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Black Berets, the elite group of the Mexican Navy in charge of hunting drug traffickers

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By The opinion

Jun 28, 2024, 11:42 AM EDT

Most of the major blows to organized crime in Mexico have occurred thanks to operations implemented by the Armed Forces of that country, such as the captures of Rafael Caro Quintero and Ovidio Guzman.

Within the Mexican Army and Navy, there are groups specialized in pursuing and combating drug cartels, so these are elite bodies with members highly trained for this purpose.

One of these bodies is the Special Operations Unit of the Secretary of the Navy, better known as “Black Berets”in charge of destroying drug laboratories, rescuing victims and arresting organized crime leaders.

The members of this unit receive intense training and physical conditioning, as the news site Reporte Indigo was able to verify upon entering the place where the Black Berets train.

“It doesn’t matter if you lose your life.”

Due to the work they do and for security reasons to protect their integrity, its members are prohibited from providing their names, however, the Head of the Amphibious Command number 1, indicated to the cited media that They stand out for carrying out missions at sea, land and air..

“We are happy with our work because we protect society and our family. Although it leads to absence, we do it with pleasure and without fear of sacrificing our lives, it doesn’t matter losing our lives, it is something we are willing to do,” he said.

According to what was revealed to Indigo Report, so that a Marine infantry element can carry out raids of this type must be trained and trained for a minimum of six months.

As part of their training, a clandestine laboratory was built in the middle of the forest, where the staff practices their incursions in a natural way on a daily basis, and establishes strategies to disable them in record time.

“What we do is neutralize the clandestine laboratory. First, we close everything that is flammable and then we try to destroy all this, neutralize it and determine what type of chemicals there are. It can take us from an hour to a whole day to destroy it.depending on the size of the laboratory,” the military commander explained.

Regarding the capture of drug traffickers, the Navy Special Forces are characterized by their tactical raids, where planning is made and the weapons and equipment to be used are considered.

“As Special Forces, we call it CCI, which is Close Indoor Combat. In this case, the hostage was encapsulated, placed in the middle to provide security, a smoke screen was made and they were transferred to the vehicle,” commented the Chief of the Amphibious Command when explaining missions like the one that concluded with the capture of Caro Quintero.

This is how, while drug traffickers seek to continue producing and trafficking drugs on a large scale, the Mexican Armed Forces continually prepare to prevent said drugs from reaching the streets.

Keep reading:
– Mexican Navy achieves the largest arsenal seizure in the history of Veracruz.
– Mexican Navy hits drug traffickers and seizes vessel with 3.5 tons of cocaine.