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 techniques, parachuting, vertical descent, urban combat, sniping and use of explosives. The units are well organized, trained and equipped to operate independently in maritime, lake, riverine or terrestrial scenarios.
Operations
The FES 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.
Some of their most known operations:
Elimination of Gulf Cartel leader Antonio Cárdenas Guillén aka "Tony Tormenta" in Matamoros, Mexico, 2010. 3 marines KIA during the firefight with his close protection circle of gunmen known as “Los Escorpiones”. Heavy fire, grenades and road blockades were implemented by the cartel gunmen that day.[1]
Operation Cuerno III. The raid and elimination of the leader of the Beltran Leyva Cartel, Arturo Beltran Leyva, in Cuernavaca, Morelos in December of 2009.[2]
In 2012 during a successful operation Zetas cartel regional boss Iván Velázquez Caballero aka ''El Talibán'' was captured in San Luis Potosi.[3]
In 2013 special operations personnel with support from the DEA captured the Zetas cartel top boss, Miguel Ángel Treviño, aka Z-40, in Nuevo Laredo, Tamps.[4]
On February 22nd 2014, El Chapo Guzman was captured in Mazatlan, Mexico by FES teams.[5]
Operation Barcina. Operation which gained media attention due to a leaked video where a helicopter with a mounted M134 Minigun was gunning down the Beltran Leyva Cartel regional boss Juan Francisco Patrón aka “El H2” and his gunmen in 2017.[7]
In July 2022, they carried out the successful "Operación Leyenda II" in which they captured the pioneer drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero.[8]
Training
Operators of the FES team during an exercise.
There are two main training centers where the operators receive training:
- Centro de Capacitación y Adiestramiento Especializado de Infantería de Marina (CENCAEIM) in Champotón, Mexico
- Centro de Entrenamiento Avanzado in Valle de Bravo, Mexico[9]
- Additional training is also received at the Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH) in Peterson Space Force Base, CO[10]
In these centers they receive some of the following training:
FES are divided into multiple assault squadrons, whose primary tasks consist mainly of Direct-Action and Counter-terrorism operations, some of these squadrons are:
Mexico
