Members of Mexican cartels, as well as several former FARC guerrillas, are in Ukraine with false documentation, taking advantage of the context of the Russian invasion, to infiltrate the ranks of the International Legion. Its objective is to receive military training and learn war tactics that involve, among other things, the handling of first-person vision kamikaze drones, the so-called FPV.
An article in the French publication Intelligence Online explains that Ukrainian intelligence discovered some "volunteers" of Latin American origin who are not part of the legion out of ideological conviction, but are linked to cartels and would have been recruited through private military companies. The initial alert was given by the National Intelligence Center (CNI) of Mexico to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The request put under the microscope several Mexican and Colombian volunteers who joined units of the second squadron of the International Legion of the GUR in Ukraine, including the Ethos Tactical Group, a semi-clandestine unit that operates in the regions of Donbas and Kharkiv. Reports indicated that the suspects seek out FPV academies to train, evading initial checks. The purpose of all this is to transfer their knowledge to transnational criminal organizations.
Following the attack initiated by Vladimir Putin in 2022, Ukraine strengthened strategies to confront wealthy Russian resources. They focused on tactical training in drone warfare. Thus they developed a comprehensive program that ranges from artisanal manufacturing to real-time reconnaissance, mastery of analog configurations, thermal camouflage, understanding of jamming techniques and low-altitude flight.
FPV drone academies have trained thousands of pilots. These centers were initially reserved for Ukrainian operators, but over time, they have progressively opened up to foreign volunteers considered reliable. There, irregularities were detected in the behavior of some soldiers, as is the case of Águila-7.
Several Mexicans and Colombians, belonging to the International Legion, showed excessive interest in the drone training modules. Among them was Águila-7, the operational nickname given by the SBU to a Mexican volunteer registered in March 2024 under a false Salvadoran identity. Presenting himself as a humanitarian, he joined a logistics support cell of the Chosen unit in the Kharkiv region before completing a full cycle of training at the Killhouse Academy in Lviv.
His instructors noted that he was already proficient in analog transmitters, ability to identify thermal blind spots, and anticipate radio countermeasures. Upon investigation, it was learned that Águila-7 had belonged to the Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE), an elite unit of the Mexican Army trained in guerrilla tactics, counterinsurgency, and advanced use of military equipment, including drones. Some recruits from this unit joined the Los Zetas cartel, founded by GAFE deserters.
In turn, at least three former FARC guerrillas also infiltrated the International Legion, using Panamanian and Venezuelan identity documents. One of them, in his 40s, was identified in internal videos from an FPV training center in Dnipro.
Several of these individuals are believed to have passed through private military companies used as front organizations. Among those targeted is Grupo ROKA Seguridad, a Mexican company that officially specializes in industrial security but is actually involved in small arms trafficking, as well as Mayan Executive Protection, based in Cancun, which provided false letters of recommendation to two volunteers identified in the Legion's databases, according to data obtained by IntelligenceOnline.com.
In Colombia, the case of SEGURCOL SAS, active in Cali and Medellín, was revealed, which organized the recruitment of former elite soldiers in the country, on behalf of foreign clients, according to Interpol reports. Some of these companies are directly linked to drug trafficking logistics networks, facilitating financing, travel legalization and, sometimes, the provision of false passports and humanitarian visas.
:::::::::::::::: Source https://panampost.com/milagros-boyer/2025/07/31/narcos-mexicanos-se-infiltran-en-el-frente-de-batalla-en-ukrania-para-aprender-tacticas-de-guerra
