Background
Mexico is located at the South of North America, sharing a northern border with the USA and in the South Guatemala and Belize. Like many other countries in the region, in the 60’s and 70’s the Mexican government, with US assistance, conducted a war against left wing and guerrilla forces. During this “Dirty War” at least 1,200 people were forcibly disappeared by the government.
Today Mexico is in the midst of what some are calling “the new dirty war.” The “War on Drugs” in Mexico, supported by the US, has cost the lives of 164,000 people[1] in 2015 alone. In addition, with over 28,000 people forcibly disappeared by state forces and cartels in the last few decades, and the strong connection between these two forces, Mexico is one of the 25 most dangerous countries to live in in the world[2].
In recent years Mexico became a major destination for hundreds of thousands of refugees and immigrants. Mostly from central America, both those on rout to the US and those seeking to stay in Mexico. This reality has brought the US to support and fund increased immigration control in Mexico’s southern border, and an increased militarization of that region.
The Israeli connection
In 1973 Mexico bought from Israel five Arava cargo planes. In the same year and the three to follow those planes were also sold to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. In all those countries, during those same years, dirty wars like the one in Mexico were taking place. The Israeli planes were used by the Mexican government (and similarly in Guatemala and Honduras) to drop political prisoners into the sea it what was called “death flights”. The Israeli planes were also used by the government in those same years to smuggle drugs out of Guerrero to the US – part of the establishment of the cartel structure that Mexico still suffers the consequences of.
In 1994 with the Zapatista rebellion in Mexico, Israeli forces trained their Mexican counterparts in military tactics to suppress the rebellion, and helped establish the checkpoint system in the state of Chiapas. Since then Mexico continues to buy weapons from Israel including helicopters, missiles, and mostly drones. And so you will see Israeli drones used by the US on the US-Mexico border, and Israeli drones used by Mexico on the Mexico-Guatemala border. In both cases these are aimed at preventing immigration from Central America.
In addition Israeli companies have been involved in a nationwide wiretapping scheme of the Mexican government, funded by the US, as well as establishing C4I control centers used by the different Mexican security forces. The information gathered by these centers has been known to be used by cartels as well due to their relationships with security forces.
In 2016 and 2017 in was reported that Israeli spyware “Pegasus” was used by the Mexican government against healthcare activists, journalists[3], including threats made against them and their families based on the use of this technology, and the international expert commission[4] investigating the disappearance of the 43 students from Ayozinapa.
A full report on Israeli arms in Mexico
[1] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-staggering-death-toll-of-mexicos-drug-war/
[2] https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/mexico#107c57
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/world/americas/mexico-spyware-anticrime.html
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/10/world/americas/mexico-missing-students-pegasus-spyware.html
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