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La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, November 16, 2024, p. 22

Washington. Nearly three-quarters of firearms recovered in 25 Caribbean countries tracked by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) between 2018 and 2022 may come from the United States, a Bureau report revealed this week. of Government Accountability (GAO) of the Congress of that country.

Those artifacts destabilize communities and exacerbate the challenges facing our Caribbean neighbors, allowing gangs and transnational criminal networks to perpetuate crimes that undermine U.S. national security and regional stability.denounced Democratic Congressman Gregory W. Meeks, who is quoted in a statement.

The most effective way to address violence and instability in the Caribbean is to prevent American weapons from falling into the hands of criminalsadded his colleague Joaquin Castro.

This hustle and bustle has contributed to the collapse of Haitian society and the devastating loss of life throughout the regionhe added.

High homicide rates

According to the GAO report, 45 percent of fire devices come from retail stores in the United States, in addition to most sales being made in Florida, Texas and Georgia, he said.

The majority (88 percent) are pistols, but The number of long weapons subject to tracking almost tripled, going from 5 to 15 percentadded this office without political affiliation.

However, the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) detected a significant increase in the quantity, caliber and type of weapons being illegally trafficked to the Caribbean.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Caribbean countries had six of the 10 highest national homicide rates in the world in 2021.

Rates of legal possession of these weapons by civilians in the Caribbean are relatively low, said the Swiss organization Small Arms Survey.

In particular, in Haiti this flow facilitated the increase in violent gangs and their contribution to increased displacement and emigration to the United States.