November 16, 2007DOJ Document
Mexico has repeatedly expressed concern regarding the smuggling of weapons from
the US into Mexico, which the Government of asserts has fueled the violence of
drug cartels. See, e.g., "US Guns Behind Cartel Killings in Mexico," Washington
Post, 10/29/07, A01 (noting the 9/ 24 assassination of a Mexican state police officer, and
an attack on the same day on a federal police office in Tijuana, and stating: "The highpowered
guns used in both incidents on the evening of Sept. 24 undoubtedly came from
the United States, say police here [in Mexico], who estimate that 100 percent of drugrelated
killings are conunitted with smuggled US weapons.")
In response these concerns, DOJ' s ATF has committed significant resources to
address the issue of gun smuggling into Mexico. has three attaches in City,
and two TDY in Monterrey. During this past week, more than 30 ATF agents and
analysts have been meeting at the El Paso Intelligence Center ("EPIC") as part of the
Southwest Border Initiative's "Project Gunrunner." ATF's goals are to coordinate Federal
law enforcement activities on the U.S. side of the border involving gun smuggling, and to
work cooperatively with its counterparts in Mexico to improve information sharing,
assist them in improving their training and technological capacity, and increase the
number and quality of firearms trace requests from Mexico. One critical part of effort
is to for the USG fund Spanish E-trace, which would allow Mexican law enforcement
submit firearms trace requests to ATF's National Tracing Center.
Of particular importance, A TF has recently worked jointly with Mexico on the firstever
attempt to have a controlled delivery of weapons being smuggled into Mexico by a
major arms trafficker. While the first attempts at this controlled have not been
successful, the investigation is and ATF would like to expand the possibility of
such investigations and controlled deliveries- since only then will it be possible investigate an entire smuggling network, rather than arresting simply a single smuggler.
To that end, it is essential that a Mexican unit be assigned to work with ATF regard. A TF' s attache in Mexico City has General Medina Mora attempted controlled delivery, and stressed importance such a vetted unit being
assigned. ·
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