Mexico’s most wanted cartel leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, was killed on Sunday after a government operation to capture him. The longtime leader of the Jalisco New Generation gang died of his wounds during a mission in Tapalpa, a town of about 20,000 people in the western coastal state of Jalisco where his gang is based.
He died while being transported to Mexico City for medical care. His killing sparked violence across the country, with armed groups blocking roads and setting fire to supermarkets, banks and vehicles in one of the most widespread unrest in modern history.The killing quickly erupted in violence, with Jalisco suspending public transportation and warning hotels not to keep guests inside, and Nayarit canceling classes on Monday.Follow live updates of El Mencho Mexico news
Who was El Mencho?
Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” was a former police officer and Mexico’s most wanted man. The 59-year-old, from Michoacan state, has been linked to organized crime for at least three decades. In 1994, he was tried for heroin smuggling in the United States and spent three years in prison. Returning to Mexico, he quickly rose through the drug underworld. Around 2009, he founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which became the fastest-growing criminal organization in Mexico.
She transported cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and immigrants into the United States.Oseguera faced multiple US indictments, with a $15 million reward for his capture. The Trump administration designated his gang and other foreign terrorist organizations a year ago. El Mencho led the cartel for years, controlling everything like a dictator of the country, as one observer noted.Read also | Cartel continues revenge campaign after El Mencho’s murder – what’s happening in Mexico?
What is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel?
A splinter gang that broke away from Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel in around 2009 or 2010, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, has grown to become one of Mexico’s dominant drug trafficking organizations and Sinaloa’s strongest and most aggressive rivals. It has expanded rapidly throughout Mexico, with a presence in at least 21 of the 32 states, and activity in almost all US states, in addition to its global reach. Its assets are mainly concentrated in the west, including the Tierra Caliente region, and its strongholds in Jalisco, Nayarit and Colima, and its assets exceed $20 billion.It consists of 15,000 to 20,000 members, and makes billions annually from drug trafficking, extortion, fuel theft, kidnapping, illegal logging, mining, and migrant smuggling.
It is the main distributor of synthetic drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl on the continent, with key roles in the US, European and Asian markets. The cartel devises violence using drones and improvised explosive devices. It remains the most aggressive in Mexico, according to Stratfor, fueling violence in Tijuana, Juárez, Guanajuato, and Mexico City. The attacks include shooting down an army helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing dozens of state officials, hanging the bodies of victims from bridges, carrying out public executions that were publicized on social media, and assassinating politicians, judges and law enforcement officials.
Its efforts to expand its control lead to ongoing violence.The group recruited aggressively online and gained a reputation for brazen attacks on security forces, including the downing of a military helicopter in Jalisco in 2015 and the attempted assassination of Mexico City Police Chief Omar Garcia Harfush, now Mexico’s federal security minister.
What’s next?
Under President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico has launched its most aggressive offensive against cartels in more than a decade.
The killing of El Menchu may ease pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has threatened strikes.The spread of unrest depends on the succession. It is not clear who will succeed Oseguera or whether anyone can bring the 21-nation global organization together. His absence could slow growth and weaken Sinaloa, which faces its own conflicts between El Chapo’s sons and the faction of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in US custody.If relatives take control, violence could continue on Sunday, according to security analyst David Saucedo.
Others may turn the page. The greatest fear is indiscriminate drug terrorism like what happened in Colombia in the 1990s – car bombs, assassinations, and plane attacks against the government. Without a clear succession, fragmentation could lead to new bloodshed, according to Brookings Institution expert Vanda Felbab-Brown, as reported by the New York Times.
