The Mexican military killed the nation’s strongest cartel chief and one of many United States’ most needed fugitives on Sunday, notching a serious victory whereas cartel members responded with a wave violence throughout the nation.
The killing of Jalisco New Technology Cartel chief Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes throughout an try to seize him in Jalisco state was the highest-profile blow towards cartels for the reason that recapture of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán a decade in the past.
The killing may give the federal government a leg up in its dealings with the U.S. Trump administration, which has been threatening tariffs or unilateral army motion if Mexico doesn’t present ends in the battle towards the cartels.
However the long-term impact on Mexico’s safety panorama stays unclear.
Right here’s what to know:
‘El Mencho’ was the chief of a fast-growing felony group
Oseguera Cervantes, higher referred to as “El Mencho,” was 59 years outdated and initially from the western state of Michoacan. His ties to organized crime went again at the very least three a long time.
In 1994, he was tried for trafficking heroin within the U.S. and despatched to jail for 3 years. Upon returning to Mexico, he shortly rose by way of Mexico’s drug trafficking underworld.
Round 2009, he based the Jalisco New Technology Cartel, which grew to become Mexico’s fastest-growing felony group, transferring cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl and migrants to america, and utilizing violence with using drones and improvised explosive gadgets.
The cartel earned a repute for brazen assaults on Mexican safety forces, together with downing a army helicopter in Jalisco in 2015 and trying a spectacular, however unsuccessful, assassination of Mexico Metropolis Police Chief Omar García Harfuch, who’s now Mexico’s federal safety secretary.
It recruited aggressively, experimenting with new methods to succeed in potential members on-line, and generated income by way of gasoline theft, extortion and timeshare fraud, amongst different actions.
Oseguera Cervantes died in a battle with troops despatched to seize him
Oseguera Cervantes was killed throughout an try to seize him, as his followers tried to battle off Mexican troops.
Mexico’s Protection Division mentioned in an announcement that the military launched an operation within the southern a part of Jalisco state to seize Oseguera Cervantes, involving the Mexican Air Drive and particular forces.
The cartel counterattacked, and within the ensuing confrontation, federal forces killed 4 members of the felony group, and wounded three others, together with its chief, who died later throughout switch by air to Mexico Metropolis, in keeping with the assertion.
Three troopers had been injured and two individuals had been detained within the motion. Rocket launchers able to capturing down plane and destroying armored automobiles had been seized on the scene.
Mexico is eager to indicate Trump ends in the battle towards cartels
Oseguera Cervantes’ will assist Mexico’s authorities present outcomes to the U.S., which is pressuring its neighbor to pursue drug cartels extra aggressively. Each nations mentioned intelligence cooperation helped result in Sunday’s operation.
Oseguera Cervantes was going through a number of indictments in america and the U.S. State Division had provided a $15 million reward for data resulting in his arrest. The Trump administration designated his cartel and others overseas terrorist organizations a 12 months in the past.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who was U.S. ambassador to Mexico in the course of the first Trump administration, applauded the operation through X, writing: “The good guys are stronger than the bad guys. Congratulations to the forces of law and order in the great Mexican nation.”
Mike Vigil, former chief of worldwide operations for the DEA, mentioned Mexico had despatched a “a strong message to Donald Trump’s administration that they are fighting aggressively and effectively” towards essentially the most highly effective cartels. He added that “the majority of the information came from the Mexican armed forces and all credit goes to Mexico.”
Cartel chief’s dying leaves an influence vacuum
It’s not clear who will succeed Oseguera Cervantes, or if anybody particular person can.
The Jalisco cartel has a presence in at the very least 21 of Mexico’s 32 states and is energetic in virtually the entire United States, in keeping with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. However it is usually a world group and the lack of its chief may very well be felt effectively past Mexico.
“El Mencho controlled everything, he was like a country’s dictator,” Vigil mentioned.
His absence may gradual the cartel’s fast progress and growth and go away it initially weakened towards the Sinaloa cartel on a number of fronts the place they or their proxies are combating. The Sinaloa is locked in its personal inside energy wrestle, nevertheless, between the sons of “El Chapo” and the faction loyal to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who’s in U.S. custody.
Vigil mentioned Mexico ought to seize the second to launch “an effective frontal assault based on intelligence.”
“This is a big opportunity for Mexico and the United States if they work together,” he mentioned.
Safety analyst David Saucedo mentioned that if relations of Oseguera Cervantes take management of the cartel, the violence seen Sunday may proceed. If others take energy, they may very well be extra keen to show the web page and proceed operations.
The best worry could be that the cartel turns to indiscriminate violence. They might resolve to “launch narcoterrorism attacks … and generate a scenario similar to what Colombia lived in the 1990s,” a full-on assault towards the federal government “car bombs, assassinations and attacks on aircraft.”
