Noticias de Hoy

For the Miami Herald by Tim Johnson: While a gunrunning sting known as Fast and Furious draws criticism in Congress for losing track of weapons that were smuggled into Mexico, Mexicans say the controversy confirms their conviction that the U. S. gun industry profits off of bloodshed south of the border. As new details of the U. S. undercover operation emerged last week in congressional hearings in Washington, many Mexicans said the scandal demonstrates how easily crime gangs obtain large quantities of assault weapons from U. S. gun shops near the border. Fast and Furious – the code name given by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to its gun-smuggling investigation – allowed an estimated 2,000 weapons to enter Mexico unobstructed. That, however, accounts for only one-tenth of the weapons found at Mexican crime scenes in recent years that originated in the United States, according to available statistics. The bureau’s acting director, Kenneth Melson, wrote in a recent letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. , that of the 29,284 weapons recovered in Mexico in 2009 and 2010 and submitted for tracing, 20,504, or 70 percent, came from the United States. Read more: http://www. miamiherald. com/2011/07/31/2339173/for-mexicans-fast-and-furious. html#ixzz1Ttk5fq9w

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