HomeNewsBriefMexico Weapons Imports Increased 331% since 2011
BRIEF

Mexico Weapons Imports Increased 331% since 2011

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 23 FEB 2016 BY QUENTON KING EN

Mexico’s arms imports grew by 331 percent over the last five years, compared to 2006-2010, raising more concerns over the government’s reluctance to scale back the militarization of the drug war.

The report (pdf), compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), notes that arms imports to the Americas decreased by 6 percent from 2011-2015 versus 2006-2010. Despite this, Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil all saw a rise in imports.

According to SIPRI, weapons imports to Mexico included “a variety of transport aircraft, maritime patrol aircraft, basic ground-attack aircraft, armed helicopters, patrol boats and light armoured vehicles.”

The US comprises the largest percentage of exports to Mexico, “account[ing] for 52 percent of deliveries to Mexico during 2011–15 (in many cases as military aid), followed by Spain with 19 percent and France with 10 percent."

As another point of comparison, weapon important to Iraq grew 86 percent between the same time period. 

Overall, international weapons transfers increased by 14 percent between 2011-2015 compared to 2006-2010, the report stated. 

InSight Crime Analysis

This tremendous 331 percent increase in weapons imports since 2011 doesn’t reflect President Enrique Peña Nieto’s original campaign vows to assume a different approach to Mexico's conflict. In fact, it is questionable how necessary the increase was, given that violence began to stabilize in 2012 near the end of Felipe Calderón presidential term. US officials have acknowledged that in 2014, Mexico spent over $1 billion in military equipment via the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, a 100-fold increase from previous years. 

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Mexico

The concern behind militarization is that Mexico's security forces have a mixed record when it comes to battling organized crime, with widespread reports of abuse and torture. Critics say that continuing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in arming these security agencies is not the best use of resources, and does nothing to address the social problems that help cause crime

Asides from being Mexico's bigger trade partner for military equipment, the US is also a primary source for illegally trafficked small arms. According to a report last year by Mexico's Attorney General's Office, more than 70 percent of weapons that were seized and successfully traced between September 2014 and July 2015 originated in the US. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

MEXICO / 16 JUL 2022

Rafael Caro Quintero, Mexican drug lord and erstwhile head of the defunct Guadalajara Cartel, has been apprehended by Mexican authorities.

EXTORTION / 28 JAN 2022

Cartels are known for shakedowns of avocado growers, but lime farmers have been unnoticed victims of similar extortion schemes in…

FEATURED / 28 APR 2021

The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has displaced heroin as the leading driver of the ongoing opioid crisis in the United…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…