Time to deploy the 7th Special Forces Group to counter Mexican cartel’s threat to use ‘weaponized drones’ against U.S. Border Patrol Agents?
Activated on May 20, 1960 the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is a United States Army Special Forces unit that conducts special operations globally with a focus on Central and South America. The 7th Special Forces Group is stationed at Hurlbert Field, Flordia.
NOTE: The Air Force’s 1st Special Operations Wing has MQ-9 Reapers at Hurlbert, Field.
I served as Adjutant of the 7th Special Forces Group in the late 1970s.
There is a growing threat from Mexican cartels who have now targeted U.S. border patrol agents.
WATCH: Mexican Cartels authorize the use of ‘weaponized drones’ against U.S. border agents
This escalation requires a firm response.
QUESTION: Will Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth use this asset to stop the cartels?
ANSWER: We hope so.
According to Wikipedia the 7th Special Forces Group has a long history of operating in Central and South America:
7th Special Forces Group in Latin America
Beginning of operations in Latin Americ
At the same time, Special Forces were expanding into Latin America. In May 1962, the advance party from Company D, 7th Special Forces Group departed for Fort Gulick, Panama, in the Canal Zone, to establish the 8th Special Forces Group. In 1965 the 7th Special Forces Group participated in Operation Power Pack in the Dominican Republic. 8th Group was deactivated in 1972 and the unit redesignated as the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group. The entire 7th Special Forces Group was scheduled for inactivation on 1 October 1980, and was unfunded after that in the completed and approved US Army Program Objective Memorandum (POM). Army Chief of Staff General Edward C. Meyer reversed the decision after USSOUTHCOM briefings and discussions with LTG Wallace H. Nutting, the CINCSOUTH, and LTC Charles Fry, the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group commander, regarding the growing threat to Central America and the need for U.S. Army Special Forces to respond to the threat.
Special Forces Activities in El Salvador
Throughout the 1980s, 7th Special Forces Group played a critical advisory role for the Salvadoran armed forces, which grew from a force of 12,000 to a total of 55,000 men. The Salvadoran military became a highly trained counter-insurgency force under the tutelage of 7th Group. Due to the success of special forces in El Salvador, the 3rd Special Forces Group was reactivated in 1990.
Special Forces Activities in Honduras
The 7th Special Forces Group played an important role in preparing the Honduran military to resist and defeat an invasion from Nicaragua. 7th Group also trained the Honduran military in counter-insurgency tactics, which enabled Honduras to defeat the Honduran communist-backed guerrillas.
Counter-Narcotics Operations
7th Special Forces Group also became involved in counter narcotics operations in the Andean Ridge countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The goal was not just to stop the flow of drugs into the United States, but to stem the violence that resulted from the drug trade in those countries.
Beginning of Operations against Manuel Noriega
During the 3 October 1989 coup against Noriega by some of his troops, members of 7th Group conducted reconnaissance operations near the road that led from the cuartel of Battalion 2000 to Panama City, giving the US Southern Command advanced early warning of the elite Panamanian unit moving to rescue Noriega, who was being held captive in the Panamanian Comandancia. Meanwhile, one 7th Group Company was being readied to take custody of Noriega. When the coup was over and Noriega was released, that company prepared a raid on the Carcelo Modelo where American Kurt Muse was being held for operating an illegal radio station that was broadcasting anti-Noriega programming. That mission was later turned over to 1st SFOD-D and performed on D-Day during Operation Just Cause. From 19 December 1989 to 31 January 1990, elements of the 7th Special Forces Group participated in Operation Just Cause to restore democracy to Panama. The 7th Group conducted combat operations on D-Day against multiple strategic targets. Over the next two weeks, 7th Special Forces Group conducted many reconnaissance and direct action missions in support of the operation.
Raid to destroy Radio Nacional equipment
The 7th SFG was stationed in Hangar 450, at Albrook Air Force Station.[citation needed] The Panamanian radio station called Radio Nacional broadcast recordings of pro-Noriega propaganda to encourage the Panamanian population to continue fighting as an insurgency against the Americans. As the 7th SFG high command wanted the propaganda broadcasts to be disabled, a force of 7th SFG operators was sent in to disable the broadcasts. They would be going in with little intelligence. A team of operators flew in on helicopter transports to the radio station and fast-roped onto the roof of the seventeen-floor building, while a ground team attacked from below. The Americans had speed and surprise on their side. They blew the radio antenna off the roof with explosives, then assaulted the radio stations offices. There was no staff present and the broadcast source was an automated recording. The operators destroyed the radio equipment with rifle rounds and explosives, causing the automated radio transmissions, which were on the AM band, to cease. The operators then began to exfiltrate, but at one point, they were confronted by an armed civilian security guard, aiming his weapon at them. Not wishing to kill him, they shot him in the shoulder, then treated the injury and turned him over to Panamanian firefighters responding to the fire. The force then safely returned to hangar 450.[9]
Successful Destruction of pro-Noriega broadcast station
After the American Special Forces operatives came back to Hangar 450. They deployed again to destroy the FM broadcasts of pro-Noreiga propaganda. The American commandos placed demolition charges which finally and successfully destroyed the remote FM antenna. After successfully destroying the antenna, the broadcasts were finally off the air.[10]
The Bottom Line
The 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Area of Responsibility (AOR) includes the land mass of Latin America south of Mexico; the waters adjacent to Central America and South America and the Caribbean Sea.
The 7th Speical Forces Group is trained and equiped to operate in Central and South America. When I was assigened to the 7th Special Forces Group, one of our B Team Commanders was in Bolivia with the Bolivian Army Rangers unit that tracked down, captured and killed Che Guevara.
The 3rd Battalion of the 7th Special Forces Group was involved in the capture of Che Guevara in Bolivia in 1967. The U.S. Army’s Special Forces, including the Green Berets, were used to help the Bolivian military defeat Guevara’s guerrilla movement.
Sec. Def. Hegseth has the perfect tool to use to take down the Mexican Drug cartels.
©2025 Dr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.) All rights reserved.
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