Drug lord 'El Mencho' killed by military in Mexico, plunging country into chaos

Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, aka 'El Mencho'

The Mexican military killed the notorious drug lord Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, better known as 'El Mencho,' over the weekend, prompting a violent backlash that plunged nearly two-thirds of Mexico into chaos. 

El Mencho was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which has grown exponentially in recent years after El Chapo was captured and later convicted in the U.S., where he is serving a life sentence. El Mencho was 59 years old and, since December 2024, the DEA has been offering a $15 million reward for his capture. According to the DEA, El Mencho was a founding member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in 2009 and, ever since, has been responsible for the significant trafficking of an assortment of illegal drugs into the U.S.

In addition, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel maintained a reign of terror in Mexico using intimidation and killing rival cartel gangs as well as Mexican law enforcement officials. The DEA has said El Mencho's cartel has been responsible for smuggling and distributing cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine throughout the U.S., and, more recently, fentanyl. He was charged under the Drug Kingpin Statute for operating a continuing criminal enterprise. 

According to CBS News, El Mencho has been a menace to the U.S. as well as Mexico for decades. Before he was one of Mexico's most notorious drug lords, El Mencho illegally crossed the border during the 1980s and lived in California for years.

El Mencho's mug shot after an arrest on drug charges in San Francisco in 1986 at the age of 17.

Eventually, he was arrested on drug charges for selling meth and heroin, according to The Los Angeles Times, and deported. He returned to Mexico, became a police office and was later arrested and served short prison sentences there before beginning his rise as a big player in the country's cartel racket. 

Last February, President Trump declared the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and seven other Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Not long after Trump's foreign terrorist declaration, El Mencho's son, known as 'El Menchito,' was sentenced by a U.S. judge to life in prison for his role within the cartel, which reportedly began at age 14.

President Trump said U.S. intelligence was shared with the Mexican military, ultimately facilitating the killing of El Mencho. Amid the unrest in Mexico, the U.S. government has urged Americans working or vacationing in eight Mexican cities to shelter in place until the violence is brought under control. Many pundits have pointed to the cartel violence in Mexico as one of the key reasons Trump's shoring up of the U.S. southern border was a critical necessity. Below, watch a short clip of Jalisco New Generation Cartel's foot soldier's who appear to be better armed than the military members of several actual countries.