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Dirección Federal de Seguridad

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Federal Security Directorate
Dirección Federal de Seguridad
Flag and logo of the DFS
Agency overview
Formed1947
Preceding agency
  • Departamento de Investigación Política y Social (DIPS)
DissolvedNovember 29, 1985
Superseding agency
  • Dirección de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional
JurisdictionMexican Government
HeadquartersDistrito Federal, México
Parent department
Secretariat of Governance
Parent agency
CIA

The Dirección Federal de Seguridad (Federal Security Directorate, DFS), known commonly as the "secret police",[1] was the Mexican intelligence agency commanded by the Secretariat of Governance created in 1947 by the president Miguel Alemán Valdés, with the assistance of U.S. intelligence agencies (namely the CIA) as part of the Truman Doctrine of Soviet Containment[2] during the Cold War, with the official duty of preserving the internal stability of Mexico against all forms of subversion and terrorist threats.[3]

The agency was used by the mexican government to spy political opposition and commit human rights violations during what is called the Mexican Dirty War. It was dissolved in 1985 following the unconvering of its involvement in the torture and murder of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, succeded by the General Directorate of Investigation and National Security (Dirección General de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional), which later was renamed as the National Security and Investigation Centre (Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional, CISEN) in 1989.[4] In 2018 it became the National Intelligence Centre (Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, CNI).

Structure

[edit]

A big part of its actions were supervised or directly ordered by the CIA, as it had the same objective of stopping and dismantling insurgent, communist, socialist and student movements that threatened "against the stability of the country", all as part of the LITEMPO program, which had in its members high commanders of the DFS and the mexican military, aswell as several presidents of Mexico during the Cold War.[5][6] With the direct correspondence of Winston Scott, the chief CIA station in Mexico, who served as proconsul in the Federal District.[7]

The ranks were divided as the director, two sub-directorates and the general coordinator.[8]

Offices

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Officially, the headquarters were located on Circular de Morelia 8, Colonia Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc, Ciudad de México,[9] but they operated a significant portion of their operations in an extraofficial fashion on Avenicda de la República 20, Colonia Tabacalera, Cuauhtémoc, Ciudad de México, in front of the Monument to the Revolution.[10][11][12]

Directives and agents of the Federal Security Directorate in front of the Monument to the Revolution in 1978.

On Avenida República 20 there was a secret entrance for the agents on Ignacio Ramírez street, which was constantly surveiled by agents and was only accessed through a password, while the main entrance was for the general public. The premises included a gym, full bathrooms, a café, an internal bank to do interest-free loans, a barbershop, a payment office, an internal grocery shop with prices lower than the public's, a library and academical courses to be educated in law, politics, research, redaction, intelligence and counterintelligence. It also included a shooting gallery so they could learn how to shoot and the theoretical aspect of ballistics and mechanics of the weapons used. They were trained to shoot pistols of caliber .45, 9mm, .38 Super, israeli submachine guns like the Uzi 9mm, AR-15 rifles, shotguns, M1 Garands .30 and rifles caliber .35.[10][13]

The building located on Circular de Morelia 8 functioned as an illegal detention centre used for temporary of permanent disappearances. The basement was used to tag and identify the detainees, and the upper ones to kidnap or torture them. It was only accesible by the main entrance being accompanied by a DFS agent or coerced verbally or physically by an authority. The place was as surveilled as the other one 24/7 and was impossible to take a picture of the building.[14] Once the people were taken here, they were confronted with one of two possibilities: Being taken to Campo Militar Número 1 or another black-site, where they would disappear completely, or taken to the Procuraduría del Distrito Federal (the State's Prosecutors Office) to then be sent to Prison, Prisión de Lecumberri. It is unknown how many militants disappeared inside this building, of whose only bloody handprints rest on the walls.[15] On 1978 it stopped being the HQ for the DFS.[16]

Branches

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Administrative Sub-directorate

[edit]

It was the responsible of the personnel, archive and internal affairs departments, aswell as the general services of the directorate. It supervised the information processing and archival. This branch was in charge of the internship and order inside the DFS. Inside this branch they would be trained of the directorate's philosophy, law and methods. The archive held files since the creation of the office in 1947 and microfilm archival. General services managed and provided the services of an armory of 2.500 guns, vehicles, ambulance, criminalistics lab, two full buses for intel operations and two planes.[10][13][17]

Federal Security Director

[edit]

