By Pedro Domínguez
Less than a year after its creation, the Mexico Task Force, the new reaction group of the armed forces, has been deployed 102 times in 16 states to confront waves of criminal violence. This elite group is made up of 1,750 soldiers from special forces units, paratroopers, infantry, and National Guard personnel.
It was created on January 7, 2022, and began operations three days later in coordination with authorities from the three levels of government.
The Secretary of National Defense (Sedena/i.e., the Army) explained to MILENIO.
"(Its objective) is to carry out focused and short-term actions with immediate effects in reducing homicides and other crimes that generate a high perception of insecurity."
In the 11 months that it has been working, this reaction group has concentrated 27 percent of its operations in Guanajuato, one of the most violent states in the country, working in that state 28 of the 102 times...
The other four states in which the armed forces have concentrated their activities to deal with insecurity hotspots are Michoacán (13), Baja California (10), the State of México (10), and Guerrero (9).
SEDENA said,
"The objective of this group is to significantly increase the numbers of operations carried out in states with high crime rates."
If the statistics on intentional homicide in the country are analyzed, the states where this group intervenes are the most violent states.
In the last report of the security cabinet, a compilation was made of the six most violent states, where 48 percent of the murders that occur in the country are concentrated. These are Guanajuato, Baja California, the State of Mexico, Michoacán, Jalisco and Chihuahua. They include four of the states with the most support from the Mexico Task Force.
The reduction of homicides in Mexico is one of the main objectives of the government of the so-called Fourth Transformation. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, himself, has mentioned that if the situation of violence is not improved, he will not be remembered as a good governor. On several occasions, he has made it clear that he accepts the challenge to solve the problem.
“In the social field, there is the welfare state. Mexicans (the 50% who have formal employment and their families) have (health and pension) security, protection from the time they are born until they die, from the cradle to the grave and we provide that.
But if we do not solve the problem of insecurity, of violence, we will not be recognized, remembered as good rulers. That is why I accept this challenge, to guarantee peace and tranquility in...our country,” he asserted.
An example of the work carried out by this group was last September, in Irapuato, Guanajuato. After a violent day in which criminals carried out simultaneous attacks in six different points of that municipality, the Army reinforced the security of the region with members of the Mexico Task Force.
In August, around 500 infantry and parachute riflemen from the Mexican Army arrived in Michoacán to try to inhibit criminal activities and provide greater security to the population.
And that same month, in Jalisco, more than 750 soldiers were sent to respond to a series of drug blockades and burning of vehicles and convenience stores, derived from a confrontation that occurred on the border of Cuquío and Ixtlahuacán del Río.
Sedena said in a statement,
“The Mexico Joint Task Force has the characteristics of great mobility and power, but, above all, the ability to be quickly deployed to one or several parts of the national territory by land or air.
Its main mission is to strengthen the rule of law and the development of the daily activities of society, acting at all times with full respect for human rights."