CNN: How Mexican authorities tracked down “El Mencho”

After years of pursuing Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, Mexican forces on February 20 received a concrete tip about the feared cartel leader’s whereabouts, CNN reports.

Their investigation into Oseguera’s network had led them to a key person who could help access his hideout – a “trusted man” of one of Oseguera’s lovers, according to Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla Trejo.

The following day, the lover left Oseguera’s cabin complex on the outskirts of Tapalpa, but the drug lord remained at the hideout with his security detail.

Mexico’s Air Force and the National Guard’s Special Immediate Reaction Force then swooped into action, putting together a plan and launching a raid within the next 24 hours.

To avoid arousing suspicion, the mission was primarily carried out by ground forces with limited air support from helicopters, Trevilla said.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said the US shared intelligence that aided the operation but did not provide ground forces.

The Mexican troops established a perimeter around the complex and then closed in. As they did so, they came under fire from Oseguera’s lieutenants.

Oseguera was wounded during the operation and died as he was being flown to hospital.

Mexico violence comes at a sensitive time, security expert says

While cartel violence is not new in Mexico, this latest bout of unrest comes during a sensitive year for the country, according to one security expert.

“One thing (that) has changed, is that we do feel a more heavy cartel presence in the Puerto Vallartas, the Cancuns, the Playa del Carmens. Those tourist resorts,” Chris Dalby, senior analyst for Dyami Security Intelligence told CNN’s Polo Sandoval.

“That criminality is not targeting tourists directly. Most of the time it’s targeting the infrastructure that generates money: The hotels, the restaurants, the businesses that are paying extortion fees to these cartels.”

The Jalisco cartel has had a presence in Puerto Vallarta for years, but the response to El Mencho’s killing comes at a sensitive time, he said.

“Claudia Sheinbaum is in the first year of her administration. The World Cup is only a few months away and is going to have games played in Guadalajara,” Dalby said.

“I completely understand anyone who had tickets for those games who decides not to go, when four months before the game, they see the city on fire.”

El Mencho’s fall could spread cartel violence in Ecuador and Colombia

The death of drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” could trigger a domino effect in Latin American countries that are part of his cartel’s cocaine production, transit, and export network — particularly Ecuador and Colombia.

Regional competition over routes and territorial control could spark tensions and renegotiations that directly affect the operations of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s (CJNG) partners, according to analysts.

Former Ecuadorian Army intelligence chief Mario Pazmiño told CNNE that competition over drug trafficking routes and control of ports from Ecuador could intensify as the rival Sinaloa cartel and its operational arm in Ecuador, the Choneros gang, seek to reconfigure territories and local leadership.

“If these organizations worked for the CJNG and received support from Mexico, Sinaloa will automatically try to take over those spaces.” Pazmiño said.

“The situation is critical and serious. A new internal confrontation could erupt between Los Lobos, Tiguerones, and Chonekillers,” Pazmiño said.

In Colombia, Oseguera’s death will directly affect the financial engine that supports some of the most dangerous armed structures in the country.

…Here are some publications in the American press about how Israel is involved in training drug gangs in Latin America: