Mexico is on the edge after Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) was killed by security forces on Sunday. El Mencho was the founding leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), considered to be one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in Mexico.
El Mencho was often compared to El Chapo Guzman, the biggest drug lord not just in Mexico, but the world has ever seen. In fact, El Mencho filled the gap left by the capture of Guzmán, who is currently incarcerated in a US jail.
Who is El Chapo Guzman
Joaquín Archivaldo Guzman Loera, better known as "El Chapo," is the founder of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, which at its peak was worth $39 billion and controlled 40 to 60 per cent of Mexico's entire drug trade.
From poor to Forbes list
Guzman was so wealthy and influential to the point that his name appeared on the Forbes lists for four years between 2009 and 2013, with an estimated personal net worth of over $1 billion.
This was far from his humble origins, where he was born into a poor family in Sinaloa, to a father who was into drug trade.
Growing through gangs
Guzman started making a name for himself in the 1970s, when he began working with Hector Luis Palma Salazar, a prominent drug lord of the time, helping him to smuggle narcotics through Sinaloa and into the United States.
Guzman later switched allegiances to the Guadalajara Cartel led by Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, aka The Godfather, until his arrest in 1989. After Felix Gallardo was arrested, his cousins, Jesus Labra Aviles and Javier Caro Payan, took over the gang. But Guzman refused to work with them and this resulted in a bloody conflict between the two sides.
The gang war took a nasty turn in May 1993 after gunmen who were sent to kill Guzman accidentally shot and killed the Archbishop of Guadalajara.
Arrest and escape from jail
Following the incident, Guzman fled Mexico and entered Guatemala using a fake passport. However, his luck ran out in 1993, and Guzman was arrested for the first time in 1993 by Guatemalan authorities. He was extradited to Mexico, where he was sentenced to over 20 years in jail for charges including drug trafficking.
Though he was behind bars, Guzman’s gang continued to flourish under his brother. However, in 2001, after he was indicted in the US and the Mexican Supreme Court cleared his extradition, Guzman sneaked out of the jail after bribing security guards.
Second arrest and escape through tunnel
After being on the run for more than a decade, Guzman was arrested again in 2014, but in July 2015, he once again fled from jail, through an underground tunnel network, dug directly beneath the prison complex.
This time, Guzman’s luck ran out much faster as Mexican authorities, acting on inputs from U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested him after a gun battle in January 2016.
Where is Guzman now?
In January 2017, Guzman was extradited to the US, where he was wanted in several states for drug trafficking related charges.
In July 2019, a court in Brooklyn sentenced Guzman to 30 years in jail and also ordered him to forfeit $12.6 billion, an amount representing the ill-gotten gains from his drug-trafficking empire.
Key Takeaways
- El Chapo's capture marked a significant shift in Mexico's drug trafficking landscape.
- The rise of El Mencho showcased the ongoing power struggles within drug cartels.
- The extradition of Guzman to the US represented a critical step in international drug law enforcement.