This person the overseer of the Directorate through the Coordinator Comitee, integrated by the heads of the 13 services and departments. It was in charge of supervising all investigations of the Internal Affairs Department and acted accordingly. Under him, rested the General Coordinator, who tethered the different departments so they could function at the biggest efficiency, directly under his command worked seven internal departments who helped coordinate the directorate's departments, surveil and secure the DFS' building, as well as one sub-department being tasked with researching crimes committed by government officials.[8][18][17]

Operative Sub-directorate

[edit]

The biggest division of the entire agency. It was in charge of capturing political, economic and social intelligence of the Metropolitan Area and some other states, aswell as managing all the agents deployed overt or undercover. It had 6 sub-departments: One for the processing of information and typing; another for direct surveillance of any subversive or opposittion group, mainly on Mexico City and the State of Mexico, but they were also in touch with every context of the country and even had a secret office in every airport; one specially devoted to the surveillance of each of the states, with 56 agents abroad, and a single office to report to for every one of the 32 states; the criminalistics lab; photography lab; law department; operations department, which coordinated every mission on all the states.[8][13]

DFS patch with the slogan that reads: "Do not fear where you go, for you must die where you must."
Brigada Blanca
[edit]
Main article: Brigada Blanca

The last of its sub-departments was the most important after its creation on 1976, La Brigada Blanca (the White Brigade) which was a paramilitary unit integrated by agents, policemen and soldiers dedicated specifically to eliminate the Liga Comunista 23 de Septiembre, a Marxist-Leninist coalition formed by syndicalists, unionists, farmers and students who were one of the most organized guerrilla groups of the epoch. Created after the LC23S made its own "Brigada Roja" (Red Brigade).[19][20]

Audiovisual Information Services

[edit]

They were in charge of any screenings, elaborarion of any audiovisual material captured by the Photography Department. They were also in charge of monitoring and processing all the media received from any other state and press, aswell as the close-circuit camera system that was recorded in VHS tapes.[8]

Clandestine Operations Department aka Special C-047

[edit]

Also known as "Federal Services" or "Special Operations Group", was created on November 1965, by Miguel Nazar Haro after receiving contrainsurgence preparation by the CIA and the events of the Cuartel de Madera Assault. With the official name "Special Investigations Group", codenamed C-047, in honor of the year the agency was created, this department was dedicated to spy the intellectual elites, social and intellectual leaders, and refugees from the Latin-American dictatorships that were being placed by the CIA at the time and were looking for political asylum in the country, every conflict presented by these population was referred to the Brigada Blanca or the Migration Department in the government. Supposedly the agency's best-trained team.[19]

Everything made by this division was classified, being physically isolated inside the same building. It worked through two sections, the intelligence, specialized in collecting political, economic, social and military information about all the countries worldwide that were of national interest, because of Mexico's importance in the global stage; and the counterintelligence one, that used the intelligence's side data to look for social movements in the country that come from these groups of interest, using diverse methods for infiltration and surveillance to collect the adequate information. This department also oversaw the political refugees and general control of foreigners, aswell as their actions and behaviours.[18] This department was commanded by the Director of the DFS.[19]

Among its operations, the following stand out: Thwarting the formation of an armed group by the spaniard socialist journalist Victor Rico Galán; the surveillance of Julio Cortazar, Julio Scherer and Gabriel García Márquez; the torture and assassination of Enrique Camarena; the assassination of Manuel Buendía, monitoring the entrance and exit of tourists with destination or origin of Cuba; monitoring the activivities of the palestinian refugees that went to Mexico after the Nakba and Six Day War; among others.[19]

It also had four other sub-sections: The electronics, where bugging and secret photography were planned; the "lecar", specialized in encrypting and decrypting messages, incluiding those in another languages; the propaganda and conterpropaganda, that analyzed and made efforts to make an inverse equivalent propaganda to the ones being made by subversive groups; the international issues, that relayed classified information coming from another countries.[18][17]

Anthropometric Department

[edit]

A group of experts in politics, economics and sociology whose mission was to do predictions on events and the psychological and social context of the mexican society, to catalogue its risk for the agency and act accordingly.[17]

Political, economic and social studies Department

[edit]

Like the Anthropometric Department, it was a group of experts in the social sciences who were tasked with cataloging and analyzing the information captured and processed by the other departments.[17]

Simbology

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The main emblem and identity of the DFS was around the tiger, the reason being:

"The tiger is a powerful animal that does not flee danger, attacks upfront, prefers to act in silence and observes the other beings that cannot see it, it is intuitive and smart, fast and secure, careful and witful; it is not arrogant like the lion, nor hurts for pleasure like the leopard. That is how the agent of the Federal Security Directory agent has to be." [10] "The qualities that we have mentioned about our emblem, have become an obligation for us," [17]

It also had an official anthem, with the lyrics and melody composed by Miguel A. Galindo Rangel:[21]

"Mi estandarte [s]iempre en alto

se oyen voces de hermandad de tu nombre brota un canto federal de seguridad

Es un tigre tu emblema que en alerta siempre está y tu nombre una diadema de mi patria en libertad

Pasen lista los valientes que dormidos solo están y no se han puerto y están presentes cumpliendo con lealtad.

