Marcelo Ebrard
, Mexico’s Foreign Minister , announced President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to implement immediate measures to curb the flow of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico .
During a phone call, President López Obrador told Trump that he proposed “both countries use technology to close the border , to freeze the traffic of arms that is killing people in Mexico,” Marcelo Ebrard told reporters.
“And Trump responded that he thought it was a good idea that this could be done using technology,” Ebrard said, adding that the proposal includes installing advanced lasers equipment, X-rays and metal detectors at all border crossings .
Not only could the new strategy halt the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico , but also drug trafficking into the United States, Ebrard said.
López Obrador
also told Trump “he was very concerned” that cartel members used .50 caliber, armor-piercing rifles during a shooting in Culiacán .
The two Presidents agreed that M exican and U.S. officials would meet in the next few days to discuss the different options, and would announce the measures to “freeze” illegal imports of weapons into Mexico.
The discussion of this key strategy came in the wake of the failed attempt to arrest Ovidio Guzmán . On October 17 , cartel gunmen surrounded about 35 police and national guard and forced them to free El Chapo's son .
Furthermore, Ebrard explained that “if the order would have been given to continue with the operation in Culiacán we estimate that more than 200 people, mostly civilians , would have been killed,” and added that collateral damage is unacceptable to the current administration.
Ebrard also said valuable lessons were learned after the failed attempt to arrest Ovidio Guzmán and admitted that the cartel’s response was unexpected by authorities.
The Foreign Minister said the Mexican armed forces need better training and technology, emphasizing that there is still an “outstanding arrest warrant for Ovidio Guzmán and other people and the corresponding authorities have to do what is necessary” to carry out the arrests.
Moreover, increasing the number of Mexican intelligence agents in the U.S. is another possibility.
Mexico
estimates that over 80% of the weapons used by criminals in Mexico enter the country through the U.S. border , and has previously urged U.S. officials to take gun trafficking more seriously, arguing that the number of guns in the country makes it much harder to defeat drug traffickers .
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