Feb 22, 2026, 7:41 p.mFeb 22, 2026, 7:44 p.m
In Guadalajara, cars were set on fire after the death of “El Mencho”.Image: keystone
Mexico’s most powerful drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho”, has been killed by Mexican security forces, media reports citing the authorities. The USA had offered him a reward of 15 million US dollars (around 11.6 million Swiss francs). The ex-police officer had led the Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) drug cartel, which he founded, since 2011.
Security forces carried out an operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco state, which triggered a strong reaction from suspected gang members, Governor Pablo Lemus announced on X. Roads were closed 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 stores. In the tourist-popular city of Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast, videos showed burning cars and large clouds of black smoke rising between buildings. Authorities called on people to seek safety.
The US Embassy in Mexico also issued a security warning for US citizens. Due to ongoing security operations and roadblocks, US citizens in the affected locations should remain in their accommodations until further notice, it said.
Love of cockfights
“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 called the “Lord of the Roosters” because of his penchant for cockfights. His other nickname, “El Mencho,” is said to be a derivative of his first name, Nemesio. Numerous narco songs, called “narcocorridos,” celebrate his criminal activities.
The US government had classified the extremely violent “El Mencho” drug cartel as a foreign terrorist organization. According to US authorities, the crime syndicate he leads is a transnational organization with connections as far away as China and Australia. In addition to trafficking in fentanyl, she is also involved in extortion, migrant smuggling, theft of oil and minerals, and arms trafficking.
From police officer to 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, California, for heroin smuggling. After three years in prison, he was deported to Mexico – and hired as a police officer in the western state of Jalisco.
He later joined the Milenio Cartel, one of the first Mexican crime syndicates to traffic in synthetic drugs. He worked with drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel. The CJNG cartel later split off and was founded. Under Oseguera’s leadership, it quickly became one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations.
The four letters
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 carried out bloody attacks on security forces, hung bodies from bridges and once even shot down a military helicopter, killing nine people. The cartel is 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 a fortune worth billions and to have laundered money through real estate, livestock farming and music businesses. Regional music groups have composed songs about him. Suspected propaganda videos from the cartel are circulating again and again on social networks. It shows heavily armed men in combat uniforms who refer to themselves as “Señor Mencho’s people”. (sda/dpa)