On Sunday, Mexico had its Pablo Escobar moment. The Mexican military, with support from U.S. planning and intelligence, killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. “El Mencho,” the head of the country’s most powerful drug cartel. This operation is a massive victory for Mexico and the United States and demonstrates that President Donald Trump’s pressure on Mexico to increase security cooperation is working. Now is the time to double down on these gains and make lasting progress against narco-terrorist groups that terrorize both countries.
El Mencho and the Jalisco Cartel, known by its Spanish initials CJNG, are responsible for trafficking fentanyl across the U.S.-Mexico border, which has caused hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in American communities. In other words, El Mencho had American blood on his hands. That’s why the U.S. government offered a $15 million reward for his capture, exceeded only by the rewards for Nicolas Maduro and senior Venezuelan regime officials.
In the aftermath of the El Mencho operation, CJNG provided a window into the violent terrorism the group has unleashed across Mexico for more than a decade. Cartel gunmen conducted attacks near Guadalajara International Airport, burned cars and convenience stores in the streets of major cities, and effectively shut down Puerto Vallarta, the popular American tourist destination.
CJNG is known for levels of violence exceptional even among drug cartels. In 2023, a video went viral in Mexico showing five young men kidnapped by the cartel being forced to decapitate each other before police later found their bodies. Last year, construction workers unearthed a mass grave with the bodies of 34 people in the cartel’s territory. In 2015, the cartel famously ambushed and killed 15 Mexican police officers and shot down a military helicopter during an earlier attempt to capture El Mencho.
The Jalisco Cartel’s capacity for violence is why Mexico cannot shy away from confronting narco-terrorist groups on its soil. The Trump administration has put significant pressure on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to degrade the cartels, and this operation is the biggest success thus far of that effort. But taking down kingpins alone is not enough —Mexico has killed or captured a string of cartel leaders in the past 20 years, yet criminal groups continue to strengthen their hold over large swaths of Mexico.
To make lasting gains against transnational organized crime, Mexico must work with the U.S. to degrade cartel leadership and networks, remove corrupt politicians who do their bidding, and improve Mexico’s legal system.
With the ongoing civil war between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, there is a rare window of opportunity where Mexico’s most powerful cartels are weakened at the same time. This provides a chance for Mexican forces, supported by U.S. intelligence and other forms of assistance, to dismantle the networks that will attempt to perpetuate El Mencho’s reign of terror or seek advantage for other criminal groups.
Corruption and pervasive impunity are also significant roadblocks to weakening the cartels. Far too many Mexican mayors, state and local officials, and even governors have links to criminal groups. While Sheinbaum and Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch have an ongoing campaign to arrest corrupt politicians, key members of the ruling party remain in office despite clear evidence of graft. And military and police operations have little chance of delivering long-term security gains so long as nationwide impunity for crimes exceeds 95%.
These changes will not happen overnight, but the Trump administration is finally making progress on a national security challenge that has killed far too many Americans and received insufficient attention in Washington. El Mencho’s demise could mark the beginning of a new era of cooperation that benefits both the United States and Mexico.
Connor Pfeiffer is senior director of government relations at FDD Action and a former congressional staffer who worked on Western Hemisphere issues in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He can be found on X @ConnorPfeiffer.