Who was cartel leader El Mencho killed by Mexican security forces?

In a major development, Mexican security forces killed the drug lord of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, El Mencho in a military operation on Sunday, February 22, in Mexico.

The U.S. State Department had placed a reward of $15 million for a potential lead for his arrest.

Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho, was wanted in the U.S. for years.

The U.S. has alleged that he and CJNG have exported large quantities of fentanyl and other drugs into the U.S.

Following after the operation, violence erupts in the country, where six people were killed, while Mexican authorities have seized a large amount of ammunition, including rocket launchers and armored vehicles, from the members of the CJNG cartel.

Who was El Mencho?

Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho was born in the western state of Michoacán, Mexico.

His rise to the top slot of one of the most feared and dangerous cartels in modern Mexican history, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was rapid.

El Mencho entered the United States illegally in the 1980s and stayed in California for years.

Following after his arrest on drug charges, he was deported back to Mexico but made a return to the U.S.

Oseguera Cervantes was arrested by the U.S. authorities again in 1992, and, after serving a three-year imprisonment, he was released on parole and was sent back to Mexico again.

At home, he started to emerge as Mexico’s most powerful cartel.

After breaking away from the Milenio Cartel, Oseguera Cervantes and others established former CJNG around 2011.

The Drug Enforcement Directorate (DEA) described the cartel as “CJNG heavily involved in the manufacturing, trafficking, and distribution of illicit drugs, such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine, as well as maintaining a vast money laundering operation.”

According to the DEA estimates in 2019, CJNG was responsible for at least one-third of all the drugs crossing into the U.S. from air and sea.

In the final days before his killing, Oseguera Cervantes had been formally charged by U.S. authorities on various occasions.

He was last indicted in April 2022, on charges of conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl for importation into the U.S.