U.S. court backs Mexican gun lawsuit

Jan. 24, 2024

A U.S. federal appeals panel ruled that a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Mexico against U.S. gun manufacturers whose weapons are used by drug cartels can proceed, reversing a lower court that had dismissed the case.

The decision is “is one of the most significant setbacks for gunmakers” in twenty years, according to the New York Times.

he Boston-based 1st US circuit court of appeals overturned a lower-court judge’s decision dismissing the case on the grounds that a US law barred Mexico from suing Smith & Wesson Brands, Sturm, Ruger & Co and others. Mexico had accused the companies of aiding and abetting illegal gun sales by facilitating the trafficking of firearms into the country, reports Reuters.

Mexico says over 500,000 guns are trafficked annually from the US into Mexico, of which more than 68% are made by the companies it sued, which also include Beretta USA, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Colt’s Manufacturing Co and Glock Inc.

It's estimated that up to half a million weapons are smuggled every year from the U.S. to Mexico, which has seen spiking gun violence despite strict regulations, reports Axios.

Argentina

• Argentine unions organized a general strike today. More than 100,000 people are expected to participate in the demonstration against President Javier Milei’s shock-therapy economic reforms, which include significant limitations on the right to protest. It is the earliest in an Argentine president’s mandate — just six weeks — that a national strike has been organized. (New York Times)

• Milei obtained commission approval for its massive reform bill, the “Omnibus Law” to be debated in the Chamber of Deputies, likely in a marathon session tomorrow and Friday. However significant portions of the bill are questioned by a number of friendly opposition parties, particularly the increase of export taxes. (Página 12, Corta)

• Milei’s package of reforms by presidential decree faces dozens of court challenges: more than 60 lawsuits under way by labor unions, business chambers and NGOs. The chapter affecting labor regulations has been suspended by a court until a verdict is reached. (AFP)

• “According to a study by the University of San Andrés, 40% of Argentines reject Milei’s economic policies, while 38% do agree with them. But, regarding specific points of the mega-bill, this study clearly shows that up to 60% reject the privatization of state companies, the delegation of powers to the executive, special permits for the government to take on debt, or the reform of environmental laws,” reports El País.

El Salvador

• “Almost a sixth of the Salvadoran population cannot afford to buy meat, eggs, or dairy products. For the country’s poorest families, even rice is not an option. Corn and beans are the daily fare for those who can grow them. In the past three years, 210,456 people have fallen into extreme poverty, meaning they do not make enough to cover the costs of basic staples, and rarely, if ever, eat three meals a day. Some 907,000 Salvadorans suffer severe food insecurity, struggling to survive on the brink of starvation.” — El Faro

Brazil

• Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised a federal response after Indigenous leader Nega Pataxó was killed in a conflict between Indigenous people and farmers over land in Bahia state. (Reuters, Telesur)

• Water resources are at the heart of a deadly dispute between the residents of Tiningu, a settlement founded by Black fugitives from slavery in Brazil’s Para state, and farmers, reports the Guardian.

Regional Relations

• Lula offered cooperation to Ecuador in the midst of a security crisis there. In a phone call with his Ecuadorean counterpart, Daniel Noboa, Lula said Brazil was willing to help Ecuador through cooperation in intelligence and security, reports Reuters.

Venezuela

• Dueling political factions took to the streets of Caracas yesterday, the first competing rallies in a presidential election year in which many voters are politically disenchanted, reports the Associated Press.

• Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado demanded the Maduro government set a date for presidential elections this year. Machado was selected to head a unity opposition platform ticket, last year, though it is unclear whether the government will lift a ban preventing her from running, reports the Associated Press. (See yesterday’s post.)

• Machado announced an alliance with political parties and civil society organizations that will help organize her campaign to challenge President Nicolás Maduro, reports Reuters.

Regional

• “2024 will be the biggest election year in history, with some 4 billion people, or about half the planet’s population, set to cast a ballot. In Latin America, the so-called super-cycle will see at least five presidential elections,” reports Americas Quarterly.

Mexico

• Mexico is very likely to elect its first female president this year, an advance that reflects a broader “transformation of women assuming public sector leadership in Mexico over the last five years,” writes Susan Segal in Americas Quarterly.

Migration

• The New Humanitarian highlights growing migration and protection issues in the Darien, noting increasing medical and mental health case loads, as well as rising sexual violence. (Via Americas Migration Brief)

• “Garifuna people from the Afro-Indigenous communities along Honduras’ Caribbean coast are migrating in large numbers both within Central America and to the United States, in one of the most searing and underreported human rights crises in the hemisphere,” reports El Faro English.

• Hundreds of migrants find themselves in limbo in Guatemala, unable to finance moving on towards the United States or turning back, reports El País.

Haiti

• Homicides in Haiti increased by more than 110% last year to reach 4,789, according to a new United Nations report. "I am appalled by the staggering and worsening level of gang violence," Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in the report. "Gang killings, kidnappings and sexual violence, notably against women and young girls, among other abuses, continue with widespread impunity." (Reuters)

• Pope Francis called for the release of all hostages in Haiti, as the country’s Catholic Church tries to negotiate the freedom of six kidnapped nuns and two of their companions from an armed gang, reports the Miami Herald.

Colombia

• Powerful sedatives are behind a spate of violent crimes targeting tourists in Colombia, often through dating apps, reports the New York Times.

• The late Colombian artist Fernando Botero “wasn’t thought of as highly political. But many of his best paintings satirize the powerful and sympathize with history’s victims,” reports Americas Quarterly.

Guatemala

• Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo’s inauguration earlier this month “is the result of a long process that began well before the 2023 election, and that has cost many Guatemalans anxiety, persecution, exile, and prison. A long storm is starting to clear, one in which the justice institutions were cruel against judges, prosecutors, and journalists who wanted to cleanse the country of corrupt people and criminals,” writes Álvaro Montenegro in El Faro.

Chile

• Chile’s Boric administration’s pension reform plan is entering a critical week in parliamentary negotiations, reports El País.

Peru

• “The growth of gold mining gangs in Peru’s La Libertad province has led to a deteriorating security situation, with unprecedented attacks on security forces and one of the country’s largest mining companies on the rise,” reports InSight Crime.