In a column I wrote last week about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah cracking down on drug cartels, I had also mentioned the Mexican drug mafia. At that time, I could not have imagined that the world’s biggest drug trafficker, El Mencho, would be killed by the Mexican army. For years, he had not only challenged the Mexican state but had also made life difficult for the United States. You can gauge his stature from the fact that the U.S. had announced a reward of nearly ₹1.36 billion (approximately $10 million) for his capture. The question now is: What will change with his death? Will it impact the drug trade?
Before discussing that, let me mention that I have visited Mexico. The unchecked and brutal influence of drug traffickers is visible everywhere there. Drugs are even delivered to homes. Incidentally, in several European countries, drugs are openly available on certain menus. I experienced this in Copenhagen and Canada as well. As far as the lawlessness of drug mafias in Mexico is concerned, there are many gangs, but El Mencho’s gang was the largest and the most ruthless. His real name was Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. He was born in a remote village in Mexico surrounded by rugged terrain and mountains, where there was virtually no law.
Avocados, opium, and marijuana were cultivated there, but his ambitions were bigger. In search of fortune, he illegally entered the United States. There, he was caught in a heroin trafficking case, served his sentence, and was deported back to Mexico.
To gain in-depth knowledge of police operations, he joined the police force. After some time, he shed the uniform and began working as a hitman for the Milenio Cartel, though his eyes were set on the boss’s chair. He attempted to take control of the Milenio Cartel but failed.
He then partnered with a local money-laundering group and founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, launching an open war against rival gangs. Beyond drug trafficking, he expanded into extortion and kidnapping. He bribed politicians and police officers extensively, and those who refused were brutally eliminated. He would decapitate victims and hang their bodies from bridges to instill fear. In just a month and a half in 2015, his gang slit the throats of 12 honest police officers. In 2020, his group attempted to assassinate Mexico City’s then police chief Omar García Harfuch.
The police chief survived, but two of his bodyguards were killed. Another incident reveals the depth of his power and infiltration. In May 2015, the Mexican army learned of his hiding place and moved to surround him. However, his informants tipped him off. His gang shot down a military helicopter with a rocket launcher, giving him time to escape. His intelligence network was so strong that he would receive information in the blink of an eye. But this time, his luck ran out.
There is an old saying that sometimes a lover can prove fatal. That is what happened with El Mencho. Intelligence agencies were monitoring an associate of his girlfriend. That individual escorted her to a specific location where El Mencho came to meet her. The next day, the girlfriend left, but El Mencho stayed. As soon as U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed his presence, the army launched an attack. A wounded El Mencho died in an air ambulance.
However, the bloodshed that followed his death in Mexico reveals the extent of his power. His cartel unleashed chaos across the country, attacking police forces and spreading fear nationwide. Several police officers have been killed. It is difficult to estimate the exact number of members in El Mencho’s gang, but one assessment suggests that the total membership of all Mexican drug cartels ranges between 175,000 and 200,000. Mexican cartels operate worldwide, and in the United States alone, this cartel reportedly earned between ₹50–60 billion daily.
Globally, their earnings run into figures so large that an ordinary person would struggle to comprehend them. El Mencho’s cartel made enormous profits from drug trafficking. If you have read the famous novel The Godfather or watched the film adaptation, you can imagine—El Mencho was even more dangerous. His gang not only supplied drugs but was also involved in kidnapping girls worldwide. They possessed vast stockpiles of weapons.
The Mexican army has seized some armored vehicles and rocket launchers, but that is only a glimpse. Immediately after El Mencho’s death, California-born Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez declared himself the new mafia leader. The question remains: Can Mexico tackle such a deeply entrenched and aggressive network? In my view, this is not Mexico’s fight alone. Mexico may be the source of much of the drug supply, but the entire world is the victim. Just as the United States has supported Mexico, the whole world must stand with it.
Every country should impose strict blockades, and there must be a worldwide crackdown on drug cartels so severe that they are completely dismantled. If we fail to eliminate drugs, future generations will pay the price. Those involved in this trade must understand that their greed is destroying the world.
