SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Dozens of soldiers and police deployed to a neighborhood recently overnight. Turks and Caicos Islands just days after the archipelago reported a record 40 murders this year.

They were on the hunt for criminals and illegal weapons, fueling a wave of violence in the Caribbean as authorities struggle to control a flow of guns smuggled from the United States.

Half an hour into the operation on October 30, a driver attempted to run authorities off the road by throwing a handgun into the bushes.

“Rest assured, we remain committed to disrupting the flow of illicit weapons,” Police Commissioner Jason James said hours later.

But the flow is too strong, with illegal guns blamed for an increase or record number of murders in one country. growing number of Caribbean islands this year, including Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas.

No Caribbean country manufactures or imports guns or ammunition on a large scale, but they account for half of the world’s 10 highest national murder rates, according to a statement from U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

In a letter sent to U.S. lawmakers in late September, New York’s attorney general and 13 other colleagues across the United States demanded new measures to stop the flow of weapons, noting that 90 percent of weapons used in the Caribbean have been purchased in the United States and smuggled into the region.

“American-made weapons are flowing into Caribbean nations and communities and fueling violence, chaos, and senseless tragedies throughout the region,” wrote New York Attorney General Letitia James.

In mid-2023, the U.S. government named its first coordinator for Caribbean firearms prosecutions to help curb gun smuggling from the United States to the region, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol , tobacco, firearms and explosives already tracing firearms seized in the Caribbean.

Last year, 266 firearms seized in the Bahamas were submitted to the ATF, along with 234 firearms from Jamaica, 162 from the Dominican Republic and 143 from Trinidad and Tobago, according to the latest data. most recent from the agency.

The majority are handguns, followed by semi-automatic pistols.

Information collected on recovered weapons can help U.S. authorities determine where and when they were purchased, triggering a national investigation into gun trafficking.

But stopping the flow of weapons is difficult, with smugglers dismantling them and hiding their parts in shipping containers.

“Even if you try to strengthen the infrastructure of official ports, it’s essentially like trying to plug a sieve,” said Michael Jones, executive director of Caricom’s Crime and Security Implementation Agency. , a Caribbean trading bloc.

Brazen murders

Homicides are not the only thing increasing in parts of the Caribbean. There is an increase in privately manufactured guns using 3D printers, and gunmen are using larger caliber weapons and becoming more brazen, with younger and younger people committing crimes, Jones said .

Murders now happen during the day, and not necessarily in drive-by shootings, he said.

“There are some who have the audacity to approach an individual, put the gun to his head and walk away,” he said.

Jones said the gangs operate franchises throughout the region, with the gunmen sometimes going to a certain island to commit the crime and then leaving again.

Gangs also prey on young people because they lack opportunities, Jones said.

“Even today, some countries will tell you they don’t have a gang problem,” he said.

The victims

On a recent afternoon in late October, a 42-year-old employee of the Trinidad and Tobago Forestry Division was fatally shot while riding in a car near his brother’s house.

He was one of six people killed in the space of 48 hours, bringing the death toll in the country of 1.4 million to 518, compared to 468 last year. Sister island Tobago alone reported a record 20 murders – as of mid-August – and the number continues to rise.

During a recent budget presentation, Prime Minister Keith Rowley urged lawmakers to draft a bill banning assault weapons and high-powered rifles.

Experts say many murders in the Caribbean are the result of gang violence, but civilians are increasingly caught in the crossfire.

“The proliferation of privately manufactured semi-automatic rifles and pistols, combined with the circulation of conversion devices, increases the likelihood that more bullets will be fired in criminal shootings, which in turn may increase the risk of multiple injuries , including among passers-by. » warned a June report from Caricom’s Impacs, the Small Arms Survey and others.

One of those bystanders was a 4-year-old boy shot in the leg when gunfire broke out outside his preschool in Trinidad in late September. The bullet broke his bone.

In the Bahamas, a man holding his 8-month-old baby was shot and killed in early October as he got out of his car, where another 6-year-old was sitting. Both children are unhurt.

This is the 90th murder of the year for the Bahamas, which has reported a 23% increase in murders so far compared to last year. However, overall crime is falling, according to government statistics.

Jamaica, for its part, has one of the highest homicide rates in the world among countries with reliable statistics: 53.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. As of November 2, police statistics show that 960 people were reported killed, a drop of almost 20% from last year and far from the record 1,683 homicides reported in 2009, but violence persists on the island of 2.8 million inhabitants.

“We are gravely concerned about this,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said at a November news conference about the mass shootings.

In late October, five men were killed during a soccer match in a Kingston neighborhood that had previously struggled with gang violence. It was the last massacre on the island.

During a visit to the neighborhood, Holness noted that police had reduced the number of gangs from nearly 600 to 150.

While Jamaica has passed anti-gang legislation to quell violence, the Turks and Caicos Islands approved a law in early October that allows authorities to grant immunity or reduced sentences to those who provide key information about a crime.

Police in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands did not respond to repeated messages for comment.

“We ask the United States to do more”

Most guns smuggled into the Caribbean come from Florida, followed by Georgia and Texas. They are usually shipped directly to an island, although they sometimes go through a port in Jamaica or the Bahamas first.

Guns have been found inside items ranging from cars to washing machines.

“It’s a big problem,” said James Sutton, police commissioner of St. Kitts and Nevis. “We are calling on the United States to do more.”

The twin nation has reported at least 27 homicides, the vast majority committed with guns. We are getting closer to the record of 32 murders in 2016.

Haiti remains the hardest-hit Caribbean nation by smuggled weapons which supply gangs controlling 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

“Despite the strengthening of arms embargo measures, arms trafficking continues unabated,” says a UN Security Council report published at the end of October. “Gangs are increasingly acquiring larger caliber weapons, leading to more damage and an even greater challenge for the police and the (UN-supported) mission. »

The report says trafficking from the United States to Haiti is not a sophisticated process, noting that there are numerous networks often based on family or social ties and that the “vast majority” of the 200 containers leaving from the south from Florida to Haiti every week are not inspected.

“Although introduced into the country in small quantities, this recurring ‘ant traffic’ quickly accumulates, leaving the country awash in weapons,” the report said.