The Mexican Ministry of Security has established a special operations unit to combat drug cartels, six years after the former president disbanded the federal police and fully entrusted the responsibility to the military.
President Claudia Sheinbaum has shown readiness to abandon the often-criticized “hugs, not bullets” strategy of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which focused on addressing the social roots of crime rather than confronting powerful Mexican cartels directly.
While the official announcement of the National Operational Unit (UNO) is pending, its existence is already known among former members of the federal police. Security Minister Omar García Harfuch—who started his career there—will directly oversee the unit, which is being formed largely with former members of the federal police and special operations teams.
The unit, which started its formation soon after Sheinbaum took office, currently has 250 members, with expectations to expand to 800 by the end of the year. It will be divided into three branches across Mexico, with most members having received training from security forces in the United States, Colombia, Spain, or France.
Security analyst David Sausedo believes that Harfuch’s main goal is to establish a force capable of meeting the demands of Washington, especially after Harfuch’s meeting in Washington with the Trump administration.
