Mexico: Army kills highly effective drug lord “El Mencho” – cartel responds with arson assaults | EUROtoday

Mexico’s strongest drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” is useless. After a navy operation to arrest him, he succumbed to his accidents whereas being flown by air to Mexico City, the Mexican Defense Ministry stated. The US authorities contributed info as a part of bilateral cooperation. The operation sparked a violent response from the Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) drug cartel led by “El Mencho.”

According to official info, along with Oseguera, six different gang members had been killed and two others had been arrested throughout the operation by a particular armed forces unit within the municipality of Tapalpa within the western state of Jalisco. Three troopers had been reportedly injured and brought to a hospital.

The USA had provided a reward of 15 million US {dollars} (round 12.7 million euros) for “El Mencho”. The ex-police officer had led the CJNG, which he based, since 2011. Washington responded to the information of his killing by way of US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. One of the “bloodiest and most ruthless drug lords” had been killed, he wrote on the X platform. “This is a great development for Mexico, the USA, Latin America and the whole world. The good guys are stronger than the bad guys.”

In response to the navy operation, gang members blocked roads with burning vehicles, vehicles and buses in a number of states, together with Jalisco, Michoacán, Aguascalientes, Tamaulipas and Guanajuato.

Fires had been additionally set in pharmacies and small retail shops. In the Pacific coast metropolis of Puerto Vallarta, well-liked with vacationers, movies confirmed burning vehicles and enormous clouds of black smoke rising between buildings. Authorities known as on individuals to hunt security.

The US Embassy in Mexico additionally issued a safety warning for US residents. Due to ongoing safety operations and roadblocks, US residents within the affected places ought to stay of their shelters till additional discover, it stated.

“El Mencho” categorized as a overseas terrorist group

“El Mencho” was 59 years outdated. He was born on July 17, 1966 in Aguililla, a poor neighborhood within the western state of Michoacán. In the Mexican underworld he was known as the “Lord of the Roosters” due to his penchant for cockfighting. His different nickname, “El Mencho”, is alleged to be a derivation of his first identify Nemesio. Numerous narco songs, known as “narcocorridos,” rejoice his felony actions.

The US authorities had categorized the extraordinarily violent El Mencho drug cartel as a overseas terrorist group. According to US authorities, the crime syndicate he leads is a transnational group with connections as far-off as China and Australia. In addition to trafficking in fentanyl, she can be concerned in extortion, migrant smuggling, theft of oil and minerals, and arms trafficking.

From police officer to harmful cartel chief

According to the US Treasury Department, Oseguera has been concerned in drug trafficking for the reason that Nineteen Nineties. In 1994, he was arrested in Sacramento, California, for heroin smuggling. After three years in jail, he was deported to Mexico – and employed as a police officer within the western state of Jalisco.

He later joined the Milenio Cartel, one of many first Mexican crime syndicates to site visitors in artificial medication. He labored with drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel. The CJNG cartel later break up off and was based. Under Oseguera’s management, it shortly grew to become one in every of Mexico’s strongest felony organizations.

The “Company with the Four Letters,” because the cartel is known as by its members, has a big arsenal of weapons and armored autos. In Mexico, it carried out bloody assaults on safety forces, hung our bodies from bridges and as soon as even shot down a navy helicopter, killing 9 individuals. The cartel is accused of luring younger individuals with false job provides with a view to forcibly recruit them.

“El Mencho,” who led an not noticeable life, is alleged to have had a fortune value billions and laundered cash by way of actual property, ranching and music companies. Regional music teams have composed songs about him. Suspected propaganda movies from the cartel are circulating many times on social networks. It exhibits closely armed males in fight uniforms who seek advice from themselves as “Señor Mencho’s people”.