The Tragic Fate Of The CJNG Members Who Betrayed El Mencho

The history of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is a blood-soaked ledger of ambition, and its pages are filled with the names of those who believed they could outmaneuver the man at the center of it all: Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho.” In the hyper-violent world of Mexican cartels, loyalty is a fleeting commodity, and betrayal is not just an insult—it is a death sentence carried out with a level of theatrical cruelty designed to terrify anyone left standing.

The Spark: The Murder of El Colombiano

The fracturing of the CJNG’s monolithic power can be traced back to a single act of internal theft. Marcos Hernandez, known as “El Colombiano,” was the cartel’s financial wizard, managing the flow of money that kept the machinery running. When he discovered that top lieutenant Carlos Enrique Sanchez Martinez, “El Cholo,” was stealing