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Leaders of the Democratic and Republican U.S. Senate today filed a $ 30 million to fight in the next two years the smuggling of weapons into Mexico, fueling a "narcoviolencia" in that country .

The legislation was introduced by Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico) and Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Texas), who argued that the continuing violence in Mexico not only has a "devastating" in that country but also threatens the security communities on both side of the frontier.


Senators in a joint communique recalled that in 2008 more than 5,300 people were killed in attacks in Mexico linked to organized crime, double the previous year.

Of the total, over 1,600 were killed in Ciudad Juarez, near the U.S. border town of El Paso (Texas).


According to the Office for the Control of Alcohol, Snuff and Firearms (ATF for short), 90 percent of weapons confiscated in Mexico comes from the United States.

Mexico has strict measures on the possession of weapons, so that drug traffickers use to smuggle weapons to control their U.S. routes for the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.


"We have to acknowledge that weapons are smuggled into Mexico from the United States are fueling this violence, and we must take immediate action to keep them out of the hands of violent drug gangs," said Bingaman.

For his part, Hutchinson said that drug traffickers do not respect borders and that "the growing violence in Mexico is now a matter of U.S. national security."


"The powerful Mexican drug cartels are threatening the safety of U.S. communities and police forces that try to protect ourselves," said the Texas senator.

Both the United States and Mexico have said that the fight against drug trafficking is a "shared responsibility", but the Government of Mexico requires stronger action from Washington against the illegal trafficking of arms into its territory.


The Law for the Reduction of Violence on the Southwest Border "aims to combat arms smuggling networks.

A similar initiative had been introduced last year without any action taken in that regard.


The measure authorizes $ 30 million over the next two years to expand an initiative of the Department of Justice against the arms trade.

It also authorizes an additional 19 million dollars in the same period to improve cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico in the magazine business.