons come from, we realize they come from the neighboring country, the United States, through eight manufacturers that produce them. Some of these weapons even bear the logos of organized crime groups," he stated.

He added that the weapons are marketed through seven to eight thousand distribution or sales centers in that country, where they can be acquired without major requirements, generating serious consequences for Mexico.

"These weapons provoke social destabilization, a deterioration of local commerce, a direct impact on the economy, and affectations to educational and health centers, and to social cohesion in general. As a data point: 70 percent of intentional homicides in the country are committed with a firearm. This translates to thousands of victims per year, and in 2024 the economic impact of violence in Mexico amounted to approximately 4.9 trillion pesos, equivalent to 19.8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product," he specified.

A Delicate and Often Silenced Issue

The Rector of CUCEA, Dr. Mara Robles Villaseñor, expressed that this topic is especially delicate, as violence manifests itself in assaults, murders, homicides, and forced disappearances.

"For all those crimes to be perpetrated, instruments are needed: weapons and ammunition that allow violence to be materialized. That international demand against the illegal trafficking of arms into our country has had repercussions abroad, but it seems that the public conversation in Mexico is constantly silenced, and the issues that should concern us daily are diluted," she stated.

She explained that this is why legislators, academics, and the university community were convened: to open a public conversation about the consequences of arms trafficking from the perspective of the victims, the economic impact, and the insecurity it generates.

International Routes and Sophisticated Exchanges

The forum's first panel, titled "Socioeconomic Effects of Arms Trafficking in Mexico," featured the participation of Dr. Alexandre Parmant from the Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies, who spoke about narcotrafficking routes. He explained that weapons are purchased legally in the United States and transported to Mexico, from where cartels send them to neighboring countries of Colombia, such as Panama, Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

"Foreign criminal organizations, especially from Mexico, exchange sophisticated weapons for cocaine. The presence of these actors is associated with an increase in violence and corruption," he indicated.

He added that guerrilla movements in Colombia also acquire sophisticated weaponry, including drones for attacks with explosives or for intelligence purposes.

Facilitating Crime and Systemic Victimization

Dr. Aurea Esther Grijalva Eternod, a researcher at the University Center of Social Sciences and Humanities (CUCSH), shared that the availability of weapons facilitates and strengthens the operations of organized crime in various ways: greater offensive capacity, reduced control costs, fewer reports due to intimidation and coercion.

"They lead to an increase in lethality and in linked crimes, such as homicides, use of police lethal force, serious injuries, extortion, and kidnappings, facilitating territorial control and systematic victimization," she stated.

She added that a study conducted in 2021 identified that even when weapons are not used, their simple presence at a criminal event contributes to the success of the crime's commission.

"They facilitate criminal action and, in the case of victims, increase their vulnerability. With a weapon, practically any person can be a target of crime," she commented.

The Economic Scale and Global Impact

For his part, Dr. Willy Cortez, a researcher at CUCEA, speaking on the economic and social impact of arms smuggling, pointed to a phenomenon of "ant trafficking," where approximately 100 dollars is paid for a package of 50 bullets and up to 2,000 dollars for an automatic rifle.

"Illegal trafficking of firearms is not a phenomenon exclusive to Mexico, but is global. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime conducted a study on weapons seizures that shows the complexity of the problem and the differences in the legal frameworks of each country. Regarding the financial sphere, the UN estimates that arms smuggling represents between 170 and 300 million dollars," he shared.

Among the economic and social consequences, he highlighted the increase in violence and crime, the destabilization of regions, economic stagnation, and the displacement of people to areas with lower insecurity.

The panel was moderated by CUCEA academic Dr. Sofía Espinoza de los Monteros.