Homeland security officials are watching for a response from Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s U.S.-based trafficking and financial networks after Mexican security forces killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes in a raid Sunday.
The cartel, also known as CJNG, maintains distribution, logistics and money-movement infrastructure across the United States. While officials say there is no indication of an imminent threat to the U.S. as a result of the operation that killed Cervantes, law enforcement agencies are monitoring any potential increases in violence, coercion or debt-collection activity inside domestic trafficking corridors.
Mexican authorities in recent months have also transferred dozens of cartel suspects into U.S. custody in several batches, part of a broader bilateral enforcement surge that has placed CJNG and other groups under sustained pressure.
According to a source briefed on the operation, the raid was the culmination of intensified U.S.-Mexico counter-cartel cooperation under Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Intelligence sharing has markedly expanded in recent months through newly emphasized joint interagency channels tied to U.S. Northern Command.
A defense official told CBS News on Sunday a counter-cartel task force the Pentagon established under U.S. Northern Command in January “played a role in that the Joint Interagency Task Force regularly works with the Mexican military,” but the official emphasized that this was a Mexican military operation, “so the success is theirs.”
Mexico’s Defense ministry said in a statement that “complementary information was provided by U.S. authorities within the framework of bilateral coordination and cooperation with the United States.”
No American personnel were on the ground for the operation. The source described a “synergy of efforts” in which Mexican special forces executed the mission while U.S. personnel provided intelligence and operational advice from outside Mexico. This source did not disclose the precise nature of U.S. intelligence support, but pointed to prior high-value cartel targeting operations, in which U.S. agencies relied on longstanding human sources and technical information collection of cartel movements, vehicles and communications.
More than 20 Mexican National Guard members have been killed in retaliatory attacks so far, a source said. CJNG has evolved into a diversified transnational criminal enterprise with paramilitary capabilities. It has used drones to carry C4 explosives and deployed heavy weaponry in Mexico’s internal conflict zones. Despite the loss of its founder, the cartel is expected to retain substantial operational capacity, according to the source.
Still, a succession struggle inside CJNG has begun, with regional cartel commanders battling for power and control. In the past, the removal of cartel leaders in Mexico has often resulted in their organizations splintering and in secondary violence, rather than collapse. The early indications are that this pattern is repeating, with revenge attacks and destabilization efforts across as many as 20 Mexican states.
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