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Mexico presses Washington over gun-running dispute

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:41 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Opposition says Mexico's sovereignty compromised

* Drug war problems hurting Mexican president Calderon

By Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY, March 17 (Reuters) - Mexico has formally asked the United States for information about reports that it had allowed weapons to be sold to suspected Mexican gun-runners, Mexico's foreign minister said on Thursday.

Under sharp criticism from senators in Congress, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said the government wanted to know whether hundreds of U.S. weapons had been sold to suspected arms traffickers that were used for crimes in Mexico.

"The media reports about the operation ... have given rise to great concern," Espinosa told a Senate hearing. "For this reason the Mexican government has immediately and formally requested detailed information from the United States."

The Center for Public Integrity, a U.S. non-governmental group, said more than 1,700 weapons had come into the hands of suspected straw buyers working for Mexican gun-runners in an operation initiated by U.S. authorities known as "Fast and Furious".

U.S. television network CBS reported this month that U.S. agents allowed guns to "walk" into the hands of Mexican drug cartels with the aim of tracking them and making major arrests.

Mexico's war on drug gangs has claimed the lives of more than 36,000 people since President Felipe Calderon launched his army crackdown in 2006. The fight is straining relations with Washington, which is providing arms and resources to try to crush the drug cartels.

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Multimedia coverage: http://link.reuters.com/wam89p

Factbox on political risks in Mexico: [ID:nRISKMX]

Factbox on latest attacks: [ID:nN13173991]

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According to the Center for Public Integrity, U.S. federal prosecutors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives launched "Fast and Furious" in 2009 in an attempt to ensnare leading drug traffickers in Mexico.

The weapons have since been used to commit crimes in Mexico, according to media reports, piling more pressure on Calderon, who has been accused of compromising national sovereignty in his efforts to beat down the cartels.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has asked the Justice Department to investigate the matter, saying the strategy was "unacceptable."

Since Calderon declared war on the drug bosses, the rising tide of violence has eroded support for his conservative National Action Party, which now lags the main opposition group ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

On Wednesday, senior opposition lawmakers accused Calderon of selling out Mexico to the United States when the government admitted it had allowed U.S. spy planes to fly over its territory in search of drug traffickers. [ID:nN16159380]

Senators rounded on Espinosa in Congress, accusing the government of handing control of the drugs war to Washington.

"This is an attack on sovereignty, and it's prohibited by the constitution," said Pablo Gomez, a member of the leftist opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution.

The dispute over the gun-running reports could strain ties between Washington and Mexico in the short term, but there is too much at stake for it to do any lasting damage, said Froylan Enciso, an expert on the drugs war based in New York state.

"Both countries have an interest in maintaining stability in relations to protect the massive flows of commerce, capital and labor between the two countries," he said. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)