Information provided by the Mexican government regarding Sunday’s shooting operation And Mesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantesknown as “El Mencho,” the head of the most powerful criminal group in the country, could easily find a home in a Hollywood script.
After tracking El Mencho’s lover to his location, Mexican special forces began operating in the air and on the ground, resulting in a double shootout that left the drug lord wounded. El Mencho ended up dying in a military plane when the plane was going to get him medical aid.
Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, the secretary of national defense, explained this information to the world to heard during President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning news conference on Monday.
However, one of the important aspects of this story is still hidden – why the Mexican government decided that this is the right time to decide the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which is one of the most powerful organized crime groups in the country.
The move is highly risky as the country prepares to host the soccer World Cup in just over four months.
Calm has begun to return to Mexico following the killing of a powerful cartel leader known as El Mencho, but travel advisories remain in place and Canadians are waiting for flights to resume. Meanwhile, Mexico’s president said authorities had tracked down a drug kingpin to launch an operation that left about 30 cartel members and 25 soldiers dead.
The decision to strike involved many factors, Mexican experts said, including the window of opportunity combined with the ongoing pressure Sheinbaum’s administration faced from the US, which provided the intelligence used in the operation.
El Mencho was the last of the big drug lords to remain inactive. His criminal organization is also a major exporter of fentanyl to the US, said José Reveles, a veteran Mexican journalist who has investigated organized crime and corruption.
El Mencho was also ill, requiring routine dialysis treatment, which he received at a mobile clinic, Reveles said.
“It is possible that the change was that intelligence came from the United States,” he said.
“[President] Donald Trump said that [the Mexican] the government was doing nothing against ‘terrorists,’ which is how they talk about drug trafficking. … This takes some of that pressure off.”
‘The greatest victory’
The CJNG is not only a major international player in the drug trade, but is also involved in running extortion rackets across the agricultural sector, including targets such as avocado and lime growers.
The CJNG has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and Canada.
Reveles said that it is possible that the government has attacked to weaken the CJNG as the World Cup is approaching.
“This helps keep the country at peace,” said Reveles, who called it “the biggest achievement” of Sheinbaum since taking office in October 2024.
“Obviously, you see the involvement of the US,” Reveles said.
El Mencho’s death gave Sheinbaum a big card to play as he tries to curb Trump’s desire to see US troops fight organized crime groups in Mexico, said David Mora, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group.
Sheinbaum has consistently presented a model of cooperation with the US that includes a high level of intelligence sharing.
Violence and shelter-in-place orders are escalating across Mexico after the military killed a cartel leader known as ‘El Mencho.’ Andrew Chang explains that the Jalisco New Generation, possibly Mexico’s most dangerous gang, has built a criminal empire over several years. Photos provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
However, when it came to taking action based on that information, the president insisted that only Mexican boots were allowed to operate on Mexican soil, Mora said.
“This is Claudia Sheinbaum providing the win that Trump deserves, but also saying that the Mexican military can do it,” he said.
The previous government decided against the operation
David Saucedo, a business security consultant based in Mexico City, said the belief is widespread across the country.The government waited until after the World Cup to deal with El Mencho.
So Sunday’s surgery was “ssomething that was unexpected,” he said.
Under Sheinbaum’s predecessor, president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Mexican government he had El Mencho in their sights — with the help of American intelligence — at least twice, he said.
“But [López Obrador] we decided not to operate, knowing that there will be acts of terrorism that we saw on Sunday,” said Saucedo.
More than 250 roads and highways, often with burning vehicles, broke out in 20 states on Sunday, Mexican authorities said.
The region of Jalisco, as well as the popular tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta, appears to have experienced violence believed to be a reaction to El Mencho’s capture and death.
International airlines such as Air Canada and WestJet have canceled flights to the coastal city due to the disruptions. Flights are expected to resume on Tuesday.
The Mexican government sent about 9,500 soldiers to Jalisco to pacify the country while lifting most of the blockade in other parts of the country.
In Puerto Vallarta on Monday, the streets were quiet and many shops and restaurants were closed. There was also an apparent limited presence of Mexican security forces patrolling during the day.
‘A very complex board’
Saucedo said that things seem to be returning to normal between the CJNG and the government authorities.
“The Jalisco cartel controls almost all of Jalisco,” Saucedo said. “It’s been a while now, the National Guard is not fighting the Jalisco convoy in areas where the Jalisco group is full.”
Mora said the Sheinbaum government made a “very dangerous bet” by removing the head of the CJNG, as seen on Sunday, which is present in most of the country.
El Mencho’s death could lead to a power struggle within the company while tempting rival organizations, which have lost ground to CJNG, to strike when they see weakness, Mora said.
This comes at a time when the government continues to deal with almost 18 months of violence in the province of Sinaloa, caused by a rupture inside the Sinaloa chariot, which left thousands dead and missing.
Mora said the Sheinbaum administration is also trying to appease Michoacán, El Mencho’s home state and the country’s largest avocado-growing region, where the CJNG has its rivals.
“It’s veIt’s a complicated board they work on,” he said.
