Mexico’s most wanted drug cartel leader, Nemesio “El Mencho” Cervantes, was killed Sunday during a government capture operation. The longtime leader of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel died from injuries sustained in the line of duty in Tapalpa. Tapalpa, a town of about 20,000 people in the western coastal state of Jalisco, is where his gang is based. He died en route to Mexico City for treatment. His death sparked violence across the country, with armed groups blocking roads and setting fire to supermarkets, banks and vehicles in one of the most widespread outbreaks of unrest in recent history.The killing quickly sparked violence, with Jalisco state suspending public transport and warning hotels to keep guests indoors, and Nayarit state canceling classes on Monday.Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho,” is a former police officer and Mexico’s most wanted fugitive. The 59-year-old man from Michoacan state has been linked to organized crime for at least three decades. In 1994, he was tried in the United States for heroin trafficking and served three years in prison. After returning to Mexico, he quickly rose through the ranks of the drug underworld. Around 2009, he founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which became Mexico’s fastest-growing criminal organization. It moves cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and immigrants into the United States.Oseguera faces multiple U.S. indictments and a $15 million reward is being offered for his capture. A year ago, the Trump administration designated his cartel and other terrorist groups as foreign terrorist organizations. As one observer noted, El Mencho led the cartel for years, controlling everything like a national dictator.
What is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel?
The Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) is a gang that broke away from Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel around 2009 or 2010 and has since grown to become one of Mexico’s major drug cartels. drug trafficking organization and Sinaloa’s most powerful and aggressive rival. It has expanded rapidly in Mexico, operating in at least 21 of 32 states, and in nearly every state in the United States, with operations around the world. The main base is in the west, including strongholds in the Caliente region, Jalisco, Nayarit and Colima states, with assets exceeding $20 billion.The organization, which has between 15,000 and 20,000 members, generates billions of dollars annually through drug trafficking, extortion, fuel theft, kidnapping, illegal logging, mining and migrant smuggling. It is the continent’s main distributor of synthetic drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl, and plays a major role in markets in the United States, Europe and Asia. The cartel innovates violently with drones and improvised explosive devices. It remains the most aggressive in Mexico, fueling violence in Tijuana, Juarez, Guanajuato and Mexico City, according to Stratfor data. The attacks included shooting down a military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing dozens of government officials, hanging the bodies of victims from bridges, public executions posted on social media and the assassination of politicians, judges and law enforcement officials. Its efforts to expand control have led to continued violence.The group recruits aggressively online and is known for brazen attacks on security forces, including downing a military helicopter in Jalisco state in 2015 and attempting to assassinate Omar Garcia Harfuch, the Mexico City police chief and now Mexico’s federal security minister.
What to do next?
Under President Claudia Scheinbaum, Mexico has launched its most aggressive offensive against the cartels in more than a decade. El Mencho’s death may ease pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to launch a strike.The spread of unrest depends on the successor. It’s unclear who will succeed Oseguera or whether anyone can hold the 21-state global group together. His absence could slow growth and weaken Sinaloa, which also faces a fight between factions of El Chapo’s sons and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who is in U.S. custody.Security analyst David Saucedo said Sunday’s violence could have continued if relatives had taken control of the situation. Others may turn the page. Most frightening is indiscriminate narco-terrorism like the one seen in Colombia in the 1990s – car bombs, assassinations and plane attacks against the government. According to the New York Times, Brookings Institution expert Wanda Fairbab-Brown said that without a clear succession, the split could trigger new bloodshed.
