MEXICO CITY ¨C The Mexican military raid that killed the country¡¯s most wanted cartel leader on Sunday was President Claudia Sheinbaum¡¯s biggest bet yet, doubling down on her historic offensive against the country¡¯s most powerful organized crime groups.
The Mexican Army launched a surprise operation on Sunday against Nemesio Oseguera, or ¡°El Mencho,¡± the shadowy leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Known as CJNG for its Spanish acronym, the cartel has rapidly become Mexico¡¯s largest and bloodiest, dwarfing even the infamous Sinaloa Cartel in territorial reach.
El Mencho had a $15 million bounty on his head from ?U.S. authorities and was considered all but untouchable after he had evaded capture through multiple U.S. and Mexican administrations. His killing on Sunday ¡ª the biggest security-related operation in Mexico in at ?least a ?decade ¡ª marks a potential inflection point in the country¡¯s war against the cartels.
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