Canten, canten; compañeros nuestro lema la verdad con honor justi[ci]as proteger la libertad

Año del cuarenta y siete nació nuestra dirección una cuna de valientes que protegen la nación y lo digo con cariño, con justias y con verdad de mi patria

no me olvido federal de seguridad."

History

[edit]

On 1947, during the government of Miguel Alemán Valdés, and given the appearances of subversive groups around the country, aswell as the influence by the United States through the Truman Doctrine to antagonize the sympathy towards the USSR and its allies, the DIPS dissapeared and in its place the Dirección Federal de Seguridad was founded, with the general Marcelino Iñurreta de la Fuente on charge.[22] Its initial functions were to take care of the wellness of the president and his family; according to one of the first audiovisual files of the agency, it stablishes its function as a "policing institution that, with the material and human elements it has, it must be one considered one of the best agencies of its type in the world".[19] But with time it was flipped into doing political espionage, that consisted in suffocating the opposers to the regime and locate and detain its main leaders.

By the 1960s it had already consolidated itself as the agency that was designated to monitor all growing social and student movements of the epoch, with special interest on what happened inside the UNAM, infiltrating to consolidate the internal official narratives against the students.[19]

After 1973, its main enemy would be the Liga Comunista 23 de Septiembre (Communist League September 23), given its level of organization and relevance caused by its terrorist acts such as: The attempted kidnapping of Eugenio Garza Sada,[23] the attempted kidnapping of Margarita López Portillo,[24] an insurrection similar to the Cuartel de Madera Assault but in Culiacán, named "Operation Sky Assault",[25] and the prison break of encarcelated guerrilla members in the Oblatos prison in Guadalajara, Jalisco,[26] among others; creating the Brigada Blanca to fully deal with capturing and eliminating its members.

Dirty War

[edit]
Main article: Mexican Dirty War

In México, during the Cold War, the DFS in conjunction with the Mexican Armed Forces, were responsible of illegal detentions, forced disappearances, sabotage, burglary, extrajudicial execution, torture and State terrorism.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] At least 347 complaints were received by the United Nations related to Mexican state crimes from 1960 to 1980.[36] The Eureka! Comitee, formed by family members of the missing persons, reports that the number of people whose whereabouts are unknown is 557 from 1997 to 2001.[37] Sergio Aguayo Quezada, an academic who personally researched within some of the files inside the DFS, reports 22 disapprearances and 12 kidnappings between 1970 and 1980.[38]

The agency was highly successful in thwarting and deterring any attempt by anti-government or pro-Soviet organizations to destabilize the country. However, it was a notoriously controversial government entity, and it was disbanded under the presidency of Miguel de la Madrid by the hand of his secretary of the interior Manuel Bartlett Díaz in 1985. Multiple agents were suspected (and later confirmed) of having links with criminal organizations, which included top members like Miguel Nazar Haro and Arturo "El Negro" Durazo Moreno. Other infamous former agents includes Rafael Aguilar Guajardo founding member of the Juárez Cartel and Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, who became one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, which in 2021 was named as the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world.

Some such criminal exploits included a million dollar US-Mexico car theft ring,[39] collaborating in drug trafficking with the Guadalajara Cartel (including the protection of the infamous "Colonia Búfalo" marijuana crops),[40] training the Nicaraguan contras in drug trafficker-owned ranches,[41][42][43][44][45][46][47] the murder of journalist Manuel Buendía, for investigating ties between the DFS, the CIA and drug traffickers,[48] and for having some degree of participation in, and providing cover to, the kidnapping and subsequent death of DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar.[49][50]

Heads of the DFS

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DFS service badge
  • (1985) Cap. Pablo González-Ruelas[55]

