Narco-blockades lifted in Mexico after cartel reaction to death of ‘El Mencho’

Mexican Secretary of Security Omar García Harfuch has assured that all narco-blockades in the country that erupted Sunday have been lifted, following the military operation that killed Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The cartel responded furiously to the fall of its principal leader, as is always the case when a major drug lord is brought down, with attacks on gas stations and banks, in addition to the roadblocks. In total, there were 252 obstructions, 85 of them in Jalisco alone, most of which were cleared yesterday afternoon. Order was fully restored on Monday morning, according to Harfuch, who pointed out that the states most affected were Jalisco, where the operation against El Mencho took place, as well as Baja California, the State of Mexico, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Veracruz, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas. Claudia Sheinbaum’s cabinet chief also announced the arrest of 70 criminals across seven states.

Throughout Sunday’s operation, there were 27 attacks against the authorities in Jalisco, which Harfuch described as “cowardly.” In six of these attacks, 25 members of the National Guard, a security guard, and another member of the Attorney General’s Office lost their lives, as well as one woman, the only civilian death reported so far. On the organized crime side, 30 people were killed. In Michoacán, there were 13 clashes that left four criminals dead and 15 military personnel wounded, García Harfuch added.

“We call on the population to remain calm, to trust their institutions, and to rest assured that the Mexican government is working with all its capabilities to restore peace and protect the population,“ said the security czar at the end of the presentation, in which he highlighted the weakening of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organization, responsible for crimes including ”homicides, human trafficking, extortion, kidnappings, and armed attacks against the authorities.” Misinformation added its own dose of confusion to a day of extreme tension due to the traffic chaos unleashed by the cartel after the death of El Mencho, the same defiant response unleashed by the Sinaloa Cartel after two attempts to capture Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s son, Ovidio Guzmán, alias “El Ratón,” the first of which was unsuccessful and became known as the Culiacanazo.

The operation against El Mencho is the biggest blow against drug trafficking to date by the Sheinbaum administration, which has distanced itself from its predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his controversial “hugs, not bullets” policy to make major arrests and historic drug seizures one of the hallmarks of its six-year term. U.S. Intelligence collaborated closely in the operation, with communication between the two countries strengthened since Sheinbaum’s arrival at the National Palace, aided by pressure from Washington on Mexico to achieve results in this area. However, there was no U.S. Military involvement in the operation, as Sheinbaum has emphasized, the Mexican president obliged occasionally to dispel the specter of foreign military interference in the country.

Nemesio Oseguera was Mexico’s most-wanted criminal and had been targeted by the state since the 1990s, when he began his career in drug trafficking within the Milenio Cartel, also known as Los Valencia. The CJNG was consolidated in 2010, and in 2012, the drug lord took control of the organization, whose tentacles extend to almost 40 countries. Four years later, in 2016, El Mencho was added to the list of the United States’ most wanted fugitives. Two years ago, Washington offered a reward of $15 million for any information that could lead to the elusive criminal, who had two active arrest warrants for charges related to organized crime. In Mexico, the Attorney General’s Office had been offering a reward of 30 million pesos, just under $2 million, for several years.

The fall of one of the last great Mexican drug lords comes after a period of intense communication between the administrations of Donald Trump and Claudia Sheinbaum on this issue. Mexico has made several extraordinary deliveries of drug traffickers to its northern neighbor to be tried and convicted in the U.S., where maintaining control of their organizations from behind bars becomes virtually impossible, unlike in Mexican prisons. The haul sent consists of more than 90 cartel members, who will face U.S. Justice in exchange for not receiving the death penalty, a punishment that does not exist in Mexico and is avoided in these cases in the United States thanks to an agreement reached between the authorities of both countries.

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