By “El Huaso” for Borderland Beat
Mexican security forces found an abandoned improvised armored vehicle, or “blindado” while patrolling in the municipality of Juventino Rosas, in Guanajuato state. While criminal groups across Mexico frequently employ these homemade vehicles in combat, they are rarely spotted in Guanajuato state.
According to local press, public security forces located the vehicle by airplane. It was abandoned inside a walled compound in the small rural town of Mineral de Pozos, hidden under a tarp. Inside, security forces found 500 doses of marijuana.
The truck is a 2022 model Ford F-150. Metal panels were welded inside the front windshield, and along the interior sides. The pickup had a farm style open-top box on the back, allowing for easy transport of armed men. The vehicle appeared fairly normal, allowing it to blend in with civilian vehicles.
One month earlier on February 3nd, a similar armored vehicle was found in Cerro Prieto, a town outside Tarimaro, a municipality two hours south of Juventino Rosas. Spent casings were found inside the back of that vehicle, indicating that gunmen fired out of it.
Improvised Armored Fighting Vehicles (IAFVs), sometimes called “monstruos”, “narco tanques”, or “blindados”, have become commonly used by criminal groups in Mexico. Around 850 have been found across Mexico since 2018.* Most are found in Tamaulipas and Michoacan, states where combat between criminal groups takes place in open spaces, creating a need for movable cover. They are rarely found in Guanajuato, whose criminal groups fight in small ambushes against soft targets in urban areas – rival dealers on street corners, lookouts, and affiliated businesses, mostly tire shops and bars.
According to the Mexican military, narco tanks are “not very maneuverable in urban areas or on soft or sandy ground”, due to the large metal panels that are often welded on the vehicles frame for protection. This added weight makes them incredibly heavy, but does provide some protection from small arms fire.
Aside from their advantages in a gunfight, narco tanks are important tools for intimidation. They are frequently shown off in photos and videos by members of criminal organizations.
According to Héctor Romero Sánchez, a security sector representative interviewed by Foro TV, organized crime groups have started to kidnap technicians and mechanics to up armor their vehicles in clandestine workshops. Just this week, one such workshop was found in the Gustavo A. Madero neighborhood of Mexico City, as reported by Borderland Beat.
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| Image: Mexico City armored vehicle workshop. |
*Citing a transparency request, Milenio reported that between 01/2018 and 07/2022, a period of 54 months, 630 IAFVs were found in Mexico. 630/54 = 11.66. There have been 19 months between 07/2022 and 03/2024. Assuming the rate of IAFV captures by the Mexican state remained constant, at 12 per month, an additional 228 IAFVs should have been found. 630 + 228 = 858 IAFVs.