Culiacán (Mexico) (AFP)

The sun is shining its first rays at a military airport in Mexico City. Soldiers prepare for an unusual mission. Their new enemy, COVID-19, is invisible.

Between the fight against drug cartels and helping the population in the event of a natural disaster, the Mexican army did not lack tasks. With the battle she has just engaged against the coronavirus, she adds a new string to her bow.

Landed on one of the tracks of the military base, the gaping hold of an imposing Hercules C-130 with propellers is soon full.

Dozens of soldiers pile up boxes containing protective masks for health workers, as well as latex gloves, drugs, oximeters - which measure oxygen saturation and heart rate - and vital respirators. for critically ill patients.

The cargo plane will soon take off with some 12 tonnes of material in its bowels, which will be distributed in a day and a half between several Mexican cities, notably La Paz, Mexicali, Tijuana, Hermosillo and Culiacán, all located in the north-west of the country. .

"We soldiers must be prepared to wage a war even if we are in peacetime. But in this case, it is not a war but a situation that is beyond the control of many states," said AFP Captain Raúl Ibarra, who pilots the giant plane.

Although today is not a war properly speaking, the scenario facing the coronavirus is perilous. The current pandemic has already resulted in the deaths of more than 30,000 people in Mexico, making this country the fifth most bereaved on the planet.

The armed forces have long been a major element of civil protection in Mexico, as we have seen during hurricanes, fires and earthquakes.

This has not prevented their relations with the civilian population from becoming more complex since 2006, after their involvement on the orders of the government in a controversial anti-drug operation after which they were accused of human rights violations. man.

In order to best carry out this "war" of a new kind for the military, the Mexican government has implemented the "DN-III" plan, which has existed since 1965 and allows a strategy to rescue civilians in the event of a disaster.

Perfectly aware of the procedures for applying the "DN-III", Captain Ibarra has already experienced them in the past when he piloted his C-130 to distribute food after the 2017 earthquakes which had seriously affected Mexico.

"What is different (this time), and which we are already used to, is to arrive at each distribution location and apply all procedures to avoid contamination," he said.

- Multiple tasks -

When the plane arrives at its first destination, La Paz, capital of the state of Baja California Sur, the crew follows the procedures to the letter: temperature measurement for each occupant of the plane, alignment in row dozens of soldiers who will unload the material under a blazing sun.

Once the unloading is completed, the aircraft is refueled and immediately flies to its next destination, Tijuana, on the border with the United States.

At each stage, the people in charge of receiving the equipment applaud the logistical work that has been done to bring medical supplies across the country in the midst of a pandemic.

"This is a huge task that has been entrusted to us," said Major Javier Saucedo, stationed in Mexicali, in the state of Baja California.

But the work of the military does not stop with these deliveries.

They have also been commissioned by the authorities to build military hospitals and several barracks so that they can receive patients who are sick or have symptoms of the new coronavirus.

They also oversee public and private hospitals and make surgical gowns and uniforms.

© 2020 AFP