Now that the third world sh_ _ hole they call a country (mexico) wants answers from the ATF
Mexico Asks U.S. to Explain Why Firearms Entered Country
MEXICO CITY – Mexico has asked the United States for an official explanation of why U.S. agents allowed the smuggling of guns into Mexico as part of “Operation Fast and Furious,” whose goal was to trace the weapons to the highest levels of Mexico’s drug cartels, the Mexican Foreign Relations Secretariat said in a statement released on Sunday.
Mexico has asked for detailed information about the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, operation, which has been the subject of numerous reports in the U.S. and Mexican media.
“The Government of Mexico will follow the investigations announced by both the ATF and the Department of Justice with interest,” the Foreign Relations Secretariat said.
The goal of the governments of Mexico and the United States is to “stop the arms trafficking on the basis of the principle of shared responsibility and both work to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the matter,” the secretariat said.
This priority “was ratified by the presidents of Mexico and the United States on March 3 in Washington,” the secretariat said.
The Foreign Relations Secretariat said it learned about the operation after it was revealed that ATF agents allowed the weapons to be smuggled into Mexico in an effort to catch a drug lord.
ATF lost track of hundreds of the weapons, a whistleblower told U.S. media.
ATF agent John Dodson told CBS News he was ordered to allow the trafficking of guns to Mexico, where 35,000 people have died in drug-related violence over the past four years, as part of efforts to build a legal case against smugglers.
“The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico,” CBS said, citing information from Dodson and other sources.
Dodson was assigned last year to ATF’s Phoenix office.
The tactic of letting guns “walk” was approved by the Justice Department, according to Dodson and other informants, while U.S. officials flatly deny the existence of any such policy.
“I’m boots on the ground in Phoenix, telling you we’ve been doing it every day since I’ve been here,” Dodson told CBS. “Here I am. Tell me I didn’t do the things that I did. Tell me you didn’t order me to do the things I did. Tell me it didn’t happen.”
“Now you have a name on it. You have a face to put with it. Here I am. Someone now, tell me it didn’t happen,” the ATF agent said.
CBS said it obtained surveillance video showing people loading boxes filled with weapons into vehicles outside a Phoenix gun shop.
“The guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets ...,” CBS says.
Dodson and other ATF agents told CBS News that when they raised concerns about the deaths caused by the gun-walking approach, the bosses replied: “If you’re going to make an omelette, you’ve got to break some eggs.”
The Mexican government has long insisted that most of the high-powered weapons used by drug cartels, including assault rifles and automatic pistols, are acquired in the gun shops of Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.