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Never in history has Mexico spent so much in the global arms market as during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto , according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) .
Not even during the six-year period of former president Felipe Calderón , which was characterized by an initiative to combat drug trafficking by deploying armed forces throughout the country, a strategy Mexico has maintained up to now, has the nation spent so much on arms imports.
With accumulated purchases during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico even surpassed Brazil as the main arms importer in Latin America between 2014 and 2018, and ranked 34 at the global scale . In 2017, however, Mexico rose to the 35th position.
According to the SIPRI’s report on trends in military spending, Mexico accounted for 0.7% of arms imports at the global scale between 2014 and 2018, which represented a 40% increase with regard to the 2009-2013 period, when it showed a participation of 0.5% in the military market.
“Mexico’s increased military spending has been constant for the past five years,” stated Nan Tian, military budget and arms dealing expert at the SIPRI.
“This increase is in line with the use of armed forces in the fight against drug cartels,”
added the expert.
Arms imports during Peña Nieto’s administration peaked in 2015, when military spending rose to USD$7.7 billion (according to the SIPRI report in 2016), way above expenditure levels during previous administrations. In 2012, the government of Felipe Calderón spent USD$5.6 billion , whereas Vicente Fox’s administration spent USD$3.2 billion in 2001.
With this amount, Mexico accounted for 73% of overall arms imports in Central America and the Caribbean during the 2014-2018 period, way above Brazil and Venezuela, two of the most important customers for the arms trade globally.
During said period, the United States covered 63% of Mexico’s arms imports, followed by France, with 9.4%, and Holland, with 8.9% .
According to the Swedish organism’s database, Mexico has concentrated its purchases on armored vehicles and helicopters in recent years, though the Mexican government has also acquired air transport units, naval equipment, and both aircraft and coastal radars such as the CAPTAS ASW, bought from France in 2017.
Other products include four unmanned Aerostar and Dominator-2 aerial vehicles , delivered by Israel in 2017, as well as four CASA-295 tactical transport aircrafts imported from Spain in 2015.
The import of an EC725 Super Cougar helicopter from France also stands out, as well as seven American Black Hawks (S-70/UH-60L and 15 Bell-407) , which are mostly used by police forces and rescue teams in Europe.
The analyst foresees that Mexico’s growing arms purchase will continue as long as the country’s police and armed forces continue their law enforcement activities as part of the national strategy to fight drug trafficking.
The United States and Russia remain the largest arms exporters at the global scale.
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