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Intelligence cooperation between the United States and Mexico proved decisive in the collapse of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG): Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, was killed in February 2025, and his successor, Audias Flores Silva, alias El Jardinero, was arrested on April 27, 2026, according to security journalist Sara Carter citing U.S. government sources.

For nearly a decade, the CJNG was Mexico's fastest-expanding criminal organization, operating in 28 states with documented trafficking operations in at least 35 countries. Rubén Oseguera Cervantes built that empire from control of the Jalisco-Colima corridor and industrial-scale fentanilo production. Bilateral intelligence cooperation, including tracking data exchange and joint operations, became a cornerstone of the security agreement between President Claudia Sheinbaum and the Trump administration, negotiated alongside the T-MEC review that began in June 2026.

According to Carter, U.S. intelligence services had documented El Jardinero's movements since 2016, enabling his capture once El Mencho's command structure collapsed. Joint operations have resulted in 67 tons of drug seizures so far this year. On April 29, a federal court in New York charged Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya with alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, a second major blow within 60 days that reveals the scope of active binational investigations.

The sequence of strikes against El Mencho, El Jardinero, and Rocha Moya establishes the bilateral intelligence corridor as the most effective tool against Mexico's organized crime leadership in recent years. The immediate challenge is consolidating internal CJNG leadership and testing how its structures respond to the power vacuum.

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This article was written with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.