Notorious members

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See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Universal, El. "Los orígenes de la policía secreta en México | CONFABULARIO | Suplemento cultural de EL UNIVERSAL" (in European Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  2. ^ https://www.afio.com/publications/MEDINA%20Mexican%20Intelligence%202015%20Sep%2001%20FINAL.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ Dirección Federal de Seguridad (Mexico) Security Reports, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin, Dirección Federal de Seguridad (Mexico) Security Reports, 1970–1977
  4. ^ CISEN. "CISEN- Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional". www.cisen.gob.mx (in sp). Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  5. ^ Ruiz, Alejandro (18 April 2023). ""La CIA asesoró a la Dirección Federal de Seguridad en estrategias contrainsurgentes"". Pie de Página (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  6. ^ "La DFS al servicio de la CIA; "Bartlett y García Ramírez sabían todo": Carrillo Olea en 'Proceso'". Aristegui Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  7. ^ Morley, Jefferson (11 March 2008). Our Man In Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0700617906.
  8. ^ a b c d El Universal (6 July 2008). Así era la extinta Dirección Federal de Seguridad 3/5. Retrieved 27 May 2026 – via YouTube.
  9. ^ Gobernación, Secretaría de. "Circular de Morelia No. 8, sitio de memoria en la defensa de los derechos humanos". gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  10. ^ a b c d El Universal (6 July 2008). Así era la extinta Dirección Federal de Seguridad 1/5. Retrieved 28 May 2026 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ "El libro rojo de la DFS". www.jornada.com.mx. 2 June 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  12. ^ "Circular de Morelia: Geografía de la Represión" (PDF). sitiosdememoria.segob.gob.mx. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2024. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  13. ^ a b c El Universal (6 July 2008). Así era la extinta Dirección Federal de Seguridad 2/5. Retrieved 28 May 2026 – via YouTube.
  14. ^ "Sitios de Memoria". sitiosdememoria.segob.gob.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 May 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  15. ^ "Centro clandestino de detención transitorio". sitiosdememoria.segob.gob.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 12 April 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  16. ^ "Edificio Circular de Morelia 8". sitiosdememoria.segob.gob.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 April 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  17. ^ a b c d e f El Universal (6 July 2008). Así era la extinta Dirección Federal de Seguridad 5/5. Retrieved 1 June 2026 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ a b c El Universal (6 July 2008). Así era la extinta Dirección Federal de Seguridad 4/5. Retrieved 1 June 2026 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ a b c d e f "El Grupo Especial C-047: Los espías consentidos de Nazar Haro". Quinto Elemento Lab. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  20. ^ For additional sources see the main article Brigada Blanca.
  21. ^ "DFS Anthem". sitiosdememoria.segob.gob.mx. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  22. ^ G, Sánchez Gudiño Sánchez (2006). Génesis, desarrollo y consolidación de los grupos estudiantiles de choque en la UNAM (1930-1990) (in Spanish). UNAM. ISBN 978-970-701-679-8.
  23. ^ Castellanos, Laura (2007). México Armado. pp. 214–215. ISBN 978-968-411-695-5.
  24. ^ Archivo General de la Nación, Intento de secuestro de Margarita López Portillo el 11 de agosto de 1976.
  25. ^ Castellanos, Laura (2007). México Armado. pp. 219–220. ISBN 978-968-411-695-5.
  26. ^ Castellanos, Laura (2007). México Armado. p. 270. ISBN 978-968-411-695-5.
  27. ^ Quintopisoweb.com, meh org mx-. "Informe final del Mecanismo para la Verdad y el Esclarecimiento HistóricoFue el Estado (1965-1990)". meh.org.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 June 2026.
  28. ^ MEH, Mecanismo para la Verdad y Esclarecimiento Histórico (2024). Fue el Estado (1965-1990): Volumen 1 [The State is Responsible (1965-1990): Volume 1] (PDF) (in Mexican Spanish). Secretaría de Gobernación.
