AVAILABILITY OF ARMS IN MEXICO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP65B00383R000400080008-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: February 21, 1963
• Content Type: MEMO

aGCG3- 05, 3
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/05/04: CIA-RDP65B00383R000400080008-4
`SRET
21 February 1963
SUBJECT: Availability of Arms in Mexico
1. The Mexican Ministry of Defense has a Department
of Military Industry which provides a substantial and
increasing part of the arms and munitions needs of the
Mexican armed forces. Three new production plants, es-
timated to have cost $2 million and using French and West
German arms manufacturing equipment, were opened in No-
vember, 1962. When in full operation they are designed
to supply the basic requirements of the Mexican Army for
small arms and munitions and to reduce dependence on im-
ports. Arms and ammunition are also purchased by the
Mexican government in the United States and Western Europe.
2. There has long been illicit arms trading in
Mexico with supplies from widely varied sources, including
some stolen from Mexican armed forces stocks. The use of
Mexico an a traditional haven for Latin American political
exiles, the country's rugged geography, and the venality
of poorly paid military personnel have helped the trade.
The arms to which the Director of Central Intelligence
referred on 19 February as having been bought with Cuban
money for the Guatemalan guerrillas, were obtained not
from the Mexican Government itself but through one of
these illicit channels.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/05/04: CIA-RDP65B00383R000400080008-4