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 Administration.
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.
The US State Department urged American nationals in parts of Mexico to “seek shelter and remain in residences or hotels” until further notice.
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.
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.
