In a coordinated strategy to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Department of Defense have launched an intensive training program for agents Mexicans.

The initiative seeks to form specialized cells capable of infiltrating criminal networks, dismantling the operational and financial structures of cartels in Mexico from within.

Part of the training focuses on survival and combat skills, essential for protecting agents in field operations. The exercises include hand-to-hand combat techniques, firearms handling, marksmanship, and quick decision-making in high-risk situations. Additionally, each participant receives a first aid kit to treat injuries in fire situations, with the goal of keeping injured people alive until they can receive medical attention.

According to the newspaper El Financiero, these practices seek to strengthen the ability to react to unexpected threats, teaching officers to act intelligently and quickly in critical situations. The training also covers personal protection and security in covert operations, which are essential for success in infiltration and surveillance tasks.

They will also combat money laundering

El Financiero points out that the practical training modules include covert surveillance, forensic data extraction, financial analysis, and strategies to neutralize criminal operations in their logistical phase.

The goal is to attack the entire structure of organizations, placing special emphasis on capturing leaders and key operators, as well as those who launder money on behalf of these leaders, security chiefs, hitmen, and fentanyl traffickers.

El Financiero points out that the strategy also aims to reduce violence arising from territorial disputes between organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), considered by the Donald Trump administration to be terrorist organizations.

This comprehensive approach seeks to dismantle the networks at their roots, investigating crimes such as international drug trafficking, money laundering, and violent crimes such as kidnappings, extortion, and homicides.

A fight that requires more than strength

The analysis of priority threats and the risk assessment are intended to expand the presence of elite forces in other regions of the continent, since the dynamics of organized crime have evolved more Beyond drug trafficking, they now control migration routes, charge taxes to entire industries, participate in fuel theft, and have even infiltrated local governments, so combating them requires more than force.

It requires more sophisticated tactics and covert operations to dismantle their structures from within. Thus, this training program represents a joint effort by the U.S. and Mexico to confront the cartels with specialized methods adapted to today's reality.

The collaboration seeks not only to dismantle criminal networks, but also to reduce violence and strengthen the capabilities of Mexican forces to combat organizations that, in addition to drug trafficking, control migration routes, participate in economic crimes, and have infiltrated public institutions.

This FBI program is not limited to Mexico. Currently, it has six verified teams in Latin America located in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, with an upcoming addition in Panama.