The capture of Audias Flores Silva, one of the men closest to Oseguera, in the state of Nayarit, bordering Jalisco, led local authorities to ask the population via Facebook to stay at home
Mexican authorities captured this Monday (27) in an operation with the participation of hundreds of military personnel, two successors of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, founder of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), while trying to escape through a drainage system. The capture of Audias Flores Silva, one of the men closest to Oseguera, in the state of Nayarit, bordering Jalisco, led local authorities to ask the population via Facebook to stay at home faced with the possibility of new blockades and violent actions.
The United States offered a reward of 5 million dollars (R$24.8 million) for Flores Silva. According to the Insight Crime analysis center, the criminal leader emerged as one of the successors of the founder of the CJNG. Nicknamed “El Jardinero”, he was Oseguera’s “right-hand man” until his death, David Saucedo, a security expert, told AFP.
He was also in charge of negotiating on behalf of Oseguera an alliance between the CJNG and “Los Chapitos”, the faction of the Sinaloa Cartel commanded by the heirs of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Saucedo added, citing intelligence sources from the United States and Mexico.
Flores Silva was imprisoned for five years in the United States and was released in 2016. According to information disseminated by Mexican authorities, he controlled several methamphetamine laboratories in Jalisco and the neighboring state of Zacatecas.
Death of El Mencho
Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, founder of Mexico’s most powerful cartel killed in February │Disclosure / US Department of State
El Mencho died, aged 59, which resulted in a criminal riot in which “El Mencho”’s henchmen burned vehicles to block roads in 20 of the country’s 32 states.
Founder of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), he transformed it into the most powerful cartel in Mexico through the use of violencechallenging the government. He was considered the last of the country’s major drug traffickers since the arrest and imprisonment in the United States of the founders of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “Mayo” Zambada. Washington had offered a $15 million reward for his capture.
