Rise in violent crime in Latin America: deadly influx of illegal guns

Murders are on the rise in Latin America.

In Ecuador, after a sharp drop in homicides through 2016, the murder rate rose from 6 to 15 per 100,000 population in 2021 to 26 in 2022.

In Jamaica, the murder rate is approaching 50, while in Honduras, it is estimated at 36 in 2022. (By comparison, the murder rate in the US is 6.)

A major factor behind this epidemic of armed violence is the diversion and illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons in the region.

These weapons account for over 60% of homicides.

But where do they come from, and how can the illicit arms trade be stopped?

Latin America and the Caribbean are not large markets for transferring conventional military weapons.

Over the past five years, international arms transfers in South America have declined, although Brazil saw a 48% increase in imports between 2017 and 2022.

Only a few countries in the region are producers of SALW and ammunition: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.

In addition, the region has stricter regulations on civilian ownership of weapons than the United States.

This is especially true for military weapons such as the AR-15 rifle, commonly used by Mexican drug cartels.

In most countries, permission to purchase weapons is subject to numerous conditions, including psychological evaluations and criminal background checks.

They also limit the number and types of weapons civilians can purchase.

Yet despite these regulations, millions of weapons circulate in the region with devastating consequences.

In 2018, more than 60 million firearms were estimated to be in the hands of civilians in the region, both legally and illegally possessed.

There are more unregistered guns than registered in Bolivia, Colombia, and Mexico.

In Argentina and Brazil, the number of unregistered weapons is similar to that of registered weapons.

Law enforcement agencies and the military also possess approximately 8.8 million small arms and light weapons.

The number of firearms owned by private security companies in the region is more difficult to determine but was conservatively estimated at 600,000 in 2015.

Illegal weapons in the region come from a variety of sources.

After the end of civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, thousands of weapons remained unaccounted for, fueling a black market in Central America.

Most analysts agree that the United States is a major source of arms trafficking in the region, particularly in Mexico.

An estimated 200,000 or more weapons are purchased each year in the United States and smuggled into Mexico through “straw buyers” who purchase the weapons at gun stores or trade shows.

In the Caribbean, a recent study shows that most firearms responsible for increased violence and higher homicide rates in countries such as Jamaica and Haiti are smuggled out of the United States via shipping companies and commercial airlines.

Diversion to the illicit market also occurs through forged end-user certificates involving corrupt officials.

This was the case with the more than 7,000 AK-47s purchased by the Colombian AUC in Bulgaria in 1999 or the 3,000 AK-47s and ammunition purchased by a Nicaraguan company and later transferred to Colombian paramilitary groups.

More often, diversion occurs from official military and law enforcement stocks.

Documented cases in Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, and Venezuela show that military or security forces corruption has played a major role in diverting legally acquired weapons to organized criminal groups operating in the region.

Finally, weapons are also diverted from private security companies, which have experienced an upsurge in recent years due to the deteriorating security situation in most countries in the region.

According to the Brazilian Federal Police, more than 12,000 weapons were stolen from the stocks of private security companies between 2017 and 2021 or are considered missing.

A BONANZA FOR ORGANIZED CRIME

The millions of illegal weapons circulating in the region and the continued trafficking between countries and from the United States have expanded the activities of criminal organizations and made their activities even more violent.

Drug trafficking, for example, is inevitably linked to the rise of armed violence in the region.

However, the militarization of public security in Mexico and Brazil, for example, has not yielded positive results, as drug cartels and other criminal groups have only increased their firepower against the state.

As drug trafficking organizations expand or move their activities to other countries, armed violence will likely increase.

This has been the case in Ecuador and many other Caribbean countries recently.

The trafficking of firearms exacerbates crime and violence and affects economic development, political stability, and the daily lives of millions of people in the region.

It is estimated that the direct cost of crime in 17 countries in the region averaged 3.0% of the region’s GDP from 2010-2014 – equivalent to what the region spends annually on infrastructure.

These costs would likely be higher today if the same variables were measured again.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

What are Latin America and the Caribbean governments doing to control the illicit arms trade?

Since the late 1990s, regional leaders have sought to increase efforts to control and combat this phenomenon.

Most states in the region have committed to numerous agreements, including the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA) and, more recently, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

These agreements call for concrete measures such as the establishment of national control systems, the regulation of arms dealers and brokers, the marking and tracing of firearms, the implementation of measures to prevent diversion, and regional and international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of those involved in illicit trafficking.

In most countries, regional and international organizations have supported the destruction of surplus weapons.

In Argentina, 40,000 weapons were destroyed between 2020 and 2022, bringing the total number of weapons destroyed since 2000 to more than 400,000.

International cooperation between Interpol and law enforcement agencies from across the region recently resulted in the arrest of approximately 14,000 individuals and the seizure of 8,263 illegal firearms and 305,000 rounds of ammunition.

In 2021, a similar operation arrested 4,000 suspects and seized more than 200,000 illegal firearms, parts, components, and ammunition.

Between 2016 and 2020, about 425,000 illegal weapons were seized across the region.

But despite efforts to increase the number of weapons seized each year, more needs to be done.

And some governments are taking new steps to address the problem.

In 2021, the Mexican government filed a lawsuit in US federal court against several American gun manufacturers, including Smith & Wesson, Colt, and Glock.

The lawsuit seeks to hold these companies responsible for their weapons allegedly fueling Mexico’s ongoing drug violence.

Although the suit was dismissed in 2022, Mexico recently filed an appeal.

CARICOM states have also taken steps to combat the illegal arms trade by proposing to ban the public use of assault weapons.

There are other measures that governments can – and should – take to combat arms trafficking.

These include improving the security of weapons storage facilities, conducting more weapons destruction, enforcing marking and tracing, and updating record-keeping systems.

Sharing information in relevant regional and international fora and improving border controls to stop arms smuggling could also help.

But without a comprehensive approach to the problem that reduces the overall demand for weapons, our region will likely remain the most violent in the world.

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