  29. ^ MEH, Mecanismo para la Verdad y Esclarecimiento Histórico (2024). Fue el Estado (1965-1990): Volumen 2. Parte 1 [The State is Responsible (1965-1990): Volume 2. Part 1] (PDF) (in Mexican Spanish). Secretaría de Gobernación.
  30. ^ MEH, Mecanismo para la Verdad y Esclarecimiento Histórico (2024). Fue el Estado (1965-1990): Volumen 2. Parte 2 [The State is Responsible (1965-1990): Volume 2. Part 2] (PDF) (in Mexican Spanish). Secretaría de Gobernación.
  31. ^ MEH, Mecanismo para la Verdad y Esclarecimiento Histórico (2024). Fue el Estado (1965-1990): Volumen 2. Parte 3 [The State is Responsible (1965-1990): Volume 2. Part 3] (PDF) (in Mexican Spanish). Secretaría de Gobernación.
  32. ^ MEH, Mecanismo para la Verdad y Esclarecimiento Histórico (2024). Fue el Estado (1965-1990): Volumen 2. Parte 4 [The State is Responsible (1965-1990): Volume 2. Part 4] (PDF) (in Mexican Spanish). Secretaría de Gobernación.
  33. ^ MEH, Mecanismo para la Verdad y Esclarecimiento Histórico (2024). Fue el Estado (1965-1990): Volumen 3 [The State is Responsible (1965-1990): Volume 3] (PDF) (in Mexican Spanish). Secretaría de Gobernación.
  34. ^ MEH, Mecanismo para la Verdad y Esclarecimiento Histórico (2024). Fue el Estado (1965-1990): Volumen 4 [The State is Responsible (1965-1990): Volume 4] (PDF) (in Mexican Spanish). Secretaría de Gobernación.
  35. ^ MEH, Mecanismo para la Verdad y Esclarecimiento Histórico (2024). Fue el Estado (1965-1990): Volumen 6 [The State is Responsible (1965-1990): Volume 6] (PDF) (in Mexican Spanish). Secretaría de Gobernación.
  36. ^ "Cientos de desaparecidos en México. CNN".
  37. ^ "1977 Se funda el Comité Pro Defensa de Presos, Perseguidos, Desaparecidos y Exiliados Políticos". www.memoriapoliticademexico.org. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
  38. ^ Aguayo Quezada, Sergio (2001). La Charola: Una Historia de los Servicios de Inteligencia en México [The "Tray": A Story of Mexican Intelligence Services]. Grijalbo. ISBN 9700513890.
  39. ^ "U.S. Indicted New Mexican Police Chief In Car-theft Ring". Chicago Tribune. 27 December 1988.
  40. ^ "Caro, el Hombre Que Compró al Estado". 2 September 2013.
  41. ^ "El padrino del narcotráfico mexicano, ahora libre, adquirió su poder durante la época del PRI". 20 August 2013.
  42. ^ Watt, Peter; Zepeda, Roberto (14 June 2012). Drug War Mexico: Politics, Neoliberalism and Violence in the New Narcoeconomy. Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 9781848138896 – via Google Books.
  43. ^ Bartley, Russell H.; Bartley, Sylvia Erickson (30 November 2015). Eclipse of the Assassins: The CIA, Imperial Politics, and the Slaying of Mexican Journalist Manuel Buendía. University of Wisconsin Pres. p. 328 – via Google Books.
  44. ^ ""La DFS, al servicio de la CIA; Bartlett y García Ramírez lo sabían": Carrillo Olea en 'Proceso' – Aristegui Noticias". aristeguinoticias.com.
  45. ^ "Narco News: El agente de la DEA asesinado, Kiki Camarena, cayó en una operación de la CIA que salió mal, según fuentes de seguridad". www.narconews.com.
  46. ^ "La Federal de Seguridad y la CIA colaboraban con Caro Quintero – Proceso". 26 October 2013. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  47. ^ "Una historia nunca contada".
  48. ^ "¿Quién fue Manuel Buendía? – Animal Político". www.animalpolitico.com. 11 September 2013. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  49. ^ "Revelan en EU que CIA grabó tortura a Enrique Camarena". 12 October 2013.
  50. ^ "A Camarena lo ejecutó la CIA, no Caro Quintero – Proceso". 12 October 2013. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  51. ^ Camp, Roderic Ai (14 December 1992). Generals in the Palacio: The Military in Modern Mexico. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-19-507300-3 – via Internet Archive. Gilberto Suárez.
  52. ^ Navarro, Aaron W. (1 January 2010). Political Intelligence and the Creation of Modern Mexico, 1938–1954. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0271037066 – via Google Books.
  53. ^ Quezada, Sergio Aguayo (11 March 2014). La Charola: Una historia de los servicios de inteligencia en México. Editorial Ink. ISBN 9786079351328 – via Google Books.
  54. ^ Jornada, La. "Murió Luis de la Barreda, ex titular de la disuelta Dirección Federal de Seguridad – La Jornada". www.jornada.unam.mx.
  55. ^ Aguayo Quezada, Sergio (2001). La Charola. Grijalbo. p. 413. ISBN 970-05-1389-0.
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