By Robert A. Emmanuel
Antigua and Barbuda has joined Belize, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago in officially supporting Mexico’s appeal in its civil lawsuit against US gun manufacturers on Tuesday.
The $10 billion action seeks to hold US gun makers responsible for facilitating the trafficking of deadly weapons across the border.
It was initially dismissed by a US judge in September 2022, citing US law protecting arms manufacturers from being liable for crimes committed with their products.
However, Mexico last week announced it had filed an appeal against the decision. This was joined in an amicus curiae brief by 16 US states as well as the five Caribbean nations.
An amicus curiae is a document making legal arguments from organisations or individuals who are not direct parties in a case but have a vested interest in it being considered.
The trafficking of arms has been on the minds of Caribbean countries for years, with a recent summit held in February on the trafficking of arms into Haiti being one of the main talking points.
According to American news media, Mexico sued 11 companies including gun manufacturers, gun wholesalers and gun distributors, arguing that these companies knew their products fuelled vicious violence but have continued to do too little to stop it.
Regional media reported that the Caribbean governments believe that joining Mexico in its legal battle though a separate brief would show that gun trafficking must be stopped at the source.
“Unlawful trafficking of American firearms must be curtailed at its source: the US gun industry. The gun manufacturers and distributors from a single nation must not be permitted to hold hostage the law-abiding citizens of an entire region of the world,” the Jamaica Observer quoted from the court brief.