I just saw the end of this on the news but it sounded like a few soldiers were chasing some people near the border and supposedly the soldier droped his rifle and it "miss-fired" 18 shots one which went thru a kids leg the part about dropping the rifle sounds like a bunch of BS, I think he was probebly running with his finger on the trigger. From being down there it appears they carry M-16's.

All the ones I've seen when I've crossed through the Arizona border carry HK's.

I haven't seen HK's on the border, but I have seen AK's and M16's on the Mexican side in Douglas-Agua Prieta.

The Mexican government can afford to arm their troops with HK's?

Holy Shit!!!

Probably, the money is obviously not going into the people, schools or streets.

Most are issued with the M16. However, I have regularly seen Méxican Marines surrounding a bank (when the Navy's payroll was being picked up), armed with WW2 carbines!

I personnally reside  here on the border in Texas and I have a cousin that is in the active Mexican army that are on special assignment on drug interdiction.  I constantly see him patrolling the streets on the mexican city here accross from the US.  They have paratrooper FALs under licence built in mexico.  Also they have HK91s (mexican licensed)in standard stock and retract stocks.
This are regularly issued to the army and reserves,though the Noncommissioned officers get issued HK copies of MP5s.  The only personnal that are issued AR15 are the local police and federales and there version of the border patrol called "Aguanas".

The guy in the picture looks like he is a member of (Seguridad Información Nacional (SIN). It's a federal force and arm of the government that more or less combines the activities of the FBI / CIA / Mafia – one very powerful outfit.

Incidentally, it is illegal to photograph the police or armed forces in México!

Having spent some time in Mexico with narcotics interdiction, I can tell you that the Mexican army carries HK91's, and the local and federal police carry whatever they get (although technically it is illegal for [u]most[/u] of them to possess or carry AR's and AK's).  Among the federal police, there is an even split of AR15s to AK47s.  And the preferred handgun is the 1911 (the more gold and adornments, the better).  They normally detest Glocks or any polymer handgun for that matter.

If you come to a checkpoint and the people are carrying HK91s and are in camo, they're Army (mostly indians from southern Mexico).  If they're in all black, they're federal or state police.  I hope that helps.

[(:|)]

I am not making an issue of this but, I've lived in México for more than seven years. I've driven from one end of the country to the other and resided in different states, from the Pacific to the Caibbean. By far the most common weapon you will see carried by the military is the M16.

México has compulsory national service for all males. Unless Daddy is rich or a politico (amounts to the same thing) you cannot get out of it, so the ethnicity of the military is not confined to "indians from the south."

If the guys are have an all black iniform (like the photo) they are indeed the national police (and a lot more than that name suggests), they are SIN – a great and worthy acronym they richly deserve.

However even SIN have a better reputation than the Judicial (individual state) Police who (for the most part) are no different from the criminals they are charged to persue. In fact they are often one, and the same thing!

Having said all that, who really cares?

I'm sorry if I confused you by saying that "mostly" indians from the south were in the Mexican Army, but I never said it was "confined" to indians.  Many people in Mexico do not serve in the military.  Having the least influence, those in the south (mostly of indian blood) do serve in a proportion far greater than than those in the other areas of Mexico.

Additionally, SIN are not the only agency that wear all black.  The PJF (Policia Judicial Federal) wear all black as well.

You may be right about the army using M16s.  I encountered many Mexican servicemen, and they all carried HK91s.  Who knows?  Maybe they use both.

[(:|)]

Many, many Mexican youth easily avoid service by simply "buying" the proof of military service.
One cannot move on to university or civil service jobs without it.
No surprise there.

In my experience the M16 is the most numerous (and desirable) military arm.
They are known as "R-15s" and there's even a popular music band named after the weapon. By far the most beloved rifle in Mexico--mil. and civilian.
Mostly army and federal police.

FN-FALs are to be seen frequently also, though not as many as M16s. Army issue only, I believe.

AK-47s, AKMs, etc. are very popular with state and local police. The "Cuerno de Chivo" (Goat's Horn, for the shape of the mag) unfortunately for them, is also popular with the local weed growers and trafickers.
Of course with these armed groups, expect to see almost anything with a barrel!


Never seen any type of H&K weapon in Mexico. It's beemn a few years. Must be fairly recent issue to military/paramilitaries.

When I was in Mexico in 1992, I saw Mexican soldiers/marines with G3's.  It was on a little island in the bay Mazatlan is on.  Not sure why they were there.  Nothing on the islands but a beach.

Remember the Alamo.


Don't mess with Texas.

Seems like I've just seen cops with M16s and soldiers with G-3s.

I just wanted to add:  The last time I was in Mexico was 9/11.  I went to the Hermosillo Ford plant that day.  It's very freaky when the security guard at a plant in a foreign country tells you that your country has just been attacked by "planes crashing into buildings" and that the border is closed.

Trust me, every soldier I saw that day (and most appeared to be Indian) was carrying an HK.  By the look of them (finish wear) they'd had them a LONG time.  

The police carried sidearms.  I never saw a cop walking with a rifle.

Mexican military   =   Oxymoron

.

According to the Zapatistas, the US supplied the Mexican Paramilitaries with M16s ostensibly for "Fighting Drugs." They claim instead they are being used to massacre zapatistas.

I read a recent article in this month's Guns & Ammo. that says the Mexican Police also have some old FN-FALs. Never heard anything about HKs though. But, it wouldn't suprise me. Neither would AKs which are the primary weapon that the various rebels are armed with.

I know this is OT but it will give you some idea of how the police operate down here:

An English friend of mine who lives here in México had a dispute involving about $30k dollars with a local (crooked) American real estate broker. My friend finally got a judge to issue a court order demanding payment within 30 days, or appear before the court to show grounds for non-compliance.

He then hired four local members of the state Judicial Police to serve the papers. These off-duty cops marched into the real estate offices armed with shotguns and some kind of SMG's. They 'coaxed' the broker into signing two cheques: one covering the $30k on the order and the other covering their 'fee' ($?). The broker and all his staff, were then held at gunpoint until an employee returned from the bank with the cash.

And surprisingly, following some code of ethics known only to themselves, the cops immediately returned $27k to my friend – having first taken a second fee (10%) for their services.

The stupid broker, initiated court proceedings of his own against the cops. A few days later he was stopped for a 'routine' check by the Judicial Police and (surprise, surprise) he was found to have several ounces of cocaine in his car. That was a couple of years ago and, although the broker dropped his charges, I think the guy is still in jail.

I mentioned the nationalities of the two guys merely to illustrate the impartiality of these Méxican cops in their unceasing efforts to "serve and protect".

A couple of years ago when the wife and I were in Cancun we rented a car and took to the back roads to checkm out how the locals lived.
   We were driving down a two lane highway when up in front of us I noticed a plywood sign written in spanish(of course) which I could not read.
I did understand however that all the soldiers on the road about 100 yards ahead wanted us to stop.
We did.
I did not know what they were looking for , they allowed us to continue.
The sodiers were all carrying HK's
They were all in good shape (the weapons)

But the part that REALLY got my attention was as we accelerated away form the "roadblock"
was down the road a aoule hundred yards they had contucted out of rocks that they found laying around a short wall next to the road.

Behind the wall was at least one soldier behind a tripod mounted machine gun.

We just kept on going.

But I have often wondered what the hell was going on.