A CJNG Death in Mexico and A Missed Opportunity

I cannot recall a time in the last two decades that I’ve covered the region’s crime wars that I’ve done as many media interviews as I did this week around the killing of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” the head of the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG).

Our 15 years of experience in investigating organized crime in Latin America put our analysis in huge demand, and, frankly, it felt validating. As the mainstream media dedicated its resources to understanding what was happening on the ground, it called on our in-depth understanding of not just the CJNG and El Mencho’s criminal career, but Mexico’s role in the criminal ecosystem, to help the world make sense of what the development really meant.

Sadly, the answer was: Not much.

We told the media, repeatedly, that arresting and killing kingpins does not destroy the loose, atomized, semi-autonomous networks that have formed around the illegal drug business, as well as fuel theft, extortion, human smuggling, and environmental crime. What these arrests often create is more violence, at least in the short term, as command lines and power nodes have to be adjusted and renegotiated.

Unless governments dismantle the structures behind organizations such as the CJNG – money laundering partners, logistical networks, and corruption nodes – they will rebound stronger after learning lessons to become more prepared, and less impacted, by the removal of those at the top.

InSight Crime Expertise Orients El Mencho Coverage

As soon as authorities confirmed El Mencho’s death in Mexico, the phones of many of our investigators started to ring. By the following morning, InSight Crime investigator Victoria Dittmar was on the French television station France24 to provide insight into who El Mencho was and what his role was within the CJNG. Later that evening, she provided crucial context for CNN en Español.

Over the coming days, a variety of local and international media outlets called on our expertise to drive the debate about what the high-profile killing could mean for Mexico. Managing Editor Deborah Bonello spoke to the BBC about the violence that broke out following El Mencho’s death, Co-director Steven Dudley was featured on National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States to analyze what the death meant for the future of Mexico’s anti-crime fight, and investigator Parker Asmann appeared on The World radio station to explain why the CJNG is likely to continue on even after El Mencho’s death.