It was this very trail linked to his girlfriend that led to his discovery — the price of trusting a woman instead of trusting his own empire ultimately cost El Mencho everything.

Nemesio Oseguera, leader of Mexico’s largest drug cartel CJNG, was tracked down and killed after intelligence agents followed the trail of his girlfriend.

On February 23, Mexico’s Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla revealed that before the February 22 raid that eliminated Oseguera — also known as El Mencho — agents had identified a close ᴀssociate connected to his girlfriend.

On February 21, intelligence officers discovered that the woman had been taken to Tapalpa, a mountain resort town in Jalisco, to meet Oseguera. After she left, Oseguera reportedly remained there with his security detail.

According to Minister Trevilla, the Special Rapid Reaction Force of Mexico’s National Guard meticulously planned the ᴀssault. Troops approached the area without entering Jalisco immediately “to maintain secrecy and preserve the element of surprise.” Once authorities confirmed Oseguera’s presence at the resort, they launched the raid.

“It was a very intense operation,” Trevilla said, adding that authorities seized a large cache of weapons at the scene, including ᴀssault rifles and two rocket launchers.

Oseguera’s security team had previously used a rocket launcher in 2015 to shoot down a military helicopter, allowing him to escape capture at the time.

This time, however, Oseguera was not as fortunate. As he attempted to flee, he and his trusted bodyguards hid in a forest surrounding the vacation cabins.

Troops quickly surrounded them despite fierce resistance. The cartel gunmen reportedly struck a military helicopter, forcing it to make an emergency landing at a nearby base.

During the firefight, Oseguera and two of his bodyguards were wounded. All three were airlifted to a hospital in Guadalajara but died en route. Their bodies were later transported by aircraft to Mexico City and handed over to the Office of the Attorney General. Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch stated that Oseguera’s body would be returned to his family.

In retaliation for Oseguera’s death, cartel gunmen blocked more than 20 roads in Jalisco by setting vehicles and trucks on fire. Twenty-five members of Mexico’s National Guard were killed in six retaliatory attacks by CJNG in Jalisco. Violence also spread to other states but subsided by February 23.

The government deployed approximately 10,000 troops to maintain security. However, blockades continued in remote areas of Jalisco and neighboring Michoacán.

Oseguera had previously been arrested on drug-related charges in San Francisco in 1986, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

U.S. media have described Oseguera as the most powerful drug lord in Mexico. Since its founding in 2009, CJNG has become one of the country’s most violent drug trafficking organizations, according to the United States Department of Justice.

Washington has designated CJNG as a terrorist organization, accusing it of trafficking cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the United States.

Oseguera’s death comes amid increasing pressure from the U.S. for Mexico to curb the flow of drugs, particularly fentanyl. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs on Mexican imports, arguing that his counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum has not done enough to combat drug trafficking.