MEXICO CITY — With the Iraq war over and the American presence waning in Afghanistan, U.S. security contractors are looking for new prospects in Mexico, where spreading criminal violence has created a growing demand for battle-ready professionals.
After years of lucrative work in the Middle East and Central Asia, where their presence has been occasionally marred by incidents of excessive force and misconduct, contractors and private security firms of varying sizes and specialties are being drawn into a conflict closer to home. But Mexico’s restrictive gun laws mean that foreign contractors must enter the bloody drug war unarmed as they take jobs ranging from consulting and technical training for the Mexican military to guarding business executives from kidnapping gangs and extortionists.
Nov. 16, 2011: An estimated 17 tons of marijuana were seized when authorities discovered a major cross-border drug tunnel between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.
Virginia-based DynCorp International has job openings in Mexico for aviation instructors and mechanics. The New York consulting firm Kroll hires anti-kidnapping specialists to protect Mexican business executives.
The companies are beckoned by swelling pots of public and private contracting gold. In November, the Pentagon’s counter-narco-terrorism program office solicited bids on more than $3 billion in contracts worldwide, with an unspecified amount destined for operations in Mexico. The State Department has pledged nearly $2 billion in drug war aid to Mexico since 2008, much of it available to U.S. companies that can provide equipment or services to the besieged Mexican state.
Security spending by private companies in Mexico and the Mexican government has also surged. Since President Felipe Calderon deployed Mexico’s military against the country’s drug kingpins in December 2006, the number of armed private security firms in the country has doubled, Mexican federal police statistics show. But while there are 1,400 licensed firms in good standing, analysts say there may be an additional 10,000 operating without proper authorization.
Still, despite Mexico’s potential for highly remunerative work, experts caution that it will never equal the bonanza that U.S. companies found in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For one, the money available in Mexico doesn’t measure up to the cash that flowed through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. government spent more than $200 billion on private contractors over the past decade.
Gun law restrictions
Then there’s the issue of Article 27 of Mexico’s firearms code, necessary reading for anyone tempted to make a transition from Kabul or Baghdad to Mexico’s urban badlands. It essentially bans foreigners from carrying guns in Mexico — a deal-breaker for many would-be soldiers of fortune, despite their growing interest in the country, said Michael Braun, former DEA operations chief and now a partner with Spectre Group International LLC, a private security firm based in Alexandria.
“The Mexican government is not going to allow U.S. contractors to be armed in Mexico, and I can tell you that alone will cause many companies large and small to not even consider performing work there,” Braun said.
