Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Miguel Aleman, and Matamoros are the access points
The final destination of the weapons is Chiapas and Tabasco.
Tamaulipas is one of the main recipients of arms trafficking that arrives in Mexico from the United States, reveals a report from the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).
The Report on Activities of the Permanent Armed Force in Public Security tasks, delivered to the Senate of the Republic, establishes that the municipalities of Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Miguel Alemán and Matamoros are the access points for weapons of illicit origin that enter the country.
The transfer of weapons that reaches Tamaulipas begins in Florida and Georgia; Later, both routes connect in Alabama, to continue their journey through Mississippi, Louisiana and conclude their journey through the United States in Texas.
Once there, they disperse through the customs of Ciudad Acuña and Piedras Negras, Chihuahua, Nuevo Laredo, Miguel Alemán, Reynosa and Matamoros.
Those that enter through Chihuahua and Nuevo Laredo move to the metropolitan area of Monterrey, and from there they continue the transfer to Ciudad Victoria, an interconnection point, also, for weapons that enter through Miguel Alemán, Reynosa and Matamoros.
From 2012 to 2022, authorities seized 7,740 long and short weapons in Tamaulipas, as a result of operations to dismantle arms trafficking that enters the country illegally.
Of that universe, 6,327 were long weapons, and 1,413 were short weapons, with 2015 and 2019 being the years with the highest seizures from the United States.
Tamaulipas is identified as one of the states where the most weapons enter illegally.
Sedena establishes that operations intensified starting in December 2019 at the national level, however, the seizure statistics have decreased after reaching their maximum peak that year with 1,225 weapons seized, registering 994 in 2020; 532 in 2021; and 677 in 2022.
“The strategy aims to coordinate inter-institutional actions to stop the flow of weapons from the United States to Mexico, in order to limit the capabilities of organized crime groups and strengthen our technological capacity,” states the Sedena report.
The documents conclude that the weapons that enter through the Tamaulipas border are transported by land to Veracruz, and conclude their journey in the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, the latter of which the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is from.
