Overview
- The decree published July 14 in the Diario Oficial formalizes Senate approval for 23 members of U.S. Navy SEAL Team 8 to serve as instructors in the SOF 4 exercise from August 1 to October 16, 2026.
- The instructors and their weapons will arrive and depart on a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hércules at Toluca International Airport, with the aircraft scheduled to enter Mexican airspace only on the days of arrival and departure.
- The training is split into three phases covering maritime operations, aeromobile and ground combat, and free-fall parachuting at sites in Campeche and Donato Guerra, and will use airspace over Hidalgo and Mexico City.
- The Senate based its authorization on its constitutional power under Article 76 and empowered President Claudia Sheinbaum to permit entry, while the Secretaría de Marina must present an after-action report to the Senate within 30 working days of the exercise’s end.
- The SOF 4 authorization joins several 2026 bilateral exercises that brought other U.S. special-operations units and multinational forces to Mexico, a pattern that tightens operational ties and is likely to draw attention to oversight when the Navy files its report.