Modern military fiction, science-fiction, and techno thrillers has a fairly robust history, involving many different nations, even aside from the major powers.
But one country I can’t recall seeing used in such, actually, is Mexico. There are a number of logical reasons behind this, of course, involving various legal, political, strategic, and military factors.
But still, there are always exceptions, especially in fiction. Even the Japanese Self-Defense Force (admittedly a more powerful force, and in more of a position to face military opponents) sees quite a bit of fictional combat, albeit often against monsters or alien invaders.
So, I’m asking: can anyone else think of any works where the modern (say, 1945-present) Mexican armed forces are notably involved in a conventional military conflict?
“Conventional” as I imagine counterinsurgency or anti-cartel operations are probably somewhat more common. But probably involve fewer (although not zero) grand armor clashes.
This may not fit your exact constraints, but in the book The War in 2020 we see revolutionaries in Mexico serving as a proxy for… get ready… Japan? Hey, in 1991 it seemed totally plausible.
Again, maybe not within your constraints, but the book Warday (1983) depicts the founding of a Hispanic independent nation-state Aztlan, backed by Japan, occupying parts of Texas, Nevada, and New Mexico in the wake of a US-USSR nuclear exchange.
Speculative fiction really seemed to have a boner for Japan back in the day.
Years back, I saw some crappy dystopian scifi movie on HBO. I don’t remember much at all about it, except that things had gotten so shitty in the US, that Mexico had a serious problem with illegal immigrants sneaking in from the north. IIRC, the protagonists discuss trying to cross, but decide its too dangerous, what with the border security - which, presumably, was the Mexican military. Or at least, militarized police.
But I don’t think they were on screen, or served in any plot-relevant function other than a joke and a bit of world-building.
***Trial by Fire ***by Harold Coyle. According to the blurb:
*"Enjoying a brief period of peace, the United States is caught by surprise when a government overthrow in Mexico suddenly destabilizes the two countries’ almost 2,000-mile-long undefended border… And *Trial by Firespeeds toward an unforgettable climax."
Not a movie, but Mexico has at least one very significant MegaCorp (essentially companies with the same rights as sovereign countries) in the Shadowrun RPG/computer game universe.
There is an old RPG game from the 80’s called Twilight 2000 that covers soldier life after WWIII. It has a long background write-up that I always thought was well written and entertaining. Anyway, it includes a Mexican invasion of the US, after the US is exhausted, and tied up in other theatres.
Used to be able to find online but I couldn’t find a live link.
Don’t forget Viva Max where elite members of the Mexican Army recaptured the Alamo. Peter Ustinov as the hard-charging general with John Astin as his loyal sidekick.
Not quite what the OP is looking for, but in the novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn (which inspired the movie and later TV series Limitless), there is an undescribed crisis and escalating military tensions along the U.S./Mexican border, and it seems likely that the U.S. is going to invade Mexico as the book ends.
There’s also a passing reference to a new Mexican successor state called Aztlan, without any details, in Max Brooks’s World War Z. (And BTW, Warday is a great post-WWIII book).