El Mencho, one of Mexico’s most wanted drug lords, was killed on Sunday during a military raid in the western state of Jalisco. While Mexican forces carried out the operation, it was supported by the US through what Mexican officials described as “complementary” intelligence provided quietly in the lead-up to the raid.
The US-backed operation took place in Tapalpa and was aimed at capturing the shadowy leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent criminal organisations. Acting on weeks of surveillance and informant inputs, Mexican Special Forces launched a coordinated assault on a suspected safe house where El Mencho was believed to be hiding.
As the troops moved in, heavy gunfire erupted. El Mencho, a former police officer who had eluded authorities for years despite a USD 15 million US bounty on his head, was seriously wounded in the exchange. He was to be airlifted to Mexico City for emergency medical treatment but died from his injuries during the transfer.
While Mexican authorities led and executed the raid, attention quickly turned to the role of a newly created US military-led intelligence unit called the Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel (JITF-CC). A US defence official told Reuters that the JITF-CC had provided intelligence that helped locate El Mencho, whose real name was Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.
Formally launched last month, the task force brings together multiple US government agencies to map, disrupt and dismantle drug cartel networks operating on both sides of the US–Mexico border. Its stated mission is to counter cartel operations that pose a direct threat to the US.
US TRACKED EL MENCHO’S MOVEMENTS
US officials were careful to stress that no American troops were involved on the ground. Mexico’s Defence Ministry confirmed that US authorities had shared “complementary information,” but said the operation was designed, planned and carried out entirely by Mexican forces.
A former US official said Washington had compiled a detailed “target package” on El Mencho — drawing on US law enforcement and intelligence sources — and passed it to Mexican authorities ahead of the operation. The kingpin, the official added, was at or near the very top of US priority targets in Mexico.
US Brigadier General Maurizio Calabrese, who leads the task force, has said the US military is applying lessons learned from battling groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State to better understand cartel structures. While only a few hundred figures may sit at the top, he noted, they rely on vast networks of associates, often numbering in the hundreds of thousands, to move drugs.
Former Drug Enforcement Administration official Jack Riley said the US decision last year to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist organisations unlocked broader military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support, giving authorities sharper real-time insights into cartel movements.
VIOLENCE ROCKS MEXICO AFTER EL MENCHO’S DEATH
El Mencho’s death set off a wave of retaliatory violence across more than half a dozen Mexican states. Burning vehicles, highway blockades and armed gunmen disrupted major transport corridors, prompting the deployment of additional National Guard and Army units to Jalisco and neighbouring regions.
Several countries, including India, issued advisories urging their citizens to stay indoors, avoid crowds and limit movement.
The takedown marks one of the most significant victories in Mexico’s long-running battle against drug cartels that funnel billions of dollars worth of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the US.
It also comes amid sustained pressure from US President Donald Trump on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to intensify the crackdown on drug trafficking, including warnings of possible unilateral US action.
For Mexico, the operation represents a strategic success. But security experts warn that the power vacuum left by El Mencho’s death could trigger an internal struggle within the CJNG, potentially fuelling further instability in the months ahead.
(with inputs from Reuters)
