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Template:Spanish name Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (born July 17, 1966), commonly referred to by his alias El Mencho, is a Mexican drug lord and leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a criminal group based in Jalisco. Wanted for drug trafficking in the U.S. and Mexico, he is one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords.

Early life

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes was born in Michoacán, Mexico in the 1960s, but sources disagree on his exact place of birth and date of birth. According to the United States Department of State, he was born in the rural community of Naranjo de Chila in Aguililla, Michoacán on July 17, 1966. They have a listed alternative date of birth for July 17, 1964. Other sources state he was born in Uruapan, Michoacán.

Oseguera Cervantes grew up in a poor family and dropped out before finishing grade school. He cultivated avocados for a living in Michoacán as a kid but later immigrated illegally to the U.S. state of California in the 1980s. To conceal his identity, he used a different names and combinations, like "Rubén Ávila", "José López Prieto", "Miguel Valadez", "Carlos Hernández Mendoza", "Roberto Salgado", among others. By the time Oseguera Cervantes moved to the U.S., he was already a member of the Milenio Cartel, a drug trafficking group headed by the Valencia family. In California, he began to work alongside one of the clan members, Abigael González Valencia (alias "El Cachetes"), in a heroin ring. To strengthen his relationship with the Milenio Cartel, Oseguera Cervantes married one of the clan leader's sister, Rosalinda González Valencia.

In 1992, he was arrested in Sacramento, California along with his brother Abraham and accused of participating in a heroin-distribution ring in northern California. Both of them reached an agreement with U.S. authorities and pleaded guilty to the charges. Oseguera Cervantes received a 5-year sentence. After three years, however, he was released from prison and deported to Mexico. Once in Mexico, he joined the local police forces of Cabo Corrientes and Tomatlán in the state of Jalisco. Within some time, however, he left the police and joined organized crime as a full-time member of the Milenio Cartel.

Career

In the Milenio Cartel, Oseguera Cervantes started as a member of the assassin squad that protected the drug lord Armando Valencia Cornelio (alias "El Maradona"). In August 12, 2003, his boss was arrested by Mexican authorities. Around the same time, a rival criminal group known as Los Zetas, with the backing of the Gulf Cartel, carried out an armed offensive against the Milenio Cartel in Michoacán. The attack forced the Valencia family to exile in Jalisco; Oseguera Cervantes relocated in the state capital, Guadalajara, with his father-in-law José Luis González Valencia (alias "El Quini") and Román Caballero Valencia. In Jalisco, Oseguera Cervantes and the Milenio Cartel formed an alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel subgroup headed by Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, a high-ranking drug lord and business partner of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Under Coronel, Oseguera Cervantes and his group managed the Sinaloa Cartel's drug operations, finances, and murder activities in the states of Colima and Jalisco.

In October 28, 2009, however, the Milenio Cartel's top leader Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia (alias "El Lobo") was arrested. The following year on May 10, 2010, his brother Juan Carlos (alias "El Tigre") was arrested too. Two months later, Coronel was killed in a shootout with the Mexican Army. Following their downfalls, the Milenio Cartel began to rupture and Oseguera Cervantes tried to take over its leadership structure. One sect within the Milenio Cartel wanted to appoint Elpidio Mojarro Ramírez (alias "El Pilo), who worked closely with Óscar Orlando and Juan Carlos before their arrest, as the leader of the group. Erick Valencia Salazar, one of the clan members, however, wanted Oseguera Cervantes to take command. Oseguera Cervantes then asked the other Milenio bloc to hand over Gerardo Mendoza (alias "Tecato" and/or "Cochi") for killing a group of men that reported to him in Tecomán. The other division refused Oseguera Cervantes' request, prompting the Milenio Cartel to rupture internally.

Criminal charges

In 2014, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia indicted Oseguera Cervantes for drug trafficking. U.S. Department of State offered a US$5 million reward for anyone who can provide them with information that leads to his arrest and/or conviction.

On April 8, 2015, the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Oseguera Cervantes under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act ("Kingpin Act"), for his involvement in international drug smuggling operations. He was sanctioned along with Abigael González Valencia, a high-ranking leader of Los Cuinis, a Mexican drug group. As part of the sanction, all the assets of Oseguera Cervantes, of people associated to him, and of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, were frozen in the U.S. In addition, the act prohibited U.S. citizens from engaging in business activities with him.

Family

See also

• Mexican Drug War

Sources

References

1. ^ "Narcotics Rewards Program: Rubén Oseguera Cervantes". United States Department of State.
2. "CJNG & Los Cuinis: Drug Trafficking Organizations" (PDF). Office of Foreign Assets Control. April 2015.
3. ^ Nájar, Alberto (May 20, 2015). "La acelerada vida de El Mencho, el hombre más buscado de México" (in Spanish). BBC Mundo.
4. Huerta, Juan Carlos (October 22, 2015). "Familiares de 'El Mencho' se amparan; temen detenciones" (in Spanish). El Financiero.
5. ^ "Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias 'El Mencho'". InSight Crime. May 21, 2015.
6. ^ "Diversifica 'Mencho' mercado del narco" (in Spanish). Mexico City: Zócalo Saltillo. January 31, 2014.
7. de Mauleón, Héctor (June 1, 2015). "CJNG: La sombra que nadie vio" (in Spanish). Revista Nexos.
8. "Treasury Sanctions Two Major Mexican Drug Organizations and Two of Their Leaders". United States Department of Treasury. April 8, 2015.