Mexico is trying to recover normality after the death of Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, alias ‘El Mencho’, killed on Sunday in a special forces operation in the state of Jalisco.
President Claudia Sheinbaum sent a message early this Monday and assured that the country “has arrived without any blockade on any of the roads and practically all activity has been restored”, after a day marked by attacks and riots by organized crime.
The Secretary of Defense has assured that intelligence work has been decisive, especially the tracking of the closest environment of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and specifically one of his romantic partners.
The search that led to Tapalpa
Central Military Intelligence first located a trusted man linked to one of Oseguera’s couples. This monitoring made it possible to detect the woman’s transfer to Tapalpa, in Jalisco, where she met with the boss.
Once the couple left the property, the intelligence services obtained information that ‘El Mencho’ remained in a cabin in the area. With the objective confirmed, the operational plan was designed.
A force made up of elite units from the Army and the National Guard was deployed, with support from aircraft from the Mexican Air Force. The objective was his arrest.
The shooting and the escape into the forest
When the security forces approached and confirmed the presence of the CJNG leader, they were met with gunfire. Oseguera’s men opened fire on soldiers and national guards.
In that first confrontation, eight alleged criminals died and seven long weapons, two rocket launchers, eight vehicles, two racer-type vehicles, as well as cartridges and magazines were seized. Two soldiers were injured.
Oseguera and his closest circle managed to flee to a wooded area. The Army then set up a siege to establish its position. In the chase, the escorts fired at a helicopter, which had to make an emergency landing after being hit.
During the operation, ‘El Mencho’ was seriously injured. His evacuation to a medical facility in Jalisco was necessary, but both he and several of his escorts died during the transfer.
Later, the bodies were taken to Morelia, in Michoacán, and then to Mexico City.
The violence unleashed after his death also left a high cost for the security forces: 25 members of the National Guard lost their lives in the attacks and riots registered in different parts of the country.
Who was ‘El Mencho’
59 years old and originally from Aguililla, in Michoacán, Oseguera had been linked to drug trafficking for more than three decades. In the 1990s he emigrated to the United States, where he was convicted in 1994 of conspiracy to distribute heroin in a federal court in Northern California and served almost three years in prison.
Back in Mexico, he co-founded and led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which in recent years became the most powerful criminal organization in the country. Although less known internationally than Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel, the CJNG gained fame for its extreme violence and powerful military-style arsenal.
The organization pioneered the use of drone-delivered explosives, the installation of mines and direct attacks against armed forces, including helicopters. In 2015, an attempt to capture Oseguera ended with the downing of a military aircraft using a rocket launcher.
Considered the most wanted drug trafficker by the United States, the US Government offered millions of dollars for information leading to his capture.
After his death, the Mexican authorities have confirmed that there is already monitoring of several possible leaders who could try to succeed him at the head of the CJNG, in a scenario that keeps the security forces on alert.
