Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco Recent Generation Cartel (CJNG), has been killed in a security operation, Mexican officials confirmed Sunday. The operation preceded a wave of road blockades and vehicle fires across several states, including Jalisco, Michoacán, Colima, Guerrero, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Nayarit, Zacatecas, and Tamaulipas.
Reports indicate that the incidents involved the burning of transport vehicles, roadblocks constructed to impede traffic, and widespread disruption to roadways. Details of the operation that resulted in Oseguera’s death remain limited, with the Mexican government indicating a full briefing will be provided by the Security Cabinet.
President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo stated that the Security Cabinet would release information regarding Oseguera’s death, following the delivery of social programs. When pressed for details regarding the reported killing and the concurrent violence, Sheinbaum Pardo reiterated that the Security Cabinet would provide a statement. Responding to questions about the message the events send to the public, given the cartel-related disruptions, she again deferred to the Security Cabinet.
Oseguera had been involved in drug trafficking activities since 1990. In 1994, a U.S. District Court in Northern California sentenced him to three years in prison on conspiracy charges related to heroin distribution. After his release, he returned to Mexico and joined the police force in Cabo Corrientes and Tomatlán, Jalisco, before later joining the “Cártel del Milenio.” He was associated with Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, known as “Nacho Coronel.”
Following the deaths of “Nacho Coronel” and the arrest of Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia, “El Lobo,” the leader of the “Cártel del Milenio” in 2010, the cartel fractured into factions known as “Los Torcidos” and “La Resistencia,” according to Insight Crime.