page_title: Marines
section_title: Mexico
hierarchical_section_title: Marines / By country / Mexico
caption_attribution_description: English: Mexican Marines step out on a patrol at Officer Candidates School, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Sept. 10, 2009. VRIN# 20090910-M-8345L-057.jpg
context_page_description: Marines, also known as naval infantry, are typically an infantry force that specializes in the support of naval and army operations at sea and on land and air, as well as the execution of their own operations. In many countries, the marines are an integral part of that state's navy. In others, it is a separate organization altogether, such as in the United States, where the Marine Corps falls under the US Department of the Navy, yet it operates independently. Marines can also fall under a country's army like the Troupes de marine.
  Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included: helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship, the boarding of vessels during combat or capture of prize ships, and providing manpower for raiding ashore in support of the naval objectives.
  With the industrialization of warfare in the 20th century the scale of landing operations increased; this brought with it an increased likelihood of opposition and a need for co-ordination of various military elements. Marine forces evolved to specialize in the skills and capabilities required for amphibious warfare.
context_section_description: The Mexican Naval Infantry (Spanish: Infantería de Marina) of the Mexican Navy consists of 25,000 marines spread in a brigade of three battalions, plus a battalion attached to the Presidential Guard Corps, three regional battalions with headquarters in Mexico City, Acapulco and Veracruz, and thirty-five independent companies (mainly In Celaya) and detachments distributed among ports, bases and zonal headquarters. The marines are responsible for port security, protection of the ten-kilometer coastal fringe, and patrolling major waterways. The marines have light arms, heavy weapons and armored amphibious vehicles. The Navy ceded most of its riverine responsibilities to the Army, reducing the size of the marine force, and deploying them back aboard ships where they play a vital role in drug interdiction and boarding of suspect vessels in territorial waters. In 2010, the Mexican Marine Corps began undertaking land-based counter-narcotics operations, in large part due to the marines' reputation of being Mexico's most trustworthy and unimpeachable force.
caption: Mexican marines in Virginia
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