MEXICO CITY — The Jalisco New Technology Cartel, Mexico’s strongest prison enterprise, suffered one other blow Monday when the Mexican navy captured one in every of its prime leaders within the northwest of the nation, two months after the cartel’s chief was killed.
Audias Flores Silva, also referred to as “El Jardinero,” or The Gardener, was seen as a attainable successor to the killed chief and the USA had a $5 million reward out for info resulting in his arrest.
The CJNG regional commander was captured whereas he was hiding in a roadside ditch close to the neighborhood of El Mirador within the state of Nayarit, Mexican officers mentioned Monday. Nobody was killed or injured throughout his arrest, in accordance with Mexico’s authorities.
Flores Silva was seen as a attainable successor to Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, or “El Mencho,” who was killed in a dramatic navy operation in February. The killing of “El Mencho” led to a surge of cartel violence with a wave of assaults on companies by cartel gunmen, automobile burnings and street blockades that killed greater than 70 individuals, together with 25 Nationwide Guard members.
Regardless of the violence, Oseguera Cervantes’ killing was seen as a victory for Mexico’s authorities at a time when Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is cracking down on cartels with a heavier hand than her predecessors in an effort to offset threats of intervention by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Final 12 months, Trump designated the Jalisco New Technology Cartel and 5 different Mexican cartels as overseas terrorist organizations.
Flores Silva’s seize marked one other blow to a prison enterprise that has rapidly grow to be probably the most highly effective within the hemisphere. Based on Mexican safety officers, he was the top of safety for Oseguera Cervantes, and helped lead the cartel’s drug manufacturing and trafficking operations within the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Mexico State, and Zacatecas.
Native information organizations in Nayarit reported quite a lot of vehicles and companies had been burned following his arrest.
The seize was praised by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson, who mentioned in a submit on X that Flores Silva’s arrest marks an “necessary step” in combating those that revenue from fentanyl trafficking.
“Actions like this strengthen safety and assist dismantle prison networks that threaten our communities. Collectively, we obtain outcomes that make our nations safer,” he added.
At a younger age, Flores Silva was arrested within the U.S., the place he served a five-year sentence for drug trafficking earlier than returning to Mexico after his launch. In 2016, he was arrested by Mexican authorities for his alleged participation in an ambush in opposition to police in Jalisco and was launched three years later.
Since 2021, the U.S. has requested Flores Silva’s extradition to face prices of drug conspiracy and firearms possession.
For Mexican safety analyst David Saucedo, the arrest of Flores Silva represents a “important blow” to the CJNG management, which was nonetheless within the technique of reorganizing after the dying of its chief and founder on Feb. 22.
Saucedo instructed The Related Press, nonetheless, that prison teams “can rapidly reinvent themselves regardless of the arrest of their leaders,” and that even once they undergo main blows, “they’ll proceed” their prison actions.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Company has acknowledged CJNG’s presence in 21 of Mexico’s 32 states, surpassing the Sinaloa Cartel, which is estimated to function in 19 states.
Some analysts imagine the CJNG’s presence extends to 25 states, with a stronghold in Jalisco. The cartel’s operations have additionally unfold to round 100 international locations, together with the USA.
