Soldiers keep watch on a military truck outside a ranch where a gunfight between gunmen and federal forces erupted in Michoacan on May 22, 2015. REUTERS/Alan Ortega
Washington Post: What’s behind Mexico’s military buying binge?
MEXICO CITY--It started with 27 rail cars full of ammunition rolling down the tracks into Mexico
That load of 30 million bullets was soon followed by fleets of Black Hawk helicopters and thousands of Humvees: in all more than $1 billion of American military equipment sold to Mexico within the past two years.
In a security relationship between Mexico and the United States often described as standoffish, foreign military sales have lately become a big exception. Admiral William E. Gortney, the commander of Northern Command, the U.S. military headquarters that deals with Mexico, testified to Congress earlier this year that Mexico’s buying binge represented a “100-fold increase from prior years.”
What explains the shopping spree?
WNU Editor: The reason why Mexico is aggressively pushing to modernize its military is obvious .... they are facing powerful drug cartels that in some cases are better armed than Mexico's security forces. My prediction .... expect this military buying binge to continue.
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