Mexico's Senate authorized the temporary entry of 19 members of US Navy SEAL Team 2 for a training exercise in Campeche. The approval passed with 105 votes in favor and one abstention, amid criticisms over recent US actions in Venezuela and Cuba. The training aims to strengthen special operations capabilities of the Mexican Navy Secretariat.
On February 11, 2026, Mexico's Senate approved, with 105 votes in favor and one abstention, the resolution allowing the entry of 19 members of US Navy SEAL Team 2 into Mexican territory. The request was sent by President Claudia Sheinbaum through the Secretariat of Government and previously endorsed by the Senate's Marina Commission with 16 votes in favor.
The US sailors will arrive on February 15, 2026, aboard a US Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft and stay until April 16 at the Centro de Capacitación y Adiestramiento Especializado de Infantería de Marina in San Luis Carpizo, Campeche, as well as in the jurisdiction of Sector Naval Carmen in Ciudad del Carmen. The exercise, titled 'Improve the Capacity of Special Operations Forces,' involves exchanging procedures, operation planning, and specialized training for the Naval Unit of Special Operations of the Secretariat of the Navy. It includes necessary armament and equipment, which must leave the country at the end of the period.
Senator Raquel Bonilla Herrera from the Marina Commission stressed that these activities 'do not imply subordination or cession of competencies; on the contrary, they constitute a regulated coordination exercise that strengthens national capabilities.' The president must instruct the Navy Secretary to send a report to the Senate within 30 days after conclusion.
Gerardo Fernández Noroña of Morena abstained and criticized the measure: 'I consider that at this moment the entry of United States Armed Forces should not be permitted not even to plant little trees. I do not come to make an act of faith, bravado or irresponsibility, but my chest is not a warehouse, and I do not like the way the United States government is acting by appropriating natural resources from various points in the world because it decides so for its security.' His arguments referred to the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela on January 3 and US pressures against Cuba.
Other interventions included concerns from Senator Alejandra Barrales of Movimiento Ciudadano about a previous C-130 aircraft entry without Senate authorization in January, and mentions of airspace suspension in El Paso, Texas, due to alleged cartel drones. Lucía Trasviña of Morena clarified that a landing in Baja California was for a humanitarian emergency.
