The notorious cartel leader “El Mencho” is dead. What is the future of the mighty CJNG?

Violence erupted in Mexico on Sunday after the leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), who had a $15 million bounty on his head. he was killed during a military shootout.

A U.S. defense official told CBS News that the U.S. military was involved in the extradition of Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes – aka. “El Mencho” — through the Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, which works regularly with the Mexican military through the US Northern Command. The official emphasized that “this was a Mexican military operation, so the success is theirs.”

News of “El Mencho’s” death prompted cartel members across the country to block roads, torch cars and businesses and send fearful residents into hiding.

Here’s a look at the overlapping powers of the CJNG and its future without “El Mencho” in charge.

What is CJNG?

Oseguera a founding member of the CJNG, which was founded in 2009 and has grown to become one of the most violent drug cartels in Mexico, ahead of the Sinaloa group. He helped found the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Érick Valencia Salazar, known as “El 85,” who was among the 29 leaders wanted in the US last February, according to the Department of Justice.

The U.S. State Department said the company “has the highest traffic volume of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in Mexico,” and in the past few years, it has begun importing fentanyl into the United States.

“It is certainly one of the most powerful organizations in Mexico in terms of military power, recruiting power and weapons,” David Mora, an expert at the Crisis Group analysis center, told AFP.

In addition to drug trafficking, CJNG’s activity expanded to other criminal enterprises such as extortion, fuel theft and human trafficking, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported.

The CJNG is characterized by its “constant willingness to challenge the Mexican government,” Mora said.

In a show of force, the caravan often releases images of its members displaying weapons and armored vehicles.

In 2020, the cartel was accused of trying to kill Mexico’s public security secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch, who at the time was serving as the capital’s police chief.

Last year, it was also blamed killing Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzoknown crusade against organized crime in Mexico.

Manzo’s death sparked two days of youth-led protests in November, during which protesters burned public buildings and clashed with police, injuring more than 100.

Why did the militia react so violently?

The reaction to Oseguera’s death shows the cartel’s far-reaching power in Mexico, experts say.

The killing of a drug veteran caused a traffic jam for hours in Jalisco and other states. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, on social media, acknowledged the roadblocks but insisted, “In most of the country, operations are continuing as usual.”

The violence hit the city of Puerto Vallarta, the state of Michoacan near the capital, and the states of Puebla, Guanajuato in central Mexico, Sinaloa in the northwest and south to Guerrero.

“What we saw today is just to show the places where (the company) works and where they can spread violence,” said Mora.

The US State Department issued a security alert advising US citizens in several Mexican states, including Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon, to take shelter until further notice. The Department of National Diplomatic Affairs, in a message telling American citizens to continue taking shelter, said on social media that taxi and rideshare operations in Puerto Vallarta have been suspended.

Security analyst Gerardo Rodriguez told AFP that the authorities expected a response, but did not expect “to reach the country.”

Oseguera was injured in a clash with soldiers in the city of Tapalpa, Jalisco state, and died in a fall in Mexico City, the military said in a statement.

“In operational terms, it’s a successful government project,” Rodriguez said.

What is the future of the wagon?

Oseguera is one of the biggest Mexican drug lords to be brought down since the kidnapping of the founders of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman again Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Both now serve in the United States.

Oseguera was “the best thing for the DEA and frankly for law enforcement in the United States,” Matthew Donahue, the DEA’s top agent in Mexico, told CBS News in 2019.

Mike Vigil, former DEA Chief of International Operations, told CBS News that the military operation was “one of the most important actions in the history of drug trafficking.”

“Because we are talking about a person who is almost at the same level as “El Chapo” Guzman and “El Mayo” Zambada,” he added. “(Oseguera) is one of the biggest drug busts in the history of international drug trafficking.”

Meanwhile, Ruben “El Menchito” Oseguera Gonzalez, 35, Oseguera’s son, was convicted by a federal judge in Washington in September of multiple drug and gun trafficking charges.

Mora said that “if there is no direct succession, a power vacuum is created that opens the door to violent restructuring in the organization.”

It was the weakening of the Sinaloa stock market, for example, that led to the rise of the CJNG, experts said.

The United States has designated the CJNG as a terrorist organization and accuses it of exporting cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl to the United States.

It is not yet clear who will succeed Oseguera Cervantes, or if there is even one candidate.

The Jalisco cartel is present in at least 21 of Mexico’s 32 states and operates almost throughout the United States, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration. But it is also a global organization and the loss of its leader can be felt outside of Mexico.

“El Mencho controlled everything, he was like the dictator of the country,” said Vigil.

His absence may slow the fleet’s rapid growth and development and leave it initially weak against the Sinaloa fleet in the few areas where they or their proxies fight. Sinaloa is trapped in its internal struggle, however, between the sons of “El Chapo” and a group loyal to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who is imprisoned in the US.

Vigil said Mexico should seize the moment to launch a “direct attack based on intelligence.”

“This is a great opportunity for Mexico and the United States if they work together,” he said.