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RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
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231900
2009-10-28 23:50:00
09MEXICO3108
Embassy Mexico
UNCLASSIFIED

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RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KCRM SNAR MX
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 003108 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KCRM SNAR MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO ARMS TRAFFICKING: INFORMATION SHARING AND 
BETTER INTERAGENCY COOPERATION THE KEY TO SUCCESS  
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  Disrupting the flow of weapons into and 
throughout Mexico is the goal of the U.S.-Mexican bilateral 
arms trafficking implementation working group GC Armas.  Our 
success will hinge on  the joint collection of information on 
confiscated weapons together with the ability to trace 
weapons to their point of origin so that law enforcement 
officials can build cases against individuals acting in 
violation of U.S. or Mexican law. The biggest obstacle to our 
joint efforts with the Mexicans is the inability of leading 
law enforcement agencies here to work together. 
 
 
The Right Mix of Players 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The U.S.-Mexican bilateral arms trafficking 
implementation working group replaced several pre-existing 
firearms groups.  Known as GC Armas, the group was borne out 
of the Cuernavaca Arms Trafficking Conference in March 2009. 
Several U.S. agencies including the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco 
and Firearms (ATF), Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
(ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and the Defense 
Attach Office (DAO) are stakeholders in this effort together 
with their counterparts from the Mexican including the 
Mexican Federal Police (SSP), the Attorney General's Office 
(PGR) and the Mexican Army (SEDENA).  Together, both sides 
are working to establish a set of guidelines and training 
classes for collecting, tracing, and storing weapons ceased 
in connection to the commission of organized crime, as well 
as developing leads from intelligence derived from Mexican 
and U.S. arms seizures in order to identify arms trafficking 
networks and methods. 
 
 
What Does Mexico Want? 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The GOM attaches much importance to the creation 
of a database that stores information on all weapons ceased 
in Mexico and provides case management data for 
investigations and prosecutions.  PGR CENAPI (Mexican 
Attorney General investigative branch) already collects 
information on confiscated weapons in its own database but 
that information is not shared systematically with the rest 
of the GOM or with the USG.  Furthermore, the information 
captured is not always sufficient for effective judicial case 
development.  Several GOM officials would like to develop a 
tracking system for weapons similar to OASSIS, which 
currently tracks people across the border.  Investigators 
could use tracking information to ascertain sources of 
weapons (dealers or manufacturers), trafficking lanes (in and 
throughout Mexico), and end user information (organized crime 
data).  U.S law enforcement experts suspect that Mexican 
support for a database is based, in part, on the assumption 
that it will help minimize the need for direct coordination 
between Mexican counterparts, and convey the illusion of 
cooperation. 
 
 
What Can the U.S Provide? 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Tracing a confiscated weapon to its point of 
origin is important in order to understand trafficking routes 
and ascertain vendor, manufacturer, exporter, and/or importer 
malfeasance.  The USG has offered to the GOM, E-trace, a 
weapons tracing system that tracks weapon sales to the last 
legal transaction.  Because E-trace is an information upon 
demand system and not a true database, it only offers limited 
information to its users.  PGR's CENAPI, the only Mexican 
agency that uses E-trace, can only view cases that either it 
or ATF generates.  As such, its officials are unable to 
access information from other U.S. law enforcement 
subscribers without the assistance of a U.S. third party. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  ATF is in the process of developing a Spanish 
version of E-trace that it will make available to the GOM in 
December 2009.   The Spanish version of E-trace will remain a 
request system that follows the same methodology as E-trace. 
However, programmers have expanded the list of input fields 
to seven, in large measure to satisfy the GOM's desire to 
collect and track more data. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Separately, ICE provided to the GOM an information 
 
MEXICO 00003108  002 OF 002 
 
 
sharing portal, in Spanish, called Armas Cruzadas.   This 
portal facilitates easy access to information on arms 
trafficking, investigations, and seizures.  Armas Cruzadas, 
however, is not a U.S. weapons database that lends itself to 
tracing confiscated weapons.  The intent of Armas Cruzadas is 
to create a virtual information exchange tool between the 
U.S. and Mexico. 
 
Senior Leader Involvement Spurs Working Level Action 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  At the Border Enforcement Security Task Force 
(BEST) conference in San Antonio, TX, August 11-13, the USG 
and GOM signed a Letter of Intent (LOI), agreeing on the need 
for a Declaration of Principles.  This document, currently 
under review by the GOM, outlines the kind of information on 
confiscated weapons that legal authorities require in order 
to prosecute criminals for arms trafficking in the U.S. and 
Mexico.  On August 23-26, ATF Director Ken Melson, DHS 
Assistant Secretary John Morton, and DOJ Deputy Assistant 
Attorney Bruce Schwartz participated in high level meetings 
with GOM officials that made inroads towards the development 
of protocols for uniform information requirements and 
evidence sharing on seized firearms. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Building on these senior level meetings, GC Armas 
hosted two conferences to further flesh out protocols that 
facilitate evidence sharing and foster greater understanding 
among local, state and federal USG authorities and their GOM 
counterparts.  The first conference occurred September 22-26 
in Phoenix, AZ.  U.S. prosecutors and investigators were 
invited to participate in the working group and reviewed 
information requirements necessary for effective case 
development in the U.S.  The second meeting was held in 
Tapachula, Chiapas, on Mexico's southern border with 
Guatemala and brought together prosecutors and investigators 
from Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador.  The Tapachula 
conference (report at septel) focused on the challenges posed 
by illegal weapons' movements across Mexico's southern border 
and through its southern region and should help promote a 
consistent approach and a cohesive strategy on attacking the 
challenges posed by trafficking of firearms into Mexico. 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Comment.  USG efforts to develop a more holistic 
approach when it comes to crime scene weapons forensics and 
accountability will depend in large part on close 
inter-agency collaboration both within Mexico and among the 
countries in the region which are affected.  GOM support for 
a comprehensive database is built on the pretext that it will 
improve SSP and PGR cooperation, without requiring either 
agency to overcome the differences that are undermining 
current efforts to respond to the problem of arms 
trafficking. We will continue to emphasize a task force 
approach that stresses cooperation as well as the use of 
databases as the best way forward.  End Comment. 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
 
FEELEY