The Mexican Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de México) are the military forces of the United Mexican States. The Spanish crown established a standing military in colonial Mexico in the eighteenth century.[5] After Mexican independence in 1821, the military played an important political role, with army generals serving as heads of state.[6] Following the collapse of the Federal Army during the 1910–1920 Mexican Revolution, former revolutionary generals systematically downsized the size and power of the military.[7]
The Mexican military forces are composed of two independent entities: the Mexican Army and the Mexican Navy. The Mexican Army includes the Mexican Air Force, while the Mexican Navy includes the Naval Infantry Force (Marine Corps) and the Naval Aviation (FAN). The Army and Navy are controlled by two separate government departments, the National Defense Secretariat and the Naval Secretariat, and maintain two independent chains of command, with no joint command except the President of Mexico.
The Spanish crown established a standing military in the late eighteenth century to shore up the defense of New Spain against foreign attacks. With the outbreak of the Mexican War of Independence, the royal army fought insurgents for independence. Royal army officer Agustín de Iturbide changed sides and made a pact with insurgent general Vicente Guerrero, bringing about independence. Iturbide became Emperor of Mexico, but was forced to abdicate by military officers. Mexico became a republic with a weak central government. General Antonio López de Santa Anna was to dominate politics for decades. Following the disastrous Mexican–American War, Santa Anna was ousted and civilian liberals took power, passing a series of laws removing military privileges and decreasing its power. The conservative military and the Roman Catholic Church allied in an unsuccessful attempt to oust the liberal reformers in a civil war. In 1862 France invaded Mexico to collect debts repudiated by the liberal government and Conservatives approached France's ruler Napoleon III to select a monarch for Mexico. Many Mexican republicans fought the French army, winning a brief victory on 5 May 1862. The French withdrew all military support for Emperor Maximilian in 1867. Liberal republicans returned to power and executed Maximilian and two Mexican generals supporting his regime. An important liberal military leader against the French and their conservative Mexican collaborators was General Porfirio Díaz. Díaz had political ambitions to become President of Mexico, rebelling twice against civilian presidents, succeeding in 1876. He ruled Mexico continuously from 1884 to 1911, when he was forced from power by Mexican revolutionaries supporting Francisco I. Madero. Although revolutionary forces defeated the Federal Army, Madero demobilized them and retained the federal forces. Madero was overthrown and murdered in a military coup in February 1913. Federal Army General Victoriano Huerta, now president, was challenged by a coalition of revolutionaries in northern Mexico, the Constitutionalist Army and forces led by Emiliano Zapata in the south. The Constitutionalists defeated the Federal Army in July 1914 and it was dissolved. Only revolutionary armies remained, which were not a unified force.
Revolutionary generals were unable to come to a power arrangement after their victory over Huerta, plunging the country into a new stage of civil war. The large-scale conflict largely ended with Constitutionalist General Alvaro Obregón defeating General Pancho Villa in 1915. From 1920 until 1940, revolutionary generals held the presidency of Mexico, with a number of rival generals staging unsuccessful coups. During this same period, these generals, especially Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles, and Lázaro Cárdenas, systematically downsized the overall size of the armed forces and drastically reduced its share of the national budget, while at the same time creating a professional and largely apolitical junior officer corps.[8] President Manuel Avila Camacho (1940–1946) was the last revolutionary-era general to serve as president and military coups were a thing of the past. Mexico's armed forces are notable in Latin America for their absence from politics. Mexico's revolutionary military leaders established a culture of civilian supremacy and placed state power in the hands of civilian professional politicians.[9]
.jpg/1280px-Desfile_Militar_Conmemorativo_del_CCV_Aniversario_del_Inicio_de_la_Independencia_de_M%C3%A9xico._(21286703420).jpg)
There are five main components of the Army: a national headquarters, territorial commands, and independent units. The Secretary of National Defense, through the Commanding General of the Army, commands the Army by means of a very centralized system and a large number of general officers. The Army uses a modified continental staff system in its headquarters. The Army is the largest branch of Mexico's armed services.
Presently, there are 12 "Military Regions", which are further broken down into 44 subordinate "Military Zones." In both cases, a numbering system is used for designation. There is no set number of zones within a region, and these can therefore be tailored to meet operational needs, with a corresponding increase or decrease in troop strength.
The Air Force national headquarters is embedded in the Army headquarters in Mexico City. It also follows the continental staff system, with the usual A1, A2, A3, and A4 sections. The tactical forces form what is loosely called an Air Division, but it is dispersed in four regions: Northeast Mexico, Northwest Mexico, Central Mexico, and Southern Mexico. The Air Force maintains a total of 18 air bases, and has the additional capability of opening temporary forward operating bases in austere conditions for some helicopters and light aircraft.
_(38866081012).jpg/1280px-0000-1938-DESFILE_DEL_16_DE_SEPTIEMBRE_(2)_(38866081012).jpg)
The Secretariat of the Navy, the Navy's national headquarters, is located in Mexico City, and is smaller than the Army's headquarters. The "Junta (or Council) of Admirals" plays a unique consultative and advisory role within the headquarters, an indication of the institutional importance placed on seniority and "year groups" that go back to the admirals’ days as cadets in the naval college. They are a very tightly knit group, and great importance is placed on consultation among the factions within these year groups. The Navy's operational forces are organized as two independent groups: the Gulf Force and the Pacific (West) Force. Each group has its own headquarters, a destroyer group, an auxiliary vessel group, a Marine Infantry Group, and a Special Forces group. The Gulf and Pacific Forces are not mirror images of each other, as independence of organization is permitted. Both are subdivided into regions, with Regions 1, 3, and 5 on the Gulf, and 2, 4, and 6 on the Pacific. Each region is further divided into sectors and zones, so a proliferation of headquarters and senior officers exists. The Navy also has an air arm with troop transport, reconnaissance, and surveillance aircraft.
The Navy maintains significant infrastructure, including naval dockyards that have the capability of building ships, such as the Holzinger class offshore patrol vessel. These dockyards have a significant employment and economic impact in the country.
The Naval Infantry are the marine corps and amphibious infantry force of the Mexican Navy. The main task of the Infantería de Marina is to guarantee the maritime security of the country's ports and external and internal defense of the country, to accomplish these responsibilities the corps is trained and equipped to take on any type of operations from Sea, Air and Land.
The Naval Infantry Corps was reorganized in 2007–09 into 30 Naval Infantry Battalions, a paratroop battalion, a battalion attached to the Presidential Guard Brigade, two Fast Reaction Forces with six battalions each, and three Special Forces groups. The Naval Infantry are responsible for port security, protection of the ten-kilometer coastal fringe, and patrolling major waterways.
The Mexican Maritime Search and Rescue is the Mexican Navy's SAR Unit, which is responsible for improving the quality and effectiveness of the Navy's response to Mexico's maritime emergencies. The Mexican Navy historically has been responsible for the search and rescue operations using its available resources. However, aware of the importance of safeguarding human life at sea and the growing demand of sea rescue, the High Command of the Navy created the Maritime Search and Rescue unit.
.jpg/1280px-General_PE_Calles_8_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg/1280px-Desfile_Militar_Conmemorativo_del_CCV_Aniversario_del_Inicio_de_la_Independencia_de_M%C3%A9xico._(20853581443).jpg){kind=link}