The Dirección Federal de Seguridad (''Federal Security Directorate'', DFS) was a Mexican intelligence agency and

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

. It was created in 1947 under Mexican president Miguel Alemán Valdés with the assistance of U.S. intelligence agencies (namely the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

) as part of the Truman Doctrine of Soviet Containment, with the duty of preserving the internal stability of Mexico against all forms of subversion and terrorist threats. It was merged into the Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional (CISEN) in 1985. During the period from 1968 to the late 1970s (a period called the

Mexican Dirty War The Mexican Dirty War () was the Mexican Theater (warfare), theater of the Cold War, an internal conflict from the 1960s to the 1980s between the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)-ruled government under the presidencies of Gustav ...

), the DFS was accused of illegal detentions, torture, assassinations and

forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

s. At least 347 complaints were received by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

related to Mexican state crimes from 1960 to 1980. The agency was highly successful in thwarting and deterring any attempt by anti-government or pro-Soviet organizations to destabilize the country. However, it was a notoriously controversial government entity, and it was disbanded under the presidency of

Miguel de la Madrid Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado (; 12 December 1934 – 1 April 2012) was a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 59th president of Mexico from 1982 to 1988. Inheriting a severe economic an ...

by the hand of his secretary of the interior

Manuel Bartlett Díaz Manuel Bartlett Díaz (born 23 February 1936) is a Mexicans, Mexican politician, former director of the public energy company Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE, and former Secretariat of the Interior (Mexico), Secretary of the Interior. B ...

in 1985. Multiple agents were suspected (and later confirmed) of having links with criminal organizations, which included top members like Miguel Nazar Haro and Arturo "El Negro" Durazo Moreno. Other infamous former agents includes Rafael Aguilar Guajardo founding member of the

Juárez Cartel The Juárez Cartel (, ), also known as the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization, is a Mexican drug cartel based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, across the Mexico—U.S. border from El Paso, Texas. The cartel is one of several drug trafficking ...

and

Juan José Esparragoza Moreno Juan José Esparragoza Moreno (born February 3, 1949, possibly died June 2014), commonly referred to by his alias El Azul ( English: "The Blue One"), was a Mexican drug lord and co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, a drug trafficking organization ...

, who became one of the leaders of the

Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel (, , after the native Sinaloa region), also known as the ''CDS'', the ''Guzmán-Loera Organization'', the ''Federation'', the ''Sinaloa Cartel'', or the Pacific Cartel, is a large, drug trafficking transnational organized cri ...

, which in 2021 was named as the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world. Some such criminal exploits included a million dollar US-Mexico car theft ring, collaborating in drug trafficking with the

Guadalajara Cartel The Guadalajara Cartel (), also known as The Federation (), was a Mexican drug cartel which was formed in the late 1970s by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Rafael Caro Quintero, and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo in order to ship cocaine and marijuan ...

(including the protection of the infamous "Colonia Bufalo" marijuana crops), training the

Nicaraguan contras In the history of Nicaragua, the Contras (Spanish: ''La contrarrevolución'', the Contra War, counter-revolution) were the Right-wing politics, right-wing militias who waged anti-communist guerilla warfare (1979–1990) against the Marxism, M ...

in drug trafficker owned ranches, the murder of journalist Manuel Buendia, for investigating ties between the DFS, the CIA and drug traffickers, and for having some degree of participation in, and providing cover to, the kidnapping and subsequent death of DEA agent

Enrique Camarena Salazar Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar (July 26, 1947 – February 9, 1985) was a Mexican-American agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). In February 1985, Camarena was kidnapped by police officers hired by the Guadalajara Cartel. After b ...

Heads of the DFS

* (1947–1952) Gen. Marcelino Inurreta * (1952–1958) Col. Leandro Castillo-Venegas * (1958–1959) LLB. Gilberto Suárez-Torres . * (1959–1964) Col. Manuel Rangel-Escamilla * (1965–1970) Cap. Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios * (1970–1977) Cap. Luis de la Barreda * (1977–1978) Mr. Javier García Paniagua * (1978–1982) Lt.Col. Miguel Nazar Haro * (1982–1985) José Antonio Zorrilla Pérez * (1985) Cap. Pablo González-Ruelas

Notorious members

* Rafael Aguilar Guajardo * Arturo Durazo Moreno (Alias "El Negro Durazo") *

(Alias "El Azul")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dirección Federal de Seguridad 1947 establishments in Mexico 1985 disestablishments in Mexico Defunct intelligence agencies Secret police Defunct law enforcement agencies of Mexico Cold War organizations Cold War in Latin America Foreign relations of Mexico Domestic intelligence agencies Anti-communism in Mexico Human rights abuses in Mexico Mexican intelligence agencies Anti-communist organizations Military history of Mexico Political movements in Mexico Socialism in Mexico Communism in Mexico Mexican drug war

Heads of the DFS

Notorious members

See also

References