Mexican authorities are on alert to prevent Colombians working with drug trafficking cartels from taking advantage of the next Football World Cup to enter the country, a security official in the state of Jalisco told AFP on Thursday. “We are on permanent alert. We have already sent back to their country certain Colombian citizens who could not justify the reasons for their presence” in Jalisco (west), Roberto Alarcon, general strategic coordinator of state security, told AFP.
In Jalisco, where matches will be held, “there have already been people who have come to be recruited by one of the cartels,” he said, while the country’s authorities are observing a growing involvement of former foreign soldiers, Colombians in particular, in the Mexican cartels. Foreigners who work with these criminal groups “will of course benefit from tourist packages and anything that will allow them to infiltrate” into this region of Mexico, added Roberto Alarcon.
Last June, the Mexican army arrested ten former Colombian soldiers during an operation in the neighboring state of Michoacan, after an explosion that killed six Mexican soldiers. According to experts, the disarmament in 2017 of the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrillas and the reduction in the army budget in Colombia have favored the arrival of ex-guerrillas and former soldiers from this country in criminal groups in Mexico.
2,000 cameras, drones…
The city of Guadalajara, capital of the state of Jalisco, is preparing to receive tens of thousands of visitors from different backgrounds, with more than 2,000 surveillance cameras, drones and anti-unmanned aircraft equipment to ensure security during the 2026 World Cup. The World Cup is hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico and will be held from June 11 to July 19.
“We of course use all the necessary equipment, ranging from motor vehicles to drones, including anti-drone systems to cover the airspace, as well as the helicopters of the institutions with which we will work,” said the official. In the metropolitan area of this city, the second largest in Mexico with 3.5 million inhabitants, is the Guadalajara Stadium, with a capacity of approximately 48,000 fans. It will host four World Cup matches.
