Mexico Mexican drug lord "El Mencho" dead - cars on fire
Mexico's most powerful drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka "El Mencho", is dead.
22.02.2026, 23:18
SDA
Following a military operation to arrest him, he succumbed to his injuries while being airlifted to Mexico City, according to the Mexican Ministry of Defense. The US authorities had contributed with information as part of bilateral cooperation. The operation triggered a violent reaction from the Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) drug cartel led by "El Mencho".
According to official information, six gang members were killed in addition to Oseguera during the operation by a special unit of the armed forces in the municipality of Tapalpa in the western state of Jalisco, and two more were arrested. Three soldiers were reportedly injured and taken to hospital.
The USA had offered a reward of 15 million US dollars (around 12.7 million euros) for "El Mencho". The ex-policeman had led the CJNG, which he founded, since 2011. Washington reacted to the news of his killing via US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. One of the "bloodiest and most ruthless drug lords" had been killed, he wrote on Platform X. "This is a great development for Mexico, the US, Latin America and the entire world. The good guys are stronger than the bad guys".
In response to the military operation, gang members blocked roads with burning cars, trucks and buses in several states, including Jalisco, Michoacán, Aguascalientes, Tamaulipas and Guanajuato.
Fires were also set in pharmacies and small retail outlets. In the popular tourist city of Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast, videos showed burning cars and large clouds of black smoke rising from between the buildings. The authorities called on people to get to safety.
The US embassy in Mexico also issued a safety warning for US citizens. Due to ongoing security operations and roadblocks, US citizens in the affected areas should remain in their homes until further notice, it said.
The drug lord with a penchant for cockfighting
"El Mencho" was 59 years old. He was born on July 17, 1966 in Aguililla, a poor community in the western state of Michoacán. In the Mexican underworld, he was known as the "Lord of the Roosters" because of his love of cockfighting. His other nickname, "El Mencho", is said to be a derivation of his first name Nemesio. Numerous narco songs, called "narcocorridos", celebrate his criminal activities.
The US government had classified the extremely violent drug cartel of "El Mencho" as a foreign terrorist organization. According to the US authorities, the crime syndicate led by him is a transnational organization with links as far away as China and Australia. In addition to the fentanyl trade, it is also involved in extortion, migrant smuggling, the theft of oil and minerals and arms trafficking.
From police officer to dangerous cartel leader
According to the US Treasury Department, Oseguera has been involved in drug trafficking since the 1990s. In 1994, he was arrested in Sacramento in the US state of California for smuggling heroin. After three years in prison, he was deported to Mexico - and hired on as a police officer in the western state of Jalisco.
He later joined the Milenio cartel, one of the first Mexican crime syndicates to deal in synthetic drugs. He worked together with the Sinaloa cartel of drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. The CJNG cartel was later split off and founded. Under Oseguera's leadership, it quickly developed into one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico.
Large arsenal of weapons and armored vehicles
The "company with the four letters", as the cartel is called by its members, has a large arsenal of weapons and armored vehicles. In Mexico, it has carried out bloody attacks on security forces, hung corpses from bridges and once even shot down a military helicopter, killing nine people. The cartel is also accused of luring young people with false job offers in order to forcibly recruit them.
"El Mencho", who led an inconspicuous life, is said to have owned a fortune worth billions and laundered money through real estate, cattle breeding and music businesses. Regional music groups have composed songs about him. Alleged propaganda videos of the cartel are repeatedly circulating on social networks. They show heavily armed men in combat uniforms calling themselves "Señor Mencho's people".
