Police in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas unveiled a fleet of armed drones in June 2025 that they say will better position them against the heavily armed drug cartels vying for control of their border with Guatemala. Although the cartels are armed with automatic weapons and increasingly use drones to drop improvised explosive devices, Mexican authorities are meeting the challenge.
The drones could be equipped to carry guns or fight fires, Chiapas Security Secretary Óscar Aparicio Avendaño said. He did not explain what the rules of engagement would be for police using an armed drone. Authorities shared a photo of a drone with a semiautomatic rifle mounted below it.
In other states, like Michoacán, police have begun experimenting with ways of combating cartel drones that drop explosives, such as jamming signals or firing nets to catch them.
Chiapas has struggled with competition between Mexico’s two most powerful cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, as they fight for control of lucrative smuggling routes along the Guatemalan border for drugs, migrants and guns. The state has seen mass displacements of people, including hundreds who fled into Guatemala in 2024 to escape cartel violence.