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Who was Mexico's 'El Mencho' and what role did U.S. play in the cartel leader's death?
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” was killed in a Mexican military operation over the weekend.
The death of the 59-year-old leader of the Cartel de Jalicso Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels, led to chaos across the country. In retaliation, the cartel has launched a series of attacks, including lighting vehicles on fire and blocking roads. The Canadian government has released an advisory , warning travellers about shootouts with security forces and explosions in certain areas.
Here’s what to know about the cartel leader whose death sparked violence.
How did Oseguera Cervantes get involved in drug trafficking?Oseguera Cervantes was born on July 17, 1966 in Naranjo de Chila to poor avocado farmers, Rolling Stone reported in 2017. He dropped out of school in Grade 5 to help his family on the farm, switching to a role guarding marijuana crops by age 14. Eventually, he moved to California, where his criminal activity began.
He has been involved in drug trafficking since the 1990s, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He served nearly three years in an American prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin. He then returned to Mexico in 1997.
How did Oseguera Cervantes become the founder of a drug cartel?Back in Mexico, Oseguera Cervantes worked as a police officer in Jalisco state before returning to crime, according to U.S.-based think tank and media organization, InSight Crime. He became involved in the Milenio Cartel in Guadalajara, per Rolling Stone. Milenio was linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, whose leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was known for extreme violence and brutal killings. Guzman was extradited to the United States and sentenced to life in prison in 2019 after his capture.
Oseguera Cervantes, with his background in law enforcement, reportedly became involved in security for Milenio and ran a network of assassins. He took advantage of a slew of arrests of the cartel’s leaders and rose to prominence. In 2009, he formed CJNG. He was able to finance and grow the cartel with backing of Abigael Gonzalez-Valencia, the leader of another cartel. Oseguera Cervantes cemented his position when he married Gonzalez-Valencia’s sister.
“Oseguera Cervantes has rapidly grown CJNG from a regionally based drug trafficking organization into an international organized crime power, involved with the production and distribution of narcotics throughout the world,” according to the U.S. Department of State. “CJNG is known to produce multi-hundred kilogram quantities of methamphetamine and heroin, and traffics in multi-ton quantities of cocaine.”
The cartel has also trafficked fentanyl into the U.S. and has been “assessed to have the highest cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine trafficking capacity in Mexico.”
Prior to his death, there was a US$15 million reward for Oseguera Cervantes’ arrest or conviction announced by the department. The cartel has been responsible for the murders of rival cartel members and Mexican law enforcement officers with Oseguera Cervantes at the helm.
In 2011, in Veracruz, CJNG tortured and killed 35 members of a rival cartel. The bodies were dumped “on a main road amid a battle for territorial control,” according to the National Counterterrorism Center. In 2015, in Jalisco, 15 Mexican police officers were killed in an ambush by the cartel. It is described as “one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in modern Mexican history.” The same year, CJNG launched a rocket-propelled grenade at a Mexican military helicopter, shooting it down and killing nine soldiers.
In June 2020, CJNG attempted to assassinate Mexico City Secretary of Public Security Omar Garcia Harfuch. Harfuch was wounded while two bodyguards and a bystander were killed, the center said.
According to the Canadian government, the CJNG is known for rigging drones to drop explosives, public executions and kidnappings. It is listed as a terrorist entity. The group seeks to “instill terror and depopulate communities to facilitate their takeover of territories and routes.” The Toronto Police Service seized 835kg of cocaine linked to CJNG — the police service’s largest cocaine seizure — in January 2025. It had a street value of $83 million.
How did Oseguera Cervantes die?On Sunday, Oseguera Cervantes was killed along with six members of the CJNG in a military raid in Tapalpa. He died while being transported to Mexico City, the Associated Press reported.
The goal of the operation was to capture the cartel leader, El País reported . However, military personnel were attacked and “so in defense of their integrity they repelled the aggression,” said Mexico’s Ministry of Defense in a statement translated from Spanish.
What role did the United States play in the Mexican operation?The ministry confirmed that it collaborated with the United States.
It said “in addition to the central military intelligence efforts, within the framework of bilateral coordination and cooperation with the USA, complementary information was provided by authorities from that country.”
In a post on X on Sunday evening, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the U.S. “provided intelligence support to the Mexican government in order to assist with an operation” in which the cartel leader was “eliminated.”
The United States provided intelligence support to the Mexican government in order to assist with an operation in Talpalpa, Jalisco, Mexico, in which Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes, an infamous drug lord and leader within the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was eliminated.… https://t.co/iKxsAMmnLN
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 23, 2026
“‘El Mencho’ was a top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland,” she said, adding that the cartel was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by President Donald Trump last year.
She said the Trump administration commended and thanks the Mexican military for “their cooperation and successful execution” of the operation.
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