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Mexico’s military intelligence followed a girlfriend of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera to locate the cartel kingpin, who then died after a shootout with his security detail, officials said.
Defence minister General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said on Monday that authorities, relying on a mix of Mexican and US intelligence, had located “a trusted associate of one of El Mencho’s romantic partners” on Saturday, who then took her to a building in Tapalpa, Jalisco state.
“There, this partner met with El Mencho, and on February 21 she left the premises,” Trevilla added. “Information was obtained indicating that El Mencho remained at the location, surrounded by a security detail. The operation was planned that same day.”
The killing of Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, is a major coup for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has been under heavy US pressure to tackle fentanyl trafficking.
Oseguera was injured after cartel members “very violently” resisted his arrest, and died in transit to Mexico City, the minister said.
Oseguera and his “inner circle” initially fled into a wooded area on the outskirts of Tapalpa, where they opened fire on security forces and an air force helicopter, which had to make an emergency landing, Trevilla said.
Two bodyguards were also wounded in the confrontation and died en route to a medical facility, he added, with five more cartel members dying during or after the operation.
The 59-year-old had turned the CJNG into one of Mexico’s two most powerful crime groups, expanding its reach across most of the country and taking a leading role in moving fentanyl and other drugs to the US.
News of his death sparked violent confrontations across Mexico on Sunday, as CJNG members burnt cars and blocked some 250 roads. Officials in Jalisco said 81 convenience stores were attacked and 22 branches of a state-run bank set on fire.
Mexico’s security minister Omar García Harfuch said 25 members of the National Guard had died in Jalisco on Sunday in six separate attacks, along with 30 cartel members.
Sheinbaum said all roadblocks had been cleared by Monday morning and that security forces and state governments were collaborating closely to maintain order.
“The most important thing now is to guarantee peace and security for all of Mexico’s population, and that’s what we’re doing,” she said. “Today is calmer.”
US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch strikes on cartels inside Mexico, as he presses the country to move against the organised crime bosses he blames for fuelling drug-related deaths in the US.
But analysts have warned that the removal of CJNG’s leader could trigger the fragmentation of the cartel, which has a presence across most of the country’s 32 states.
The Mexican peso fell 0.45 per cent at the opening of trading on Monday, on fears of potentially prolonged violence.