Weapons from US fuel drug war, Mexican ambassador says
- |
WASHINGTON - Stopping the flow of money and weapons from the United States into Mexico is critical to dealing with the violent drug cartels creating havoc on the border, the Mexican ambassador to the United States yesterday.
Mexican officials believe that 90 percent of the weapons seized there can be traced to the United States, Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan said.
"The key issue right now is how can the United States help to shut down those guns and shut down that bulk cash that is providing the drug syndicates in Mexico with the wherewithal to corrupt, to bribe, to kill," Sarukhan said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
President Felipe Calderon of Mexico began a national crackdown on organized crime in 2006. Since then, violence among the drug cartels, their rivals, and soldiers have led to nearly 9,000 deaths and crime that has spilled across the border into the United States.
