Latin America Arms Transfers and Arm Trafficking Update Share This /

This post was compiled by WOLA Intern Lesley Wellener.

• On July 20, the New Republic published an article that examines United States gun laws and their relationship with the increase in violence-fleeing Central Americans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. The analysis examines the effect gun trafficking has had on the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Alec MacGillis argues that “The surge of migrants coming to the U.S. from Central America is being fueled in part by the movement of guns heading in the other direction, from U.S. dealerships doing brisk business with the help of porous guns laws and a powerful gun lobby.”
• InsightCrime.org highlighted the prevalence of arms trafficking cases involving the armed forces of El Salvador. In June, four M-60 machine guns disappeared from the Cavalry Regiment of San Juan Opico, in El Salvador’s La Libertad province. An army officer and a soldier who were in charge of guarding the warehouse where the arms were stored are being investigated in connection with this case. The stolen guns can fire 500 bullets per minute at a distance of 1,000 meters.
• The Minister of the Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic has stated that a ban on the import of firearms has done more harm than good for the country. He believes that despite the ban, 98% of all deaths and injuries in the country are committed by those using weapons that were acquired illegally, and that a “large number” of police have been killed by criminals seeking to take their weapons.
• The Ministry of the Interior of Peru has requested information necessary to acquire 720 12GA caliber shotguns and 1,087 grenade launchers for tear gas, which will be given to the National Police Force.
• On June 28, Panama released three North Koreans who had been detained on charges of arms trafficking. The court acquitted the captain and two other officers, who were found last year on a ship that was carrying Cuban fighter jets, under a shipment of sugar, as it tried to enter the Panama Canal last year. Cuba claimed that it was sending the decades-old jets to North Korea for repairs. The other 32 members on board the ship were allowed to sail back to North Korea after paying a US$666,000 fine.
• On July 28, South Korea struck an agreement with Colombia in which Seoul offered a 1,200-ton corvette to Colombia’s Navy to foster stronger bilateral military relations and cooperation in the defense sector. This was the first time that South Korea has offered a warship to a foreign country.
• Three radars acquired from Israel are scheduled to arrive in Honduras in August. The radars will be used to detect aircraft involved in drug trafficking. The 360 degree radar and two other smaller radars will be located at strategic points around the country and will hopefully prove to be very affective in combating drug trafficking. The shipment comes after the U.S. government, citing a new Honduran law that eases shootdowns of civilian aircraft, stopped sharing its own radar-tracking intelligence with Honduras.
• The Mexican Navy acquired four 57mm cannons from BAE Systems, a British weapons manufacturer. The cannon can shoot up to four shots per second and up to 220 per minute.
• Brazil recently made a request for three C295 search and rescue aircraft from Airbus Defense and Space. The planes will be used by the Brazilian Air Force and will join a fleet of 12 other C295 planes, ultimately expanding the fleet to 15 planes total.