Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, both the army and navy have

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 equi ...

groups or elite units.

Army Special Forces

The

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

has a Special Forces Corps unified command consisting of three

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 equi ...

Brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

s, a High Command GAFE (

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 ...

) group, a GAFE group assigned to the Airborne Brigade and several Amphibious Special Forces Groups. The Special Forces Brigades are formed by nine SF

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

s. The First Brigade has the 1st, 2nd and 3rd SF Battalions, the Second Brigade has the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Battalions, and the Third Brigade has the 4th and 9th Battalions and a Rapid Intervention Force group. The High Command GAFE is a group with no more than 100 members who are specially trained in counter-terrorist tactics. They receive orders directly from the

Secretary of National Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

. The

Amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

Special Forces Groups are trained in amphibious warfare. They give the army special capabilities on coastlines.

Navy Special Forces

The

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

has a special operations force called

Fuerzas Especiales The (''Special Forces''), also known as ''FES'' (the initials of their motto) and ''Cuachiqueh/Quachis'', is a special forces unit of the Mexican Navy officially established in late 2001. Its motto is "" (''Strength, Spirit, Wisdom''), they a ...

, better known as FES. Their specialties are

unconventional warfare Unconventional warfare (UW) is broadly defined as "military and quasi-military operations other than conventional warfare" and may use covert forces, subversion, or guerrilla warfare. This is typically done to avoid escalation into conventional ...

, assault, counter-terrorism, and special

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

operations. There is also another special forces unit called Batallones de Comandos Anfibios. These units carry out special tasks for the Amphibious Reaction Forces (

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

). They are known to train with their American counterparts: the Navy SEALs, at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California.

References

Special forces of Mexico {{Mexico-mil-stub

Army Special Forces

Navy Special Forces

See also

References