The Death of El Mencho: Another Chapter in the West's Failed War on Drugs

The Operation and Its Immediate Aftermath

The Mexican military’s operation that resulted in the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” represents the most significant security action in Mexico in at least a decade. As the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), El Mencho was arguably the most powerful criminal figure in the Western Hemisphere, with a $15 million bounty from the United States government. The operation marks a dramatic shift from President Claudia Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who championed the “hugs not bullets” strategy that critics say allowed cartels to expand their operations.

The retaliation from CJNG was swift and widespread, with loyalists launching attacks across 20 of Mexico’s 32 states, torching vehicles and businesses, and establishing more than 250 roadblocks. This immediate backlash demonstrates the cartel’s extensive reach and organizational capacity, highlighting the volatile situation that now confronts the Mexican government.

Historical Context and Western Complicity

Mexico’s struggle against organized crime cannot be understood outside the context of Western, particularly American, policies that have consistently undermined sovereign nations in the Global South. The so-called “war on drugs” has been primarily a Western construct that externalizes the consequences of their own consumption patterns onto producer and transit countries. For decades, the United States has pursued militarized solutions in Latin America while doing little to address the massive domestic demand for narcotics or the flow of weapons southward across the border.

The current operation received intelligence support from Washington, revealing the continued pattern of U.S. intervention in Mexican affairs. This cooperation occurs within a framework where the U.S. simultaneously praises Mexican operations while maintaining pressure through public statements like former President Trump’s demand that “Mexico must step up their effort on Cartels and Drugs!” This dual approach exemplifies the neo-colonial relationship that characterizes much of U.S.-Latin American relations—demanding action while refusing to acknowledge America’s role in creating the problem.

The Futility of Kingpin Strategies

The elimination of high-profile cartel leaders has consistently proven to be an ineffective long-term strategy in the fight against organized crime. As expert Carlos Pérez Ricart notes in the article, CJNG’s dominance in certain areas actually reduced conflict because they maintained a monopoly on violence. Removing the top boss risks fragmenting the organization into smaller, more volatile factions that will inevitably fight for control, potentially increasing violence rather than reducing it.

This approach mirrors the failed strategies employed by the United States in multiple Global South nations, where decapitation strikes against leadership figures have consistently led to more chaos, not less. The franchise model of modern cartels, compared in the article to “a network of Mexico’s ubiquitous Oxxo convenience stores,” means that eliminating one figurehead does little to disrupt the underlying business model. The infrastructure, corruption networks, and economic incentives that sustain these organizations remain intact.

The Strategic Dilemma and Western Hypocrisy

Mexico now faces an impossible strategic dilemma: whether to open a full-scale front against CJNG while still battling the Sinaloa Cartel. Matthew Smith, a former U.S. commander familiar with anti-cartel operations, bluntly states that “there’s no way they could do it with both.” This assessment highlights the absurdity of Western expectations that Global South nations should solve problems created largely by Western consumption patterns and policies.

The hypocrisy of the Western approach becomes particularly glaring when we consider that the same nations demanding aggressive action against cartels maintain financial systems that readily launder cartel money and pharmaceutical industries that have created their own opioid epidemics. The one-sided application of pressure on transit and producer countries while ignoring the role of Western financial institutions, arms manufacturers, and consumer markets represents a form of neo-colonial thinking that must be confronted and rejected.

Toward Sovereign Solutions

The fundamental error in the current approach lies in its failure to address the root causes of cartel power: poverty, lack of opportunity, corruption, and most importantly, massive Western demand for illicit substances. Until the United States and other Western nations take serious steps to reduce drug consumption, stop the flow of weapons southward, and address the economic disparities that make cartel recruitment possible, no military solution will succeed.

Mexico and other Global South nations must develop sovereign solutions that prioritize human development and community resilience over militarized approaches designed in Western capitals. The “hugs not bullets” strategy, while criticized, at least recognized that sustainable security comes from addressing social and economic foundations rather than through brute force alone.

Conclusion: Breaking the Cycle

The death of El Mencho may provide short-term symbolic victory, but it risks initiating another cycle of violence that will primarily harm ordinary Mexicans. The Western-backed militarized approach has failed for decades because it treats symptoms rather than causes. True security will come not from eliminating individual cartel leaders but from building societies where criminal organizations cannot recruit vulnerable populations and where state institutions command genuine legitimacy.

The international community, particularly Western nations, must move beyond hypocritical demands for action and instead address their own roles in perpetuating this crisis. This means serious drug policy reform, stricter controls on weapon exports, and genuine partnership rather than paternalistic intervention. Only when we recognize that the cartel problem is fundamentally an economic and social issue—exacerbated by Western policies and consumption—can we begin to develop solutions that might actually work.

The people of Mexico deserve better than another cycle of violence triggered by Western-designed solutions that have consistently failed. They deserve sovereign development free from foreign interference and policies that address the actual roots of organized crime rather than its most visible manifestations.