Mexico City, Mexico — The Mexican military has killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the elusive leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) widely known as “El Mencho,” striking at the top of one of the world’s most powerful criminal organizations.
Oseguera Cervantes, 59, suffered grave wounds during a Sunday operation to capture him in the mountainous town of Tapalpa, Jalisco, about a two-hour drive southwest of Guadalajara.
He died aboard a flight to Mexico City as authorities rushed him for medical treatment, the defense ministry said in a statement.
The operation hands the Mexican government its biggest prize yet in its sweeping security campaign, delivering a major victory as President Claudia Sheinbaum faces intense pressure from the US administration of Donald Trump to show concrete results against drug trafficking.
During the raid, special forces troops came under heavy fire. Troops killed four suspected cartel members on site, while three others — including Oseguera Cervantes — suffered wounds and later died, the military statement said.
Authorities arrested two other individuals and seized a formidable arsenal, including armored vehicles, rocket launchers and high-powered firearms. Three members of the armed forces were wounded and are receiving medical treatment.
A Jalisco state official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation’s toll also included a National Guard member killed in Tapalpa, a jail guard killed during a prison riot in Puerto Vallarta, and a state prosecutor’s agent killed in Guadalajara.
Roadblocks
The US embassy in Mexico confirmed its involvement, saying on the social media platform X that the operation took place “within the framework of bilateral cooperation,” with US authorities providing complementary intelligence.
The powerful drug lord’s death immediately set off hours of chaotic retaliation.
Cartel operatives hijacked and torched vehicles to blockade major highways in Jalisco and at least six other states. The CJNG often uses such tactics to slow or prevent military movements.
In the popular Pacific tourist city of Puerto Vallarta, videos circulating on social media showed thick plumes of smoke rising over the skyline, while panicked travelers sprinted through the airport terminal.
As security conditions worsened, Air Canada said it would temporarily suspend flights to Puerto Vallarta and advised customers to avoid the airport.
United Airlines and American Airlines also canceled flight operations to both Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara for the remainder of Sunday. Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, will host matches during this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
US reward offer
The US State Department urged American citizens in Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon to remain in safe locations. Canada’s embassy issued a similar shelter-in-place warning for Puerto Vallarta.
Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus Navarro ordered residents to stay at home, suspended public transportation and canceled school classes for Monday.
The US State Department offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho. In February, the Trump administration officially designated the CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization.
Sheinbaum, who has long criticized the “kingpin” strategy for triggering explosive factional violence, applauded Mexican security forces on Sunday and called for calm.
“A tremendous amount of violence is going to happen,” warned Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on international organized crime, comparing Oseguera Cervantes to captured Sinaloa bosses Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
“Apart from the heads of the Sinaloa cartel, El Mencho has been the biggest prize for many, many years,” Felbab-Brown said.
Ruthless expansion
The CJNG emerged in 2009 from the remnants of the Milenio Cartel and ranks among the main suppliers of cocaine to the US market, earning billions from producing fentanyl and methamphetamines.
The cartel has built a reputation for aggressive military-style tactics and for pioneering the use of explosive-laden drones and landmines.
In 2020, it launched a spectacular assassination attempt with grenades in the heart of Mexico City against the capital’s then-police chief.
Originally from Aguililla, Michoacan, Oseguera Cervantes migrated to the United States in his youth. A California court convicted him of heroin distribution in 1994.
El Mencho served nearly three years in federal prison, then returned to Mexico. He briefly worked as a local police officer before returning to trafficking with drug lord Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel.
He later split violently to form the CJNG alongside Erik “El 85” Valencia Salazar.
US federal courts indicted him multiple times, most recently in 2022 for directing a continuing criminal enterprise.
Last year, the grim reality of the cartel’s operations came into sharper view when civilians searching for missing relatives found piles of clothes and bone fragments at a site authorities later identified as a CJNG recruitment and training camp.