A carefully coordinated intelligence effort led Mexican forces to a secluded mountain compound where the country’s most wanted cartel leader made his final stand, officials said.
According to the New York Post, Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla described how investigators followed a chain of contacts connected to a woman romantically linked to Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, head of the New Generation Jalisco Cartel.
That trail brought agents to Tapalpa, a remote resort community in Jalisco, where the fugitive had been hiding with armed associates.
By the time troops moved in, the woman had already left the property. Oseguera and several gunmen remained inside when Mexican special forces launched the operation.
Soldiers encountered immediate resistance after entering the compound. Heavily armed cartel members opened fire, triggering a gunfight that spilled into the surrounding wooded terrain near the resort.
Four cartel fighters were killed during the clash. Three others were critically wounded and later died while being transported to a hospital in Mexico City, including Oseguera.
Officials did not disclose the identities of the woman whose movements helped lead authorities to the location or the man who was initially identified through the intelligence work.
Oseguera had previously been married to Rosalinda González Valencia. The couple separated in 2018, and she was released from prison last year after serving a two-year sentence for money laundering.
Trevilla praised the scale of the operation, which involved the Mexican army, air force and an elite National Guard unit trained specifically to combat cartels.
“The intelligence process is very complex,” Trevilla said, emphasizing the time and coordination required to carry out the raid.
While Mexican forces planned and executed the mission, U.S. support came through the newly formed Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, which provided intelligence assistance.
In the aftermath, cartel groups launched a wave of retaliatory violence across multiple states. Trevilla said 25 National Guard members had been killed as of Monday.
Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch reported that criminal groups carried out “27 cowardly attacks against authorities in Jalisco,” and said 30 cartel members were also killed during the unrest.
