Mexican military operation kills cartel leader El Mencho
CJNG leader El Mencho was killed in a Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, the Ministry of Defense confirmed.
Mexican authorities announced Sunday, February 22, that a powerful Mexican cartel leader was killed during a military operation after years on the run from authorities around the world.
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, commonly known as “El Mencho,” rose through the ranks and staged a deadly coup to become the leader of the Jalisco New Cartel (CJNG). The criminal organization quickly grew into a continent-spanning empire, rivaling its former allies in the Sinaloa Cartel, run by champion Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is currently serving a life sentence.
In 2024, the U.S. State Department offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Oseguera’s arrest and/or conviction. After reports of his death surfaced, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau described “El Mencho” as “one of the bloodiest and most ruthless drug lords” in a social media post.
Here’s what you need to know about Mexican drug lords.
what was his real name?
He was born Rubén Oseguera Cervantes on July 17, 1966 in Aguililla, a small farming town in the western state of Michoacán, according to the Courier-Journal, part of the USA TODAY network. Some say he then adopted the name Nemesio in honor of his godfather. It is shortened to “El Mencho” and has no other meaning known.
Why was “El Mencho” so dangerous?
Oseguera’s brutal cartel, a powerful drug lord with 5,000 members on every continent except Antarctica, is accused of kidnapping, torture, murder, cannibalism, and the spread of fentanyl, the most deadly illegal drug in the United States, surpassing heroin.
In December 2024, the State Department announced, “Most recently, CJNG operatives allegedly under the command of Oseguera Cervantes were involved in a plot to assassinate a senior Mexican government official.”
How did “El Mencho” come to power?
Unlike some cartel leaders who inherited their leadership positions from family dynasties, his parents were farm workers who made their living in Aguililla, a city of less than 20,000 people in Michoacan state known as the avocado capital of the world. Oseguerra dropped out of school after sixth grade to pick avocados.
El Mencho ended up heading to Tijuana, a border town known for hosting Mexican cartels fighting American tourists. There he grew a drug smuggling business in San Diego. Court and prison records show he entered the United States at least three times and was repeatedly deported.
After being ordered by another group to leave the area, “El Mencho” joined the police force in Tomatolan, a small city south of Puerto Vallarta in western Jalisco state.
Eventually, Oseguera returned to his hometown of Michoacán and joined the Milenio Cartel, a deeply rooted criminal organization that had been active since at least the early 1990s. Milenio finally tapped the skilled “El Mencho.” sicario Or as an assassin and a lieutenant of the cartel, leading one of the groups in Guadalajara.
Oseguera expected to be rewarded with a top position as he rose through the Milenio ranks. However, when some of the cartel’s leaders were arrested or killed in 2008 and 2009, “El Mencho” was not promoted.
Enraged by this, Mr. Oseguera, dissatisfied with Mr. Milenio’s new leadership, plotted revenge in 2009 and 2010, along with others who had led the deadly coup. He won in early 2011 and his new cartel was named the Jalisco New Cartel.
What was “El Mencho” controlling?
Oseguera controlled some of Mexico’s major drug-trafficking routes and hubs, issuing orders to “capos,” or plaza bosses, similar to Mafia lieutenants.
His cartel controls much of Guadalajara, as well as the outskirts of Jalisco, as well as other states such as Colima and Michoacán. CJNG spans most of Mexico’s 32 states, with a growing presence in Tijuana and Mexico City.
“El Mencho” is set as the boss pisoor taxes, business owners and independent drug traffickers had to pay capos for protection. Oseguera also assumed control of corrupt police officers and politicians.
“El Mencho’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel is one of the biggest buyers of politicians and political movements, which gives the cartel a huge social base,” Edgardo Buscaglia, an organized crime expert at Columbia University, told Reuters.
What crime was “El Mencho” charged with in the United States?
Mr. Oseguera is the lead defendant in a federal indictment returned in the District of Columbia in 2017, charging him with leading a continuing criminal enterprise. He was also charged with conspiracy to transport large amounts of narcotics into the United States and using a firearm during these drug trafficking crimes.
Oseguera was also charged with methamphetamine trafficking in a 2013 federal indictment in Gulfport, Mississippi.
How did “El Mencho” evade capture for so long?
Despite a $15 million bounty, Mr. Oseguera has continued to operate for years, evading an investigation that began less than a year after taking power in 2011. Mr. Oseguera rarely appeared in public, remained in a remote compound that was difficult for police to access, and did not take drugs or drink alcohol to avoid any gaffes, the Courier-Journal reported in 2019.
U.S. drug agents and Mexican authorities have worked together to root out El Mencho’s hiding places at least three times. The newspaper said police raided his secret compound in 2012 and 2018, but he fled.
The Courier-Journal reported that the Mexican military also learned of Oseguera’s hiding place and tried to take him away in May 2015 with two military helicopters, but his men shot down one of the helicopters with a Russian rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Contributed by: Reuters
