Mexican Armed Forces - Mission

Mission

The Mexican Army works around three preparedness missions, or plans:

DN1: Preparation of the military forces to repel external aggressions. No military armed force can leave Mexican territory without a declaration of war, and approval of the Congress. The last time this was invoked was in 1942, to send an expeditionary force to the Philippines, after war was declared against Germany and Japan, following the sinking of two Mexican ships by U-boats. In 1990 President Carlos Salinas de Gortari asked the permission of the Congress to send troops to the Gulf War, but it was refused, since there was no declaration of war against Iraq.

DN2: Preparation of the military forces to protect the internal security of the country. This would include police actions against guerrilla forces, counter-drug operations, and, originally, political control. Up to 1970, the Mexican Army had been used as a repressive force to maintain the virtual ruling party PRI government. The most controversial use of the military had been called "The dirty war" in the 1960s, which included the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre of students and unsuspecting bystanders. After 1980 these types of operations had nearly completely ceased (see EZLN).

DN3: (Defense against natural disasters) The Army should always be ready to help the civil population in case of disaster. This includes preventive measures. For example, between August and November, military forces are sent to Mexican coastal areas to aid the public in the event of hurricanes or floods. For the Mexican people, the DN3 plan is the most important peacetime operation of the Army. The Army provides food, shelter, medicine, and medical services to the people who need them. This also includes reconstruction of roads and communication services. Because calling the implementation DN3 plan is an acceptance of severe problems, the DN3 plan was not invoked in the 1985 Mexico City earthquake that left large areas of Mexico City in ruins, since the authorities did not want to recognize there was an emergency in the capital, while the army was called to the city, it was just a peacekeeping force. This later became a severe questioning on the government. The Mexican Army provided aid to the US when hurricanes Katrina (see main article: Mexican response to Hurricane Katrina). More recently, the DN3 plan was invoked in 2009 when an epidemia of swine flu threatened the population and in 2010 after the states of Veracruz, Tabasco, Nuevo León, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero were severely affected by floods caused by a number of hurricanes and tropical storms.