The Mexican government’s killing of one of the world’s biggest kingpins, known as “El Mencho,” is being heralded as a major blow to drug trafficking.
But it did little to dismantle his cartel’s critical U.S. operations, which will continue fueling its dominance unless Washington steps up the fight inside its own territory, U.S. and Mexican security sources said.
Mexican special forces killed the elusive drug lord Nemesio Oseguera in a U.S.-backed raid on Feb. 22. It was the biggest takedown of a cartel kingpin in at least a decade.
El Mencho’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel responded by torching buildings and blockading roads across Mexico in a terrifying display of its territorial reach that grabbed headlines worldwide.
On the U.S. side of the border, the cartel also has extensive networks that receive far less attention yet are the lifeblood of its power and profits, current and former U.S. and Mexican officials said. These enable it to source military-grade weapons, smuggle billions of dollars’ worth of fuel, and launder billions more in cartel cash.
The United States has become increasingly important to cartels, especially the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, for it to thrive,” said Alamdar Hamdani, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said that the Trump administration “has worked closely with the Mexican government to stop the scourge of drugs and criminals entering our country” and that this cooperation led to the “elimination of infamous narcoterrorist ‘El Mencho.’