Special Forces Corps
Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales de México
Special Forces Corp 5th Battalion Shoulder Patch
Active1986 – present
CountryMexico
BranchArmy
TypeSpecial operations force
Size~ 3,400[1]
Motto(s)"La fortaleza del hombre radica en el dominio de su mente, su grandeza se conoce por la humildad de su espíritu, la honradez de su alma y su voluntad de vencer"' (English: "The strength of man lies in the control of his mind, his greatness is known by the humility of his spirit, the honesty of his soul and his will to win".)
EngagementsChiapas conflict
Mexican Drug War
Commanders
Current
commander		Classified

The Mexican Special Forces Corps (Spanish: Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales) are the special forces battalions of the Mexican Army. Formerly the Special Forces Airmobile Group (Spanish: Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales) or GAFE, the SF corps has six regular battalions; plus four specialized units, one of those units is the Fuerza Especial de Reaccion, the other three remain secretive for the public; the motto of the SF Corps is Todo por México (Everything for Mexico).

Within the SF Corps, there are regular, intermediate, and veteran -service troops. The regular-service soldiers usually operate as light infantry. The intermediate and veteran-service soldiers (officers and sergeants) usually are instructors known as COFE or CSFE. Most of the veteran-service soldiers of the Fuerzas Especiales del Alto Mando (FEs High Command) handle Black-Ops missions.

History

Official Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales green beret

GAFE was created in 1986 as the "Fuerza de Intervención Rápida" (Rapid Intervention Force) to provide security for the FIFA World Cup soccer games in Mexico City. France's GIGN trained the group in special weapons and counter-terrorism tactics. On 1 June 1990, the group adopted its most known name, GAFE, becoming a Corps (with division-sized formation) in 2013 as part of the expansion of the Army. It again changed its name from GAFE to Special Forces Corps in 2004.[2]

Eight years later (in 1994) the GAFEs saw action fighting EZLN guerrillas in Chiapas. There is scant public information about the operations in which they participated during that conflict. During the 1990s, the GAFE reportedly received training in commando and urban warfare from Israeli special forces and American Special Forces units, which included training in rapid deployment, marksmanship, ambushes, counter-surveillance and the art of intimidation.[3] It is also known that at some point several members were trained in the infamous US Army School of the Americas,[4][5][6] in enhanced interrogation techniques and psychological warfare (Psy-Ops).[7]

Nowadays the army special forces continue fighting the war against drug cartels in Mexico. They have successfully captured many big drug leaders such as Benjamin Arellano Felix of the Tijuana Cartel, Carlos Rosales Mendoza of La Familia Cartel and Osiel Cardenas Guillen of the Gulf Cartel.

Controversies

In 1994 the EZLN guerrilla seized several towns across the southern state of Chiapas. The Mexican government sent in "GAFEs" to put down the insurgents. Within hours, 30 rebels were killed and others were captured. Later their bodies were disposed on a riverbank – with their ears and noses sliced off.[8]

In 1999, about 34 GAFE defectors were recruited to join the Gulf Cartel, serving as the cartel's armed wing - which became known as Los Zetas. This group also recruited national and foreign military personnel (like U.S. Army soldiers[9][10] and Guatemalan Kaibiles), corrupt police officers and street gang members, and used their knowledge of torture and psychological warfare to terrorize their rivals and innocent civilians alike.[11][12][13] By 2011 only 10 of the original 34 zetas remained fugitives.[14] Most of them have been killed or captured by Mexican Special Forces.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

It is alleged that on 2 October 2013 during a demonstration[22][23] by so-called "anarchist youth groups"[24][25][26] to protest against the Mexican President[27][28] and to commemorate the 1968 Tlatelolco student massacre,[29] undercover GAFEs worked as agent provocateurs[30] to disrupt the march and cause the riot police to crush it.[31]

Training

Since its creation they have received a wide variety of training from different special forces groups from around the world (including the French GIGN, Israeli Sayeret and American Green Berets). The Army unified all the knowledge by creating in 1998 the Escuela Militar de Fuerzas Especiales (En. Special Forces Military School). This became the "Centro de Adiestramiento de Fuerzas Especiales" (Special Forces Training Center), located in the foothills of the Iztaccíhuatl volcano, on 1 May 2002. The basic special forces course lasts 6 months.

  • Special Forces Instructors' Officers Course (Curso de Oficiales Instructores de las Fuerzas Especiales – COIFE)
  • Ranks Officers Training of Special Forces (CACFE)
  • Specialized Training for Special Forces Instructors and Officers (Curso Avanzado de Instructores de Fuerzas Especiales – CAIFE)

Training scenarios

Organization

The CFE proper, reporting to the SEDENA in Mexico City, is headquartered in Temamatla, Mexico and is divided into:

  • 1st SF Battalion
  • 2nd SF Battalion
  • 3rd SF Battalion
  • 4th SF Battalion
  • 5th SF Battalion
  • 6th SF Battalion (Sonora, México)

Four secretive specialized units:

Transportation

Weaponry

Pistols

Short-barreled

Rifles

Precision Rifles

Anti-materiel / Hard targets

Shotguns

Machine guns

Grenade launchers

Anti-Tank

Other

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Fuerzas Especiales, 'a la baja' en gobierno de Peña Nieto". Union Cancun. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017.
  2. ↑ TV, UNIÓN CANCÚN, Redes de Información y Educación del Siglo XXI de EL UNIVERSAL y UNO (8 December 2018). "Fuerzas Especiales, 'a la baja' en gobierno de Peña Nieto". Archived from the original on 12 December 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ Grayson, George W. (2012). The Executioner's Men: Los Zetas, Rogue Soldiers, Criminal Entrepreneurs, and the Shadow State They Created (1st ed.), page 46, Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781412846172
  4. ↑ "US created monsters: Zetas and Kaibiles death squads - the narcosphere". narcosphere.narconews.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Udu-gama, Nico. "U.S.-trained ex-soldiers form core of "Zetas" - SOA Watch: Close the School of the Americas". www.soaw.org. Archived from the original on 18 April 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "Los Zetas fueron entrenados por la Escuela de las Américas". www.cronica.com.mx. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Paterson, Thomas; Clifford, J. Garry; Brigham, Robert; Donoghue, Michael; Hagan, Kenneth (1 January 2014). American Foreign Relations: Volume 2: Since 1895. Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781285433332.
  8. ↑ Grillo, Ioan (2012). El Narco: The Bloody Rise of Mexican Drug Cartels (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 97. ISBN 978-1408824337.
  9. ↑ "FBI – Former U.S. Army Officer Hitman Sentenced in Murder-for-Hire Plot". FBI. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  10. ↑ C.V., DEMOS, Desarrollo de Medios, S.A. de (2 August 2013). "La Jornada: Cárteles mexicanos contratan soldados de EU como sicarios y capacitadores".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ James Bargent. "US Report Shows Zetas Corruption of Guatemala's Special Forces". Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "US created monsters: Zetas and Kaibiles death squads". Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  13. ↑ badanov. "Borderland Beat: Los Zetas recruit Las Maras in Guatemala". Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "El Universal - - Diez ms, prfugos: indagatorias". 23 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "Zetas boss Heriberto Lazcano's death confirmed". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "Detienen a lugarteniente de Los Zetas". Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  17. ↑ Milenio Digital. "Confirma Rubido muerte de 'El Z-9'". Milenio. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  18. ↑ "El Universal - - Capturan a secuestradores en Puebla". 12 June 2013. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  19. ↑ "'El Lucky' dirigía operaciones de 'Los Zetas' en 10 entidades del país - Nacional - CNNMéxico.com". 13 December 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  20. ↑ "La cacería de "El Lucky"". Proceso. Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  21. ↑ Rubén Mosso. "Dan 16 años de cárcel a ex líder de 'Los Zetas'". Milenio. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  22. ↑ "Anarquistas y granaderos se enfrentan durante marcha del 2 de octubre". 2 October 2013.
  23. ↑ "MINUTO A MINUTO: Marcha conmemorativa del 2 de octubre". 2 October 2013.
  24. ↑ "Anarquistas en México: "Es momento para la radicalización"". 12 February 2015.
  25. ↑ "Fotos: Anarquistas desatan, otra vez, violencia en el DF - Aristegui Noticias". aristeguinoticias.com.
  26. ↑ "Marcha del 2 de octubre: la violencia va al alza (crónica y videos) - Animal Político". www.animalpolitico.com. 3 October 2013.
  27. ↑ "En las redes sociales el 2 de octubre tampoco se olvidó - Proceso". 2 October 2013. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  28. ↑ "'Anarquistas' dan lista de detenidos durante marcha del 2 de octubre". 3 October 2013.
  29. ↑ C.V., DEMOS, Desarrollo de Medios, S.A. de (3 October 2013). "La Jornada: A 45 años del 2 de octubre, añejas demandas y violencia".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ↑ ""Murciélagos" del Ejército, el 2 de Octubre de 2013". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  31. ↑ "8 videos de enfrentamientos en la marcha del 2 de octubre - Aristegui Noticias". aristeguinoticias.com.
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