Mexican and U.S. Forces Eliminate El Mencho, Leader of Mexico's Most Violent Cartel

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, the feared leader of Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was killed on Sunday in a joint operation by Mexican federal forces and U.S. military-backed units in Tapalpa, a remote town of 20,000 in the Sierra Madre mountains. His death marked the end of a reign that spanned decades and was marked by an unprecedented level of brutality, according to officials and analysts. The CJNG, which controls critical drug trafficking routes from Latin America to the United States, has long been considered one of Mexico's most violent cartels, with a history of mass executions, cannibalism, and the use of flamethrowers against rivals. The operation that led to El Mencho's elimination involved elite units armed with heat-seeking grenade launchers, capable of piercing tank armor, as his loyalists fought off Mexican troops in a fierce confrontation. Four cartel members were killed, and three others wounded, including El Mencho, who died later during transport to Mexico City.

El Mencho's CJNG cartel has been responsible for some of the most gruesome atrocities in Mexico's ongoing drug war. In 2020, a video surfaced showing CJNG hitmen torturing a half-naked man, cutting open his chest, and removing his organs for the camera. One assailant was heard shouting, 'So you can see that's how we Jalisco people are... we're going to exterminate you all,' while another claimed, 'Pure Mencho's people, we are the Jaliscos.' The footage, which circulated widely on social media, provided a glimpse into the cartel's culture of sadism and psychological warfare. Another notorious incident occurred in 2011, when 35 bodies were dumped in the streets of Veracruz during rush hour, a mass killing that shocked the nation. In 2013, CJNG operatives allegedly raped and killed a 10-year-old girl in a village, mistakenly believing she was the daughter of a rival cartel leader. The girl's body was set ablaze, and the attack was captured in a video that circulated online.

The cartel's brutality extended to methods that even U.S. law enforcement has compared to terrorist groups. In 2015, CJNG assassins executed a man and his elementary-school-age son by detonating sticks of dynamite duct-taped to their bodies, with the assailants laughing as they filmed the scene with their phones. A DEA agent, who investigated the cartel in 2017, told Rolling Stone that the level of violence was 'unparalleled even in Mexico,' likening it to 'ISIS stuff.' In a November 2023 video, a member of the rival MF Cartel was seen tied to a tree in Sinaloa, as a CJNG operative used a makeshift flamethrower to engulf the victim in flames. The clip, which circulated on social media after El Mencho's death, underscored the cartel's willingness to use extreme measures to eliminate threats.

Forensic investigations have uncovered chilling evidence of the CJNG's role in mass killings and disappearances. In March 2024, authorities discovered a secret extermination site near Teuchitlán, Jalisco, where three massive crematory ovens were found buried beneath the Izaguirre ranch. The ovens contained charred human bones, along with over 200 pairs of shoes, purses, belts, and even children's toys—artifacts that hinted at the scale of the atrocities. Experts believe victims were kidnapped, tortured, and burned alive to destroy evidence of mass executions. Just weeks earlier, in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, 169 black bags filled with dismembered human remains were unearthed at a construction site, near the CJNG's territory, where disappearances are rampant. Activists reported that dozens of young people had gone missing in the area within months.

El Mencho's leadership style was marked by absolute control and a tolerance for extreme violence. Captured CJNG members have testified that the cartel leader often required victims to beg for their lives before executing them, with punishments for disobedience ranging from torture to mass executions. A source told Rolling Stone that El Mencho 'would execute your whole family based on not much more than a rumor,' highlighting his disregard for human life. In October 2024, the town of Ojuelos, Jalisco, awoke to the decapitated bodies of five men dumped by a dirt road. Their heads were found in a separate sack, alongside a blood-soaked warning sign from the CJNG. In another incident, two men were found strangled to death at Acapulco beach, with police attributing the killings to cartel members who 'tortured' them 'around the neck.'

The CJNG's rise to power began in the early 2000s, when El Mencho, originally from Michoacán, leveraged his ties to organized crime to establish the cartel. He was tried in the U.S. in 1994 for heroin trafficking and sentenced to three years in prison before returning to Mexico. By 2009, he had founded the CJNG, which quickly became one of the most violent criminal organizations in the country. The cartel innovated in violence, deploying drones, improvised explosive devices, and even helicopters in attacks on Mexican military forces. In 2020, it assassinated the head of Mexico City's police force using grenades and high-powered rifles. The CJNG's influence extends across 21 of Mexico's 32 states and into nearly all U.S. states, according to the DEA. Its operations include trafficking methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine, as well as fuel theft, extortion, and timeshare fraud.

The elimination of El Mencho is being hailed as the most significant blow to organized crime in Mexico since the recapture of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán a decade ago. Authorities have emphasized the need to contain the cartel's potential retaliation and reinforce security in the wake of the operation. El Mencho, who was one of the U.S.'s most wanted fugitives, was killed during an attempt to capture him, as his followers fought off Mexican troops. The Mexican Defense Department stated that the operation targeted Cervantes in Jalisco, involving the Air Force and special forces. The CJNG's global reach means the loss of its leader could have far-reaching consequences, with former DEA chief Mike Vigil describing El Mencho as 'like a country's dictator,' whose control over drug trafficking and violence was unparalleled in modern Mexican history.