Despite the fact that their actions resulted in bloody massacres and thousands of deaths in Mexico, most of the arms dealers involved in the failed operation were “Fast and Furious”, currently they are walking freely on the streets of the United States.
Of the 20 who were involved in an arms trade trial for a case of the botched operation conducted by the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF, for the acronym in English) between 2009 and 2011, 15 were currently free after serving lax sentences of three to nine years. Some even for a year.
Even if they are already free, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation, for the acronym in English) keeps them under surveillance and has a detailed file with all their data including their current addressTherefore, if the government of Mexico asks for their extradition to bring them to justice in our country, these traffickers can be found.
Yesterday, MILLENNIUM He announced that Mexico will begin seeking extradition of arms dealers from the United States so that they also pay into Mexican territory for the importation of war material used by drug cartels in thousands of murders in recent years. One of the initial targets is at least one human trafficker related to the Fast and Furious case, Daniel Francisco Cruz Morones.
According to top government sources, the Mexican government will ask the Joe Biden government to hand over a dozen arms dealers, both Mexicans and Americans, to answer to Mexican justice for its responsibility in the violence the country has witnessed in recent years. During the run of the Fast and the Furious, the now-elected president held the position of vice president under the Barack Obama administration.
Mexico will try to treat the US illegal arms trade as a serious crime
The sources consulted have confirmed MILLENNIUM that not only will the extradition of arms dealers be requested for the damage they are causing in the country, but also the Joe Biden government, ready to take office on January 20, You are also asked to consider changing US law in this regard to make illegal arms trade in that country a serious crime.; Today it is a crime that carries penalties ranging from a few months in prison to ten years in highly isolated and aggravated cases.
Currently, the second constitutional amendment is in the United States guarantees the right to bear arms to its citizens, although it does not protect individuals for criminal purposesnor does it protect the illegal arms trade.
The United States Code, 18 USC § 922, states that is punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years if a person is found in possession or receipt of an illegal firearm or ammunition, that is, from a seller without a license for that purpose or, failing that, they come from stolen arsenals.
It is also punishable if sold without a license or to unauthorized persons such as: convicted of sentences of more than one year, fugitives, drug addicts, foreigners who settled illegally on American soil, the mentally ill, and soldiers fired with dishonor.
In all cases, the maximum fine of 10 years applies it can be commuted to a term of 15 years if the offender has three or more previous violent crime convictions.
In Mexico meanwhile possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the armed forces It can be punished by 30 years and, if proven aggravating, goes up to 40 years.
The 20 of ‘Fast and the Furious’
The 20 aforementioned arms dealers were involved in CR 11-126PHXJAT (LOA) lawsuit filed in a court in Arizona on January 19, 2011, after They were found to be configured as a network to smuggle weapons across the border into Mexico.
Almost all of them were jailed for five years, so in 2016 six of the band members were released, another five would do so the following year in 2017. Minor sentences were served by Jonathan Earwin Fernández, free in 2015, and Daniel Cruz free, in 2014.
In the case of Jaime Ávila Jr., It is expected to be released in the summer of next year, on June 29. While Héctor Rolando Carlón was only released on September 18th of this year, according to information from the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons obtained by this newspaper.
Weapons of ‘Fast and Furious’ ended with Los Zetas and other cartels
After the ATF office started the operation intentionally allowed at least 2,500 weapons of all calibres to enter MexicoThese are estimated to have come into the hands of the cartels, mainly Los Zetas, del Golfo and Sinaloa.
The weapons that finally arrived in Mexico with the permission of the US authorities, For example, they were used in the Tubutama massacre in Sonora, where 21 people lost their lives in a showdown between the Sinaloa cartel and the Beltrán Leyva. for the territory. The dead included police from the region.
They were also used in the murder of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agent Jaime Zapata, as well as in the serious injuries sustained by retired agent Víctor Ávila Jr. in a The ambush at the hands of Los Zetas in Mexico nine years ago was with weapons entering the country thanks to the said operation. Zapata’s mother and some lawmakers have supported this version, although the ATF has officially denied it.
According to a Department of Justice report, one of the Fast and Furious weapons purchased in Arizona in 2008 was found that same year at the site of one of the worst battles Tijuana has ever witnessed. At the end of the shooting 18 hitmen from different factions of the Arellano Félix cartel were dead.
Another case: in September 2010, after a confrontation between sailors and hitmen of the Gulf Cartel in Tamaulipas, Two assault rifles purchased in Arizona as part of Fast and Furious were tracked down.
In 2014, dozens of weapons from the Fast and Furious operation were seized by the Sinaloa cartel in Ciudad Juárez, after authorities searched a hiding place led by José Antonio Torres Marrufo, better known as The jaguar, then head of the organization headed by Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán.
JLMR