Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the powerful and long-pursued head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and one of the world’s most-wanted traffickers, died following a Mexican military operation on Sunday, handing the country a consequential victory as it looks to show tangible results to the Trump administration.
Oseguera, a former police officer, led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, as it became one of the “most powerful and ruthless criminal organizations” inside Mexico, according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Violence erupted in several states in Mexico after security forces from multiple federal branches of Mexico’s military carried out the operation in the town of Tapalpa in the western state of Jalisco. Officials said suspected members of organized crime unleashed a wave of violence following the operation, torching buses and businesses while clashing with security forces.
Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense said that US authorities provided “complementary information” that supported the operation. A US defense official confirmed that an interagency US task force “played a role” in the operation. However, the precise role that the US played is still unclear.
Police officers secure the area where vehicles were set on fire by organized crime members to block a road in Zapopan, Mexico, following a military operation in which Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, commonly known as “El Mencho,” was killed.
Police officers secure the area where vehicles were set on fire by organized crime members to block a road in Zapopan, Mexico, following a military operation in which Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, commonly known as “El Mencho,” was killed. Gilberto Gallo/Reuters
Since its establishment in January, the Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel has regularly worked with the Mexican military through US Northern Command to combat cartel operations along the US-Mexico border, the US official said.
“However, I want to emphasize that this was a (Mexican military) operation, so the success is theirs,” the official noted.
During the raid, CJNG members traded fire with the government forces, resulting in four gang members being killed at the scene, the defense ministry said.
Osegeura and two others were seriously injured and died as they were being transported via aircraft to Mexico City, according to the ministry.
Three Mexican military personnel were also injured in the operation and transferred to a hospital in Mexico City for treatment.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum lauded the work of the agencies involved in the mission.
