Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday officially launched a campaign to reduce the number of guns on the country's violence-plagued streets.
The plan, called Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace, will offer cash to those who anonymously drop off their weapons at designated drop-off locations, including churches.
Gun owners will receive 8,700 pesos ($430) for a revolver, 25,000 pesos ($1,200) for an AK-47 and 26,450 pesos ($1,300) for an assault rifle. The firearm is then destroyed.
The disarmament plan is part of the government's “comprehensive strategy” to tackle crime.
“Why should we teach our children about violence?” Scheinbaum said at the opening ceremony, which featured a symbolic destruction of weapons by soldiers.
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Children who attended the event with their parents were able to exchange toy guns for other toys.
The scheme, first revealed last month, was published in the country's official state gazette earlier this week.
It has been in place in Mexico City since 2019, but will now be nationwide and run by the ministries of defense, interior and public security, with the support of Mexico's religious authorities.
Mexico is plagued by violent crime linked to the billion-dollar drug trade.
In 2023, the country recorded 31,062 murders, 70 percent of which occurred with the use of firearms, according to preliminary data from the National Institute of Statistics.
Mexico tightly controls the sale of weapons, making them almost impossible to buy legally, and has repeatedly called on Washington to take action arms trade across the US border.
It is estimated that between 200,000 and half a million US firearms are smuggled into Mexico each year. This is reported by “60 Minutes”. last month. Mexico asked U.S. attorney Jonathan Lowy to help block the cannon pipeline, known as the “iron river.”
“If you believe that fentanyl overdose is a problem, if you believe that cross-border migration is a problem, if you believe that the proliferation of organized crime is a problem in the United States, then you should care about stopping the supply of criminal weapons in Mexico,” Lowy told “60 Minutes” in December. “And you need to stop it at its source. Because all these problems are caused by the supply of American weapons to the cartel.”