The (''Special Forces''), also known as ''FES'' (the initials of their motto) and ''Cuachiqueh/Quachis'', is a
special forces
Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
unit of the
Mexican Navy
The Mexican Navy is one of the two independent armed forces of Mexico. The actual naval forces are called the ''Armada de México''. The ''Secretaría de Marina'' (''SEMAR'') (English: Naval Secretariat) includes both the ''Armada'' itself and ...
officially established in late 2001. Its motto is "" (''Strength, Spirit, Wisdom''), they are currently under the naval special command structure of the UNOPES.
These forces are capable of carrying out non-conventional warfare in the air, sea and land, by utilizing all means of infiltration available to develop the most variable operational incursions with the use of
military diving
Underwater divers may be employed in any branch of an armed force, including the navy, army, marines, air force and coast guard.
Scope of operations includes: search and recovery, search and rescue, hydrographic survey, explosive ordnance disposa ...
techniques,
parachuting
Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes.
For ...
,
vertical descent,
urban combat
Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and ...
,
sniping
A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...
and use of
explosives
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
. The units are well organized, trained and equipped to operate independently in maritime, lake, riverine or terrestrial scenarios; they usually participate in joint-training exercises with the
U.S. Navy SEALs
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...
teams.
Operations
Operations undertaken by the Special Forces of the Mexican Navy are classified, as well as casualties and collateral damage. It has played a major active role in the
Mexican Drug War, undertaking direct action missions, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance operations, personnel, weapons and facility seizures, law enforcement arrests and kill or capture missions.
The unit was made famous in the media for being responsible for
Operation Black Swan, which saw the final capture of major cartel leader
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán
Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (; born 4 April 1957), commonly known as "El Chapo" (), is a Mexican former drug lord and a former leader within the Sinaloa Cartel, an international crime syndicate. He is considered to have been one of th ...
, ending a manhunt that began after his second escape from a Mexican federal prison.
They also participated in the
Operation Barcina, which gained media attention due to a leaked video recorded by a civilian which saw operators from the ''Puma Squadron'' through a
Black Hawk Helicopter making use of a
M134 Minigun
The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric ...
gunning down a
Beltran Leyva Cartel leader Juan Francisco Patrón Sánchez aka. “El H2”.
In July 2022, they carried out the successful "Operación Leyenda II" in which they captured the notorious drug lord "
Rafael Caro Quintero
Rafael Caro Quintero (born October 24, 1952) is a Mexican drug lord who co-founded the now-disintegrated Guadalajara Cartel with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and other drug traffickers in the late 1970s. He is the brother of fellow drug traffic ...
", however during the final stage of the operation, an accident under unclarified circumstances occurred where a
Black Hawk helicopter transporting FES operators crashed, ending in 14 people losing their life.
To fulfill their tasks and practice their attributes the unit's members receive specialized training in the following areas:
*Direct Action
*Counter-terrorism
*Air and ground logistics
*
Amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...
*
Anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
warfare
*CQB and Intervention tactics
*General naval forces support
*Parachuting
*
Mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
warfare
*
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
*
Special Reconnaissance
Special reconnaissance (SR) or Recon Team is conducted by small units of highly trained military personnel, usually from special forces units or military intelligence organizations, who operate behind enemy lines, avoiding direct combat and detect ...
*
Search and rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
*
Special operations
Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...
*
Submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
and counter-submarine warfare
*Surface
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
fare
FES are divided into multiple assault squadrons, whose primary tasks consist mainly of Direct-Action and Counter-terrorism operations, some of these squadrons are:
* Hurón Team
* Viper Team
* Tigrillo Team
* Puma Team
* Roble Team (dissolved)
Weaponry
*
SIG Sauer SIG516
The SIG Sauer SIG516 is a semi-automatic rifle manufactured by SIG Sauer. It is an AR-15 style rifle chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO. Introduced in 2010, the SIG516 was discontinued as of 2019. A variant chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, the SIG716i, re ...
*
M4 Carbine
The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle.
The M4 is extensively ...
*
FN P90
The FN P90 is a compact 5.7×28mm personal defense weapon designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. It can also be considered a submachine gun. Created in response to NATO requests for a replacement for 9×19mm Parabellum firearms, t ...
*
H&K UMP
*
PSG-1
*
M249 Squad Automatic Weapon
The M249 light machine gun (LMG), also known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which continues to be the manufacturer's designation, and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the American adaptation of the Belgian F ...
*
M1911A1
The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for the ...
*
Glock 17
Glock is a brand of polymer-Receiver (firearms), framed, Recoil operation#Short recoil operation, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H., Glock Ges.m.b.H. The ...
*
Five-seveN
The FN Five-seven (stylized as Five-seveN) is a Semi-automatic firearm, semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. The pistol is named for its 5.7×28mm (.224 in) bullet diameter, and the trademark capitalizati ...
See also
*
Brigada de Fusileros Paracaidistas
The Brigada de Fusileros Paracaidistas (Parachute Riflemen Brigade) , also known as Chutes, is the Mexican Army premier airborne light infantry unit similar to the 75th Ranger Regiment and the British SFSG, the unit act as support for combat ope ...
*
Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales
The Mexican Special Forces Corps ( es, Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales) are the special forces battalions of the Mexican Army. Formerly the Special Forces Airmobile Group ( es, Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales) or GAFE, the SF corps has six ...
*
Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales del Alto Mando
The Fuerza Especial de Reacción (''Special Reaction Force'') or FER, previously known as GAFES del Alto Mando or Fuerza Especial del Alto Mando (''High Command Special Force'') is the Mexican Army's most elite special forces unit. Their status ...
*
Ixtoc-Alfa
Ixtoc-Alfa is a counter-terrorism base created by the Mexican Navy for the purpose of preventing terrorist attacks on the country's Gulf of Mexico oilfields. It was first opened on 22 December 2003.
The base is located on the Campeche Bank, a coa ...
*
Mexican Special Forces
In Mexico, both the army and navy have special forces groups or elite units.
Army Special Forces
The Army has a Special Forces Corps unified command consisting of three Special Forces Brigades, a High Command GAFE (Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Esp ...
*-
Joint Task Force 2
Joint Task Force 2 (JTF 2; french: links=no, Deuxième Force opérationnelle interarmées, FOI 2) is an elite special operations force of the Canadian Armed Forces, serving under the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. JTF 2 is known to wo ...
*-
Special Boat Service
The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roya ...
*-
Navy SEAL
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...
s -
NSWDG
*-
Force Recon
Force Reconnaissance (FORECON) is one of the United States Marine Corps' special operations capable forces (SOC) which supplies military intelligence to the command element of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). Force Reconnaissance compa ...
*-
MARSOC
United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) is a component command of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) that comprises the Marine Corps' contribution to SOCOM. Its core capabilities are direct action, spe ...
-
Critical Skills Operator
A critical skills operator (CSO) is a United States Marine in the primary special operations career field of the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC). CSOs, colloquially known as Marine Raider Regiment, "Raiders", are awa ...
*-
Brazilian Marine Corps )
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, battles = Invasion of Cayenne (1809) Banda Oriental Conquest (1816)War of Independence (1821–1824)Confederation of the Equator(1824)Cisplatine War(1825–1828)Ragamuffin War(183 ...
-
COMANF
The Marine Corps Special Operations Battalion, known as the Tonelero Battalion, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, is the military unit of the Amphibious Commandos (COMANF), which are a troop of Special Forces of the Marine Corps of the Brazi ...
References
{{reflist
Special forces of Mexico
Military units and formations established in 2001