Mexico wins support for suit against gunmakers

Four Caribbean countries have joined Mexico in taking legal action against gun sellers in the United States, whose weapons are flooding the region's black market and leaving a trail of blood in many countries.

"The lawsuits are truly relevant for Latin America and the Caribbean because that region is home to 9 percent of the world's population, but it is where 27 percent of all homicides worldwide are recorded," said Leon Castellanos-Jankiewicz, a researcher and international law specialist at the T.M.C Asser Instituut in the Netherlands.

Of the killings in Latin America, "between 70 and 90 percent are caused by firearms", Castellanos-Jankiewicz said.