A report by The New York Times, produced in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), exposes how high-powered ammunition manufactured at a U.S. Army-owned plant has systematically ended up in the hands of Mexican cartels, allowing them to outgun police and, in some cases, even military forces.
The investigation begins with the attack that occurred on November 30, 2019, in Villa Unión, Coahuila, when a convoy of armed men with .50 caliber rifles and a heavy machine gun stormed into the town with the intention of setting the municipal building ablaze.
The sheer firepower paralyzed local and state police forces as residents sought refuge. The attack left four police officers and two civilians dead, in addition to 19 cartel members killed.
At the scene of the attack, authorities found at least 45 .50 caliber shell casings marked with the initials “LC,” corresponding to the Army Ordnance Plant in Lake City, Missouri, the largest manufacturer of ammunition for rifles used by the U.S. armed forces.
According to court documents, official records, and seizure data analyzed by The New York Times and the ICIJ, this plant has been one of the main sources of .50 caliber ammunition that ends up on the civilian market and, subsequently, in smuggling networks into Mexico.
Although the U.S. civilian market for this type of ammunition is limited and expensive, demand in Mexico is high due to the destructive power of these weapons.
Cartels have used .50 caliber rifles to shoot down helicopters, attack police convoys, and assassinate officials. Since 2012, the ATF has seized more than 40,000 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition in states bordering Mexico, and approximately one-third of them originated in Lake City, a higher proportion than any other manufacturer.
The report details that, although the U.S. Congress banned the sale of .50 caliber armor-piercing ammunition to civilians in 2000, the legislation exempted standard rounds. This allowed large volumes of ammunition manufactured in Lake City to enter the commercial market through contracts with private operators and component recycling schemes.
Over the years, and particularly since 2015, cartel-related violence has intensified in Mexico, coinciding with a rise in seizures of this type of ammunition. Between 2019 and 2024, the ATF seized more than 36,000 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition at the southern border, while Customs and Border Protection seized more than 21,000, including thousands of armor-piercing incendiary rounds.
The human impact of this illegal flow is reflected in testimonies like that of Brenda Aparicio Villegas, widow of a police officer killed in Michoacán during an ambush attributed to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Shell casings from Lake City were also found at the scene of that attack.
“Not enough has been done to stop the flow of weapons and ammunition into Mexico,” she stated.
According to former ATF agents quoted by The New York Times, it is not the quantity but the power of the .50 caliber that has tipped the scales in favor of the cartels. “They really tip the scales,” one of them noted, explaining that these weapons allow targets to be engaged at distances exceeding one mile.
The report documents how a legal production and sales chain in the United States has had direct and lethal consequences on the violence facing Mexico.
Source: elsiglodetorreon
