Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, widely known as the drug lord “El Mencho”, was killed by Mexican special forces on Sunday in the western state of Jalisco, triggering widespread violence across the country.
El Mencho was the the co-founder and leader of one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organisations, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which was known for ultraviolence and using drones to attack its enemies.
The operation to kill El Mencho was preceded by hours of widespread roadblocks involving burning vehicles – a common tactic employed by the cartels to impede military movements.
El Mencho, 59, had been highly sought-after by Mexican authorities for years, the most wanted person in Mexico and one of the most wanted in the United States at the time of his death. The US State Department offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest, an offer which was reiterated in December 2024.
The CJNG has been accused of trafficking cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the US, and carrying out several homicides on Mexican soil. The Trump administration designated it a foreign terrorist group.
While its name is not as famous as the Sinaloa cartel run by the imprisoned Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the cartel is known in Mexico for its huge arsenal, attacks on the Mexican military, and grotesque displays of violence.
Who is El Mencho?
El Mencho grew up in Aguililla in the state of Michoacan, hailing from a poor family that cultivated avocados. At the age of 14, he began guarding marijuana plantations, before he immigrated illegally into the state of California in the 1980s.
He was arrested and deported multiple times from the US on drug-related charges, before he joined the local police forces of Cabo Corrientes and Tomatlán in his 30s.
Following some time in the police force, El Mencho joined the Milenio Cartel and married one of the clan leader’s sisters, Rosalinda González Valencia. He made his way up the ranks in the Milenio Cartel – which had joined forces with the Sinaloa Cartel – before the arrests and deaths of its leadership led to split in the cartel followed by a violent power struggle.
How did he rise up the ranks?
El Mencho’s sect won out in the power struggle, and the group changed its name to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
He solidified his position as leader of the CJNG throughout the 2010s, growing the organisation to become one of the leading criminal groups in Mexico with presence in all 50 states. It is regarded by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to be as powerful as the Sinaloa cartel.
He became the face of some of Mexico’s deadliest criminal activities, rapidly rising up Mexico and the United States’ most wanted lists.
What crimes was he wanted for?
In 2015, an effort to capture El Mencho ended with cartel gang members shooting down a military helicopter with a rocket launcher, killing nine law enforcement officers.
He has been indicted multiple times in the US district court for the District of Columbia. The latest indictment, in April 2022, charged him with distribution of controlled substances for the purpose of importing into the US. It also charged him with using firearms during and in connection with drug trafficking offences.
How was he killed?
El Mencho was killed during an attempt to capture him, as his followers attempted to fight off Mexican troops.
Mexico’s Defence Department said in a statement that the army launched an operation in the southern part of Jalisco state to capture him that involved the Mexican Air Force and special forces.
The cartel counterattacked, and in the ensuing confrontation, federal forces killed four members of the criminal group, and wounded three others, including its leader, who died later.
Three soldiers were injured and two people were detained in the action. Rocket launchers capable of shooting down aircraft and destroying armoured vehicles were seized at the scene.
