Mexico's security ministry is establishing a special operations unit to fight drug cartels, six years after the former Mexican president disbanded the federal police and handed that responsibility entirely to the military.
President Claudia Sheinbaum has already shown a willingness to abandon former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's oft-criticized "hugs, not bullets" strategy, which focused on addressing the social roots of crime rather than directly confronting powerful Mexican cartels.
The government has yet to officially announce the formation of the National Operations Unit (UNO), but its existence is already an open secret among former members of the federal police, where Security Minister Omar García Harfuch began his career and from whose members it will be formed. The UNO will be under his direct command.
The unit began forming soon after Sheinbaum took office. It now has 250 members and is expected to have 800 by the end of the year. The UNO will have three branches spread across Mexico.
Its current members are mostly former federal police and members of the special operations team that García Harfuch created when he was Mexico City police chief. Most of them have previously received training with security forces from the United States, Colombia, Spain or France.
Security analyst David Saucedo, who spoke with people who joined the unit, said he believes Harfuch's main goal is to have an armed force that allows him to meet Washington's demands.
On Monday, while Harfuch was in Washington for a meeting with the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security issued a call for graduates to be the "first generation of investigative and intelligence agents," saying only that they would be part of a specialized group to strengthen security.
Bonus video:
