EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The president of Mexico did not address transnational criminal organizations nor the crystal meth sales epidemic besieging working-class neighborhoods during her visit to Juarez last week.
But not two hours after she departed, an airplane carrying 90 members of Mexican army special forces operations landed in the city to reinforce security efforts targeting organized criminal activities.
“The arrival of these (soldiers) will reinforce security efforts of Operation Northern Border (Operación Frontera Norte 2025) within the 5th Military Zone in Juarez in strict coordination with (civilian) authorities,” the Mexican army (SEDENA) said in a statement.
Juarez Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar said local authorities were briefed about the arrival of special army forces but would not disclose what, specifically, they will do.
“Our police officers will continue (doing their jobs) but whenever we need to conduct joint operations or if they request intelligence for a mission, obviously, there will be support from the municipal police,” Perez Cuellar said.
Mexican army special forces have been involved in the arrests of several drug traffickers and provided security as they boarded extradition flights to the United States this year.
Soldiers have been a fixture on Juarez streets since the mid-2000s, and the headquarters of the 5th Military Zone is 230 miles to the south in Chihuahua City.
SEDENA said it sent a total of 270 special forces members to the northern border states of Chihuahua and Baja California, as well as to Guanajuato – which leads Mexico in homicides.
Juarez has recorded 752 murders so far in 2025, most of them in neighborhoods near the Rio Grande, south of the airport and on the western and southeastern edges of the city. Those are the same areas where gangs are stepping up sales of illicit crystal methamphetamine and where multiple killings during home invasions have been reported, local authorities said.
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