The Mexican Special Forces Corps ( es, Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales) are the special forces battalions of the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army ( es, Ejército Mexicano) is the combined land and air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National ...

. Formerly the Special Forces Airmobile Group ( es, 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 A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

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 Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

. 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

Exposición Centenario del Ejército Mexicano 12

GAFE was created in 1986 as the "Fuerza de Intervención Rápida" (''Rapid Intervention Force'') to provide security for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

soccer games in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. France's

GIGN The GIGN ( ; ) is the elite police tactical unit of the National Gendarmerie of France. Among its missions are counterterrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance of national threats, protection of government officials, critical site protection ( ...

trained the group in special weapons and

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

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. Eight years later (in 1994) the GAFEs saw action fighting

EZLN The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas (Mexican ), is a far-left political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. Sin ...

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 Special forces units in the Israel Defense Forces encompass a broad definition of specialist units. Such units are usually a regiment or a battalion in strength. Sayeret ( he, סיירת, pl.: ''sayarot''), or ''reconnaissance'' units in the ...

and American Special Forces units, which included training in rapid deployment, marksmanship, ambushes, counter-surveillance and the ''art of intimidation''. It is also known that at some point several members were trained in the infamous

US Army School of the Americas The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas, is a United States Department of Defense school located at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, renamed in the 2001 National Defens ...

, in enhanced interrogation techniques and

psychological warfare Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and M ...

(Psy-Ops). 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 Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

of the

Tijuana Cartel The Tijuana Cartel (Spanish: ''Cártel de Tijuana'') or Arellano-Félix-Organization (Spanish: ''Organización Arellano Félix'', AFO) is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Founded by the Arellano-Félix family, the ...

Carlos Rosales Mendoza Carlos Alberto Rosales Mendoza (12 February 1963 – 27 December 2015) was a former Mexican drug lord who founded and led an organized crime syndicate called La Familia Michoacana. He was a close friend and associate of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén ...

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. 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 Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate, regarded as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscr ...

. This group also recruited national and foreign military personnel (like U.S. Army soldiers and Guatemalan

Kaibiles The Kaibiles are a special operations wing of the Armed Forces of Guatemala. They specialize in jungle warfare tactics and counter-insurgency operations. Since 1974, more than 1,250 soldiers have graduated from the international training pro ...

), corrupt police officers and street gang members, and used their knowledge of torture and

to terrorize their rivals and innocent civilians alike. By 2011 only 10 of the original 34 zetas remained fugitives. Most of them have been killed or captured by Mexican Army, Federal Police and the Special Forces Corps. It is alleged that on 2 October 2013 during a demonstration by so-called " anarchist youth groups" to protest against the Mexican President and to commemorate the 1968 tlatelolco student massacre, undercover GAFEs worked as

agent provocateur An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, th ...

s to disrupt the march and cause the

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organize ...

to crush it.

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 Iztaccíhuatl (alternative spellings include Ixtaccíhuatl, or either variant spelled without the accent) ( or, as spelled with the x, ), is a dormant volcanic mountain in Mexico located on the border between the State of Mexico and Puebla withi ...

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

*Jungle/Amphibious/Combat Diving: Jungle and Amphibious Operations Training Center, Xtomoc,

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 mu ...

. Training also takes place in different scenarios in the state of

Guerrero Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...

. *Urban/Intervention: San Miguel de los Jagueyes, ''La Casa de la Muerte'' in Puebla and Temamatla,

Estado de México The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

. *Mountain:

El Salto, Durango El Salto is a town and seat of the municipality of Pueblo Nuevo in the southwestern part of the Mexican state of Durango. As of 2015, the town had a total population of 24,241, Situated on a pine-forested plateau about 2,580 meters (8,464 fee ...

, and Guerrero. *Desert Operations Training Center: Laguna Salada and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

*Airmobile/Airborne: Air Force base of Santa Lucía,

and

. *High mountain:

Nevado de Toluca Nevado de Toluca () is a stratovolcano in central Mexico, located about west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca. It is the fourth highest of Mexico's peaks, after Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. The volcano and the area ar ...

and

Pico de Orizaba Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl = star, and = mountain), is an inactive stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America, after Denali of Alaska in the United States and Mount ...

volcanoes.

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: * Special Reaction Force * Unknown * Unknown * Unknown

Transportation

UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System ( ...

, Mil Mi-17, CH-53 Yas'ur 2000, MD 530F, Bell 212 and Bell 412 helicopters. *

Fast Attack Vehicle The Desert Patrol Vehicle (DPV), formerly called the Fast Attack Vehicle (FAV), is a high-speed, lightly armored sandrail-like vehicle first used in combat during the Gulf War in 1991. Due to their dash speed and off-road mobility, the DPVs were ...

Light Strike Vehicle The Light Strike Vehicle (LSV) is an improved version of the Desert Patrol Vehicle (DPV) it replaced. Although the conventional US military replaced its DPVs with Humvees, special operation groups adopted the LSV for its small size and high mobi ...

Humvee The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the ...

, customized

Dodge Ram The Ram pickup (marketed as the Dodge Ram until 2010) is a full-size pickup truck manufactured by Stellantis North America (formerly Chrysler Group LLC and FCA US LLC) and marketed from 2010 onwards under the Ram Trucks brand. The current fi ...

pickup trucks,

all-terrain vehicle An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is stra ...

Plasan Sand Cat The SandCat ( he, פלסן קרקל) is a composite armored vehicle designed by the then Plasan Sasa (now Plasan) of Israel. The SandCat was shown publicly for the first time at AUSA during October 2005. The latest models were shown for the fir ...

off-road motorcycles Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...

and

inflatable An inflatable is an object that can be inflated with a gas, usually with air, but hydrogen, helium and nitrogen are also used. One of several advantages of an inflatable is that it can be stored in a small space when not inflated, since inflata ...

/fast boats.

Weaponry

Pistols

* Heckler & Koch P7M13 *

Beretta 92F The Beretta 92 (also Beretta 96 and Beretta 98) is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and manufactured by Beretta of Italy. The Beretta 92 was designed in 1975, and production began in 1976. Many variants in several different calibers c ...

* M1911 pistol *

Glock 17 Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was th ...

SIG Sauer P320 The SIG Sauer P320 is a modular semi-automatic pistol made by SIG Sauer, Inc., SIG Sauer's American branch. It is a further development of the SIG Sauer P250, utilizing a striker-fired mechanism in lieu of a double action only hammer system. Th ...

Short-barreled

Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...

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, th ...

Rifles

* FX-05 Xiuhcoatl *

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 ...

Heckler & Koch G3 The Heckler & Koch G3 (''Gewehr'' 3) is a 7.62×51mm NATO, select-fire battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency CET ...

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 ...

FN SCAR The FN SCAR (Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle) is a family of gas-operated short-stroke gas piston automatic rifles developed by Belgian manufacturer FN Herstal (FN) in 2004. It is constructed with modularity for the United State ...

Precision Rifles

Heckler & Koch PSG1 The Heckler & Koch PSG1 (''Präzisionsschützengewehr'', German for "precision shooting rifle") is a semi-automatic sniper rifle designed and produced by the German company Heckler & Koch. Development This rifle is said to have been developed ...

M24 Sniper Weapon System The M24 Sniper Weapon System (SWS) or M24 is the military and police version of the Remington Model 700 rifle, ''M24'' being the model name assigned by the United States Army after adoption as their standard sniper rifle in 1988. The M24 is ref ...

Remington 700 The Remington Model 700 is a series of bolt-action centerfire rifles manufactured by Remington Arms since 1962. It is a development of the Remington 721 and 722 series of rifles, which were introduced in 1948. The M24 and M40 military sniper ...

Sniper Rifle Morelos A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engagement (military), engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped ...

* AX308

Anti-materiel / Hard targets

Barrett M82 The Barrett M82 (standardized by the U.S. military as the M107) is a recoil-operated, semi-automatic anti-materiel rifle developed by the American company Barrett Firearms Manufacturing. Also called the Light Fifty (due to its chambering ...

( .50 BMG)

Shotguns

Remington 1100 The Remington 1100 is a gas-operated semi-automatic shotgun introduced by Remington Arms in 1963. History Designed by Wayne Leek and Robert Kelley, the Remington Model 1100 was introduced in 1963 as a successor to the Remington Model 58, Model ...

Mossberg 500 The Mossberg 500 (M500) is a series of pump action shotguns manufactured by O.F. Mossberg & Sons. The 500 series comprises widely varying models of hammerless repeaters, all of which share the same basic receiver and action, but differ in bore ...

Machine guns

* FN MAG *

Heckler & Koch HK21 The HK21 is a German 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, developed in 1961 by small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch and based on the G3 battle rifle. The weapon is in use with the armed forces of several Asian, African and Latin American ...

E *

M249 light machine gun 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 ...

Grenade launchers

* M203 grenade launcher * Milkor MGL Mk 1

Anti-Tank

B-300 The B-300 is a reusable man-portable anti-tank weapon system developed by Israel Military Industries in the late 1970s for use by the Israel Defense Forces. The B-300 can be carried and operated by a single operator and is effective to approxim ...

RPG-7 The RPG-7 (russian: link=no, РПГ-7, Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot) is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Th ...

RPG-29 The RPG-29 "Vampir" (Russian for "vampire") is a Soviet reusable rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher. Adopted by the Soviet Army in 1989, it was the last RPG to be adopted by the Soviet military before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. T ...

* RL-83 Blindicide

Other

* CornerShot

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grupo Aeromovil de Fuerzas Especiales Special forces of Mexico Military units and formations established in 1986