Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho, was murdered by the Mexican army on Sunday, decapitating the Jalisco New Generation organization, which had grown to be Mexico’s most powerful drug organization and plunging large portions of the country into anarchy.
The cartel, which goes by the Spanish initials CJNG, reacted violently to the drug lord’s execution, which was the Mexican government’s greatest reward to date for the Trump administration’s efforts to combat the cartels.
Cars that had burned out caused smoke to rise into the air and obstructed roadways in about a dozen Mexican states. On Sunday night, citizens hunkered down in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, turning it into a ghost town. Several states canceled classes on Monday.
The Defense Department claimed in a statement that Oseguera Cervantes died during his flight to Mexico City after being wounded during an operation to apprehend him on Sunday near Tapalpa, Jalisco, which is roughly two hours’ drive southwest of Guadalajara.
The cartel that traffics massive amounts of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States is based in the state.
Four persons were killed at the site when troops were fired upon during the operation. According to the statement, Oseguera Cervantes was among the three further individuals who were injured and subsequently passed away.
Armored trucks, rocket launchers, and other weapons were seized, and two more people were taken into custody. Three military personnel were injured and undergoing medical care.
A National Guard member died in Tapalpa during the operation, six other National Guard members died in Zapopan beside Guadalajara, a jail guard was killed at a lockup in Puerto Vallarta when prisoners rioted, and an agent from the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office was killed in Guadalajara, according to a Jalisco state official who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Information was not immediately available.
Mexican special forces conducted the operation within the framework of bilateral cooperation, with U.S. authorities providing complementary intelligence, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico stated on X.
According to David Mora, an analyst at International Crisis Group in Mexico, the army has been way more confrontational, combative against criminal groups in Mexico ever since President (Claudia) Sheinbaum has been in power.
This is a signal to the United States that we don’t need U.S. troops on Mexican soil if we continue to cooperate and share intelligence.
The drug lord’s murder sparked hours of burning automobile blockades, a strategy the cartels frequently employ to obstruct military operations. Videos that went viral on social media showed people running through the state capital’s airport in fear as smoke billowed over Puerto Vallarta, a popular vacation destination in Jalisco.
Customers were cautioned not to visit their airport after Air Canada said that it was delaying flights to Puerto Vallarta due to an ongoing security situation.
Roads in the state capital of Guadalajara were blocked by burning cars. This summer’s soccer World Cup will take place in Mexico’s second largest metropolis.
Because of the ongoing security operations, the U.S. State Department advised U.S. residents in the states of Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero, and Nuevo Leon to be in safe locations. In Puerto Vallarta, Canada’s embassy in Mexico advised its residents to stay indoors and to generally maintain a low profile in Jalisco.
Governor Pablo Lemus of Jalisco banned public transit and advised citizens to remain at home.
A reward of up to $15 million had been offered by the U.S. State Department for information that resulted in El Mencho’s arrest. Founded in 2009, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, is one of Mexico’s most potent and rapidly expanding criminal groups.
The cartel was classified as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration in February.
Like her predecessor, Sheinbaum has condemned the kingpin tactic of past administrations, which removed cartel leaders only to cause violence to erupt when the gangs broke up.
Although she has maintained her popularity in Mexico, security is a recurring issue, and she has been under intense pressure to demonstrate results against drug trafficking ever since U.S. President Donald Trump took office a year ago.
With members in all 50 U.S. states, the DEA believes the cartel is just as strong as the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico’s most notorious criminal organizations.
Like the Sinaloa cartel, it is a major supplier of cocaine to the American market and makes billions from the manufacture of methamphetamines and fentanyl.
However, infighting has crippled Sinaloa following the deaths of its leaders, Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán and Ismael El Mayo Zambada, both of whom are in U.S. prison.
The native home of Oseguera Cervantes, 59, was Aguililla, which is in the nearby state of Michoacan. Since the 1990s, he had been heavily involved in drug trafficking.
He immigrated to the United States when he was younger, and in 1994, he was found guilty of conspiring to distribute heroin in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was sentenced to over three years in jail.
After being released from prison, Oseguera Cervantes went back to Mexico and resumed his drug trafficking activities with drug lord Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, also known as Nacho Coronel.
Erik Valencia Salazar, also known as El 85, and Oseguera Cervantes formed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in 2007 after Villarreal’s passing.
In the most recent superseding indictment, which was filed on April 5, 2022, Oseguera Cervantes is accused of conspiracy, distribution, and use of firearms during and in connection with drug trafficking offenses, as well as illegal importation into the United States of controlled substances (fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine).
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Oseguera Cervantes is also accused of overseeing an ongoing illegal business under the Drug Kingpin Enforcement Act.
At what officials eventually claimed was a Jalisco cartel recruitment and training center, residents looking for lost relatives discovered bone fragments and mounds of shoes and other clothes last year.
