Journalist Claims Mexico Decided to Kill El Mencho

Mexican journalist Ioan Grillo reiterated on Aristegui Noticias that "the intelligence information that revealed El Mencho's location came from the United States, but the decision that he not be taken alive was made by Mexico, according to a Mexican security source." Grillo questioned the official army account, which stated that El Mencho died during transport, asking, "What are the chances that three people die on a military plane after a shootout?" He reminded that the capo had "a lot of information about the different activities the cartel was involved in and about acts of corruption." Grillo reported that several Mexican and US security sources informed him that Mexican authorities decided Mencho should not be arrested alive. However, journalist Anabel Hernández acknowledged she has not been able to confirm the information but noted that Grillo is "a journalist who has handled serious information for many years." She commented, "Be careful with Grillo's information." Hernández opined that the information about El Mencho's execution by the Mexican government is significant. She stated that information she obtained from the Navy indicated that "Pichón" (another capo) was to be executed due to the highly sensitive information he possessed, meaning it was better for him to be dead than extradited and revealing dirty secrets of officials linked to the criminal organization. "This information is important because, from my experience, you decide to execute a drug trafficker because it would be very inconvenient what he could say," Hernández concluded regarding a possible extradition. She recalled that Pedro Insulsa, alias "Pichón," a member of the Chapo Guzmán faction, was allegedly executed by the Mexican government while already in custody of the Attorney General's Office and the Navy. According to Grillo, Mexican soldiers, with the help of US intelligence, raided the capo's safe house in Tapalpa, Jalisco, during a raid. The armed forces reportedly determined that Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), would not be arrested alive during the operation that ended in his death. "If this is the dynamic, we would be talking, and it's not the first time: kill them on the spot, as the former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador would say; an extrajudicial execution would not be the first under President Claudia Sheinbaum's mandate," Grillo pointed out.