A automobile sits charred after being set on hearth, on a highway in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, after the demise of the chief of the Jalisco New Era Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, often known as”El Mencho.”
Alejandra Leyva/AP/AP
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Alejandra Leyva/AP/AP
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican military killed the chief of the highly effective Jalisco New Era Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho, ” in an operation Sunday, a federal official mentioned.
The official, who requested anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly, mentioned it occurred throughout a navy operation within the western state of Jalisco.
It adopted a number of hours of roadblocks with burning autos in Jalisco and different states. Such techniques are generally utilized by the cartels to dam navy operations.
Movies circulating social media confirmed plumes of smoke billowing over the town of Puerto Vallarta, a serious metropolis in Jalisco, and sprinting via the airport of the state’s capital in panic. On Sunday afternoon, Air Canada introduced it was suspending flights to Puerto Vallarta “as a result of an ongoing safety state of affairs” and suggested clients to not go to their airport.
The U.S. State Division had supplied a reward of as much as $15 million for info resulting in the arrest of El Mencho. The Jalisco New Era Cartel, often known as CJNG, is among the strongest and fasted rising felony organizations in Mexico and was born in 2009.
In February, the Trump administration designated the cartel as a international terrorist group.
It has been some of the aggressive cartels in its assaults on the navy—together with helicopters—and a pioneer in launching explosives from drones and putting in mines. In 2020, it carried out a spectacular assassination try with grenades and high-powered rifles within the coronary heart of Mexico Metropolis in opposition to the then head of the capital’s police drive and now head of federal safety.
The DEA considers this cartel to be as highly effective because the Sinaloa cartel, considered one of Mexico’s most notorious felony teams, with a presence in all 50 US states the place it distributes tons of medicine. It is among the fundamental suppliers of cocaine to the US market and, just like the Sinaloa cartel, earns billions from the manufacturing of fentanyl and methamphetamines.
Since 2017, Oseguera Cervantes has been indicted a number of occasions in america District Courtroom for the District of Columbia.
The latest superseding indictment, filed on April 5, 2022, fees Oseguera Cervantes with conspiracy and distribution of managed substances (methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl) for the aim of unlawful importation into america and use of firearms throughout and in reference to drug trafficking offenses. Oseguera Cervantes can be charged underneath the Drug Kingpin Enforcement Act for guiding a unbroken felony enterprise.
