DRUG WAR: Don’t Mention El Mencho Who Just Got Whacked

It’s all kicking off in Mexico as major cartel kingpin El Mencho (real name: Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes), leader of Jalisco New Generation Cartel has been offed by Mexican security forces aided by the US.

CJNG Cartel

The 59-year-old cartel boss’s death has sparked off a war in the Jalisco region, with many foreign tourists in resorts trapped.

According to the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit in Mexico City, the cartel has territory within the regions of Jalisco, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, Colima, Guanajuato, Veracruz, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Zacatecas, the Islas Marías, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Chiapas, Tabasco, Querétaro, Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Edomex, Morelos and Puebla.

CJNG is considered by the Mexican government to be one of the most dangerous criminal organisations in Mexico and the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico. It is also considered the cartel with the most paramilitary firepower.

CJNG is heavily militarised and more violent than other criminal organisations. It has a special operations group for specific types of warfare.

Its hitman training programme is strict and professional. The cartel is best known for its fights against the Zetas and Templarios, it has fought La Resistencia for control of Aguililla, Michoacán and its surrounding territories.

Combatting CJNG is difficult because of police corruption. The retention and hiring of new police officers is poor.