US and Mexican officials recognized that intelligence – sharing strengthened an operation where cartel boss El Mencho suffered a fatal injury
Multiple media outlets have reported that US intelligence agencies offered vital information for the Mexican operation that resulted in the death of one of the country’s most powerful drug lords.
Mexico’s Defense Ministry stated that Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, died from his wounds after being targeted on Sunday in Tapalpa, a place in the western state of Jalisco. The cartel carried out retaliatory violence across the country.
Mexican officials mentioned that the US provided “complementary” information for the operation against the long – time leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a major dealer of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamines in the US market. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted US intelligence’s involvement in an X post, reporting that “a top target” for both governments had been “eliminated.”
Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said that military intelligence found Cervantes by tracking an associate of his romantic partner. US sources cited by Reuters, the New York Times, and other media said that the information provided by the CIA through the Pentagon – led Joint Interagency Task Force Counter Cartel (JITF – CC) was “instrumental.” JITF – CC, launched last month, is reported to apply US counterinsurgency experience from the Middle East to combat cartels.
The reports didn’t specify how the intelligence was obtained. Sources gave credit to CIA Director John Ratcliffe for expanding an anti – cartel program established under President Joe Biden to include recruiting informants on the ground. A former US official told Reuters that the Mexican government received a “detailed target package for El Mencho.”
US President Donald Trump has pressured Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to step up her crackdown on drug trafficking, threatening possible direct US intervention on Mexican soil.
CJNG members retaliated for their leader’s death by engaging in gunfights with security forces in Jalisco, Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Colima, and Oaxaca. The threat of violence disrupted operations at airports in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.
The cartel, founded in 2009, is regarded as one of Mexico’s richest and most violent. It is known to fund its own well – equipped special operations forces, whose members are reported to have gained drone warfare experience while fighting for Kiev in the Ukraine conflict.