SIPRI Report: Governments in Latin America Continue to Import Firearms

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Brazil is the country with the highest importation rate of military weapons in the region. Brazil’s arms imports between 2015 and 2019 were the highest in South America and accounted for 31 per cent of the region’s arms importations – despite a 37 percent decline compared to the 2010-2014 period.

Most of the guns used by criminal gangs in Brazil are AK-47 and AR-15, almost 100 percent of which come from the United States.

According to the Brazilian government, a total of 24 percent of illegal weapons come from the USA. Only last weekend, the USA and Brazil agreed on closer cooperation in the arms trade.

However, Marielle Franco was killed with a German brand. She was a human rights activist and city councilor for the left-wing Socialism and Freedom Party in Rio de Janeiro. She was murdered with a Heckler & Koch, which had been delivered to special units of the Brazilian police. Despite German arms export controls, it ended up in the hands of militias.

German guns are also circulating in Colombia, including the SIG Sauer brand. The German company has sold 38,000 guns to the war-torn country in 99 lots. A report by the children’s charity ‘Terre des Hommes’ summarizes information from a Colombian journalist.

It shows that SIG Sauer guns, including the SP2022, are being sold illegally to armed groups in Colombia, with the knowledge of the Colombian police. They are used for crimes by paramilitaries and drug cartels, but also by army personnel.

In 2019, the total volume of authorized German arms exports reached its highest level ever, according to the German government’s arms export balance report.

The five-year report published by SIPRI on Monday also confirms this appalling balance: The export of major weapon systems (including, among others, combat aircraft, military helicopters, warships and battle tanks) has increased by another five percent worldwide between 2015 and 2019.

With the approval of the governing Grand Coalition, Germany’s war weapons exports have increased by as much as 17 percent. The top five exporters were the USA, Russia, France, Germany and China. “The arms export licensing policy of the CDU, CSU and SPD is neither restrictive nor Christian or social – it is un-Christian and anti-social, inhuman and barbaric,” comments journalist and peace activist Jürgen Grässlin in a press release issued by a number of anti-war organizations.

The US government has also introduced new export regulations for American small-caliber weapons, ammunition and weapon components. This is a great victory for the American arms industry, which has been working for this change for over a decade. As a result, it is now even more likely that weapons manufactured in America will end up in the hands of illegal players.

The United States is today a major source of illegal weapons throughout Latin America. It produces up to 70 percent of all illegally owned weapons seized by the authorities in Mexico, Brazil and El Salvador. The widespread availability of small-caliber weapons is a key factor in international conflicts, according to the United Nations.

The main importers worldwide are Middle Eastern countries, where purchases increased by 61 percent between 2015 and 2019, accounting for 35 percent of total global arms imports in the past five years. Saudi Arabia was the world’s largest arms importer during the same period.