Firearms in Mexico have ties to El Paso
By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
Posted: 12/13/2008 11:52:10 PM MST


Related: More on the violence in Juárez.

EL PASO - The recent sentencing of two men convicted of federal arms-trafficking charges represents the latest cases with ties to El Paso investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

John Avelar, 32, of El Paso and Jonatan López-Gutiérrez, 33, of Mexico were sentenced, respectively, to 37 months and 48 months in prison, after pleading guilty to their roles in a gun-smuggling scheme.

The indictment against them and others listed several weapons purchased from licensed dealers in El Paso, including a .50-caliber sniper rifle, then apparently smuggled into Mexico.

Investigations and prosecutions have increased significantly under the ATF's Project Gunrunner and eTrace programs, which are carried out in collaboration with Mexican authorities, said Tom Crowley, ATF spokesman in Dallas.

"Since October 1, in the Dallas division, the ATF has opened approximately 50 Project Gunrunner cases, with the bulk of them out of El Paso," Crowley said. "This does not include cases still being worked on from fiscal year 2007, or cases out of the Houston division.

"Smuggled weapons that end up in Mexico likely are being used in the current drug-related violence, as well as in the (United) States, where they often end up in the hands of gangs. Because of the proximity to the
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border and the large number of firearm dealers, a lot of the weapons recovered in Mexico originate from Houston. We also have a significant number of weapons coming from Dallas and other areas of Texas, including El Paso."

Mexican officials say more than 1,500 people have been killed in Juárez since January, most of them with firearms ranging from pistols to automatic rifles. This year, homicide became the leading cause of death in Juárez, surpassing diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

On Dec. 10, a U.S. federal grand jury indicted Ramon E. Gandara, 30, a U.S. citizen living in Juárez, who was accused, among other charges, of buying and possessing "firearms on numerous occasions between 2005 and 2008 after providing false information to federal firearms licensees," officials said.

One of the weapons attributed to Gandara's dealings was a Belgian Fabrique Nationale 5.7 semiautomatic gun, known as a "cop killer," which Mexican law officials reported recovering Aug. 13 in connection with a crime in Mexico City.

Gandara is being detained in the El Paso County Jail without bond.

Mexican officials have complained that many of the estimated 5,000 victims of Mexico's drug wars, including 450 to 500 law enforcement officers and soldiers, were killed with weapons smuggled from the United States.

In 2007, the ATF reported that 6,532 firearms were recovered and traced in Mexico. Of those, 149 were recovered in connection with homicides.

Last month, Mexican officials announced the seizure of the largest cache of illegal weapons on record for Mexico. Hundreds of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition were confiscated in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Among the items were a grenade launcher and grenades. All of the weapons were linked to drug traffickers.

In Friday's edition of the Washington Post, a story about arms trafficking cited unnamed Mexican officials who reportedly alleged that "rifles stolen from Fort Bliss ... end up on the streets of Juárez," an assertion the U.S. military disputed. The article did not elaborate.

Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt said of the article, "All of our weapons are accounted for."

Drew Wade, spokesman for the ATF in Washington, told the El Paso Times that the agency cannot comment on pending investigations.

The Mexican federal congress reported recently that investigators have identified 17,000 different points in the United States from which arms are smuggled into Mexico.

Where do buyers obtain weapons, which range from hunting rifles to military-grade equipment?

Historically, the most common sources are gun stores, individual licensed dealers, the Internet, other governments and the black market.

According to a 2003 RAND report, "Arms Trafficking and Colombia," stockpiles of thousands of firearms shipped by the United States to Latin American countries during the Cold War era still may be in circulation throughout the hemisphere.

John Hubert, an El Paso firearms consultant at Sun City Guns, recalled a suspicious order at an weapons store. "A young woman walked into a store, and pulled a paper with a list of guns to buy, but she had no idea what she was doing. It was obvious something was not right."

He said honest, licensed gun dealers do their best to avoid selling guns that could be used to commit crimes in the United States or in Mexico.

"It's hard being on the border," Hubert said. "We've heard the drug cartels in Mexico are offering $5,000, with no questions asked, for any AK-47 or AR-15 they can get their hands on," he said. "AK-47s are not made in the United States; they come from former communist-bloc countries. There are 12 to 15 fully automatic AK-47s available for sale in this country, and cost about $50,000 each."

A semiautomatic AK-47, which is cheaper than a fully automatic model, costs much less, around $1,000, at gun stores licensed to sell them. U.S. stores with a Class 3 license also can legally sell silencers, short-barrel shotguns and rifles.

ATF officials said the AR-15 is a semiautomatic version of the military M-16 automatic rifle. Other weapons popular with cartels are .45-caliber pistols, 9 mm pistols and .38-caliber super pistols.

In recent years, as the drug wars have intensified, Mexican officials said drug dealers have obtained military-grade weapons, such as bazookas, grenades, grenade launchers and LAWs, portable light

anti-tank weapons.

And the flow of arms seems to have no end.

Last week, Juárez city police issued a statement saying they had removed 207 weapons from the streets since May. They also detained 298 people for carrying weapons without permits. Seized were 98 pistols with ammunition magazines, 70 revolvers, 13 shotguns, eight rifles of different calibers, two Uzis, four modified weapons and 12 other arms of unknown caliber.

Recovered weapons in Mexico are expected to keep ATF agents busy in coming months with more cross-

border cases like the one from Arizona.

Victor Varela, 23, of Columbus, N.M., was sentenced in September to 2Âyears in prison for fraudulently buying two .50-caliber rifles through an informant in Maricopa County, Ariz. The state attorney general's office said several weapons connected to Varela were traced to crimes committed by drug cartels in Mexico.

The ATF's Crowley said the agency has a policy for disposing of the firearms: "We melt down all weapons seized to prevent anyone from using them in another crime."

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpaso

times.com; 546-6140.

Arms smuggling

In 2007, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reported 6,532 firearms recovered in Mexico and traced them to the United States. They included:

# 149 weapons were recovered in connection with homicides; 4,146 are being investigated.

# The greatest number of traced weapons were pistols, 3,214, followed by 1,804 rifles, 987 revolvers, 482 shotguns, 22 machine guns, 16 derringers and seven other weapons.

# Texas was the largest supplier state with 1,131, followed by California with 436 and Arizona with 238.

# The greatest number of traced weapons recovered by Mexican law enforcement were in the state of Michoacan, 825, followed by border states Tamaulipas, 667; Sonora, 664; Chihuahua, 441; and Nuevo Leon, 420.

Source: ATF.
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