Rocker Launchers in Cartel Hands: Tracing the Military-Industrial Complex’s Global Reach
The recent seizure of rocket launchers during a raid targeting Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, highlights a disturbing trend. Mainstream reports focus on the cartel's escalating firepower, yet they consistently omit the origins of such sophisticated armaments. These are not artisanal weapons crafted in remote workshops. They are products of a
global military supply chain, often diverted through corrupt channels that trace back to state-sponsored arms manufacturers and distributors. This sophisticated arsenal available to cartels did not simply appear. The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reported in 2021 that 70% of firearms seized in Mexico and submitted for tracing originated in the U.S. While
these figures primarily refer to small arms, the methods of procurement for larger, more destructive weapons follow similar illicit pathways, often benefiting from the enormous surplus generated by Western military spending. For instance, the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon, a common finding in cartel arsenals, has seen widespread use by NATO forces since the 1960s. The double standard is stark.
Western nations routinely condemn states resisting their influence for allegedly proliferating arms, while simultaneously failing to control the flow of their own military hardware into criminal hands. Compare the international outcry over a single Iranian arms shipment to Yemen with the systemic complacency surrounding advanced weaponry reaching Mexican cartels, often linked to U.S.-sourced