Costa Maya, Q.R. — A weapons for cash exchange is being hosted by Sedena in the Costa Maya region of the state. The guns for cash is a campaign by the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) to remove weapons from the streets.
The campaign will begin its arms exchange program in the municipalities of Othón P. Blanco and Bacalar and include rural communities. From there, authorities will extend the program to other municipalities.
Cavalry Regiment Colonel Narciso Valadez Nájera says an agreement with the Executive Secretariat of the State Public Security has been signed to offer cash for guns and bullets, which are also illegal for civilians to possess.
He says people with weapons will receive 2 pesos for a 0.22 caliber cartridge up to 24,300 pesos for a large-caliber machine gun, admitting that “this type of weapon has only been exchanged in the north of Mexico.”
He said that normally in the southern zone of Quintana Roo, the exchange of weapons has been for pistols and shotguns. Valadez Nájera commented that the entire process of exchanging weapons is carried out anonymously and without investigations.
The campaign will start in the state’s capital city of Chetumal before moving to La Unión and Álvaro Obregón on the banks of the Hondo River, and then on to Bacalar, to later continue in the other municipalities.
The goal, he explained, is to reduce the number of weapons on state streets and prevent their illegal possession, carrying and use. Everything collected will be catalogued then destroyed, he said.
