By the Staff of AFP
On Feb. 22, Mexican troops, with the assistance of the U.S. military and intelligence, raided the headquarters of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in Tapalpa, Mexico, killing Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes—commonly referred to by his alias “El Mencho”—the leader of the violent drug-trafficking organization.
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Formed in 2009, CJNG is one of the biggest exporters of fentanyl into the United States. The group is said to have up to 20,000 armed members and has been heavily involved in the international drug trade into Europe and the United States, going so far as to run illicit drug-manufacturing labs in African and Asian countries.
Mexico was quick to dismiss any U.S. involvement in the operation, but U.S. State Department officials told reporters that the U.S. military, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and U.S. intelligence had all provided considerable logistical and operational assistance to the Mexican military before, during, and after the raid.
Following the killing, portions of Mexico erupted into considerable violence, stranding tourists, including U.S. citizens, across the country, but has since quieted to some degree.
As AFP goes to press on Feb. 26, Washington still has travel advisories in place for U.S. citizens in Mexico with the likelihood that the cartel will seek revenge for the raid on its headquarters and the killing of the drug lord.
Since taking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump has made countering the illegal global drug trade a priority and ordered officials at Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, and the Department of War to work together to specifically target international drug groups like Tren de Aragua of Venezuela, MS-13 of El Salvador, the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico, as well as CJNG.
Since then, in the United States, thousands of members of these gangs have been rounded up and either imprisoned or kicked out of America.
CJNG “is one of the most powerful and violent cartels in Mexico and is responsible for a significant portion of fentanyl and other illicit drug flowing into America and around the world,” reports the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), a U.S. cabinet level office currently held by former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
On its website, DNI identifies the top leaders of CJNG, including El Mencho, offering tens of millions of dollars in cash rewards for information that leads to their arrest.
In Democrat-run states like California, members of drug cartels like CJNG have been able to exploit Sanctuary City measures that bar local law enforcement from working with federal authorities.
As a result, foreign gangs have been able to get away with rampant drug trafficking and even murder with little pushback, allowing the cartels to grow in power in the last decade.
For example, under the Biden administration, every day, the cartels pulled in millions of dollars by smuggling illegal aliens into the United States at unprecedented rates.
The good news is, under the current administration, this is all coming to an end, as U.S. officials have been prioritizing the targeting of drug and human traffickers.
Following the January arrest in Mexico of Armando Gomez Nunez, a senior leader of CJNG, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said:
President Trump has made it clear that we will pursue every legal avenue to hold transnational criminal organizations accountable for their crimes against the American people.
Nunez was one of 38 Mexican criminals who have been extradited to the United States to face multiple charges for trafficking in drugs and for other crimes.
Thanks to the hard work of U.S. and Mexican authorities, these violent criminals are looking at spending the rest of their lives in American prisons with no chance of ever victimizing Americans ever again.
