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The United States just helped kill Mexico's most wanted cartel boss El Mentiono, the head of the

Helisco New Generation Cartel. So. And so now you have dozens dead,

cartels setting up 250 plus roadblocks across 20 states, tourists stranded, and experts fearing that this could trigger total war against the Mexican state. Right, so things could get much worse from here. But where we should start is with El Mensho. His real name is Nemesio Osigura, Sotaphante, so I'm gonna call him El Mentiono.

It's just easier on my fat, uncultured tongue.

But Almencho was born in Mexico in 1966.

He moved to the United States in the 1980s, and he was then convicted for conspiracy to distribute heroin in 1994. He then spent three years in prison, then returned to Mexico, where he briefly worked as a police officer before then becoming chief of hitmen for the Milaneo cartel, which no longer exists, but was at the time affiliated with the

Sinoloa Cartel, or with the Helisco New Generation Cartel or the C.JNG emerging from what was left of the Millennial Cartel in the 2010s. And under Almencho's leadership, it became one, if not the most powerful cartel in Mexico, likely beating out the Sinolawa cartel for the top spot. You've got the US DEA reporting that C.JNG is a key supplier of elicit fentanyl and one of the main suppliers are cocaine to the US, but also they have a presence in dozens of other countries. Also adding, they reap billions of dollars in profit from the manufacturer of illegal synthetic drugs. And as early as 2018, you had Mexican authorities offering $1.7 million or information leading to Al Mentiono's arrest, though the US up the the ante in 2024, putting up a $15 million bounty for information leading to his arrest. And that came after Almencho had already been indicted multiple times in the states, including in 2022, when he was charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl for importation into the country. And under Trump 2.0, the State Department sanctioned El Mencho and classified him and several other cartel leaders as specially designated global terrorists. And then you also had Trump designating CG and other cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which is a move that became part of his justification for lethal strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that he said without giving evidence were moving drugs. Also, by the way, those strikes are still happening with more than a dozen killed on the past week alone. Right, and also, all this time, Trump's been pressing Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum to do more to target drug cartels, including by threatening to impose more tariffs or take unilateral military action. Now with that, Shinebombs rejected the idea that the US might carry out strikes in the country, and in the past, she even argued against the idea of strikes in general over concerns that it might just make matters worse. But, you know, stuck between a rock and a hard place and likely seeing how willing Trump is to take military action, she's taken a more direct approach to going after the cartels and stepping up cooperation with the U.S. I mean, she even gave the U.S. military and the CIA the go-ahead to dramatically increase surveillance flights over Mexico to obtain cartel intelligence.

And then, of course, came this weekend, and you know, I will say the U.S. was not directly involved. Mexican Special Forces planned and executed the operation, according to the country's Defense Department, which also said that the actual aim had been to arrest El Mention. But that said, during the mission, they claimed that Mexican military were attacked, and in defense of their physical integrity, they repelled the aggression.

With this, reportedly repelled the aggression.

With this, reportedly resulting in the deaths of four suspected cartel members at the scene.

Three others were also severely wounded and died while being airlifted to a hospital in Mexico City, including El Mensho.

With then also two other cartel members being arrested and various weapons and armored vehicles being seized,

including rocket launchers capable of shooting down aircraft and destroying armored vehicles.

Right, in that statement also revealed that American authorities provided, quote,

complementary information within the quote, framework of bilateral coordination and cooperation

...