IANSA participant Espacios para el Progreso Social (Mendoza, Argentina) has requested that the Argentine Ministry of Defense formally investigate what appears to be another case of illegal arms trafficking in the Mercosur region. On 21 January 2004, the Brazilian daily O Globo reported that a truck containing 10,000 rounds of ammunition, apparently from the Santa Fé province of Argentina, had been seized by police in the hands of criminals in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Just months prior to the denouncement, the Argentine military factory Fray Luis Beltrán, located in Santa Fé, had reported a robbery. Espacios sent this information to the Argentine Minister of Defense, José Pampuro, and asked that the Ministry find out whether the incidents are connected.
Specifically, the organisation requested that authorities investigate the origin of the ammunition, whether or not it had been sold and transported legally, as well as the route used to bring the ammunition into Brazil. Espacios also alerted the Ministry to the possibility of a link between this case and other cases of arms trafficking between the two countries, such as the discovery of military guns and grenades in the hands of armed criminals in Rio de Janeiro. Copies of the request were also sent to the Argentine Congress.
The case was reported in the newly-launched Espacios news website and in Desarme.org. Please see either source for more information, or contact:
IANSA Mercosur Regional Coordinator, Jessica Galeria: mercosur@iansa.org (English, Spanish or Portuguese) or
Espacios President, Gabriel Conte: gconte@desarme.org (Spanish)
September 2002
Argentina Responds To Demand For Explanation On Illegal Arms Transfers To Brazil (Word Document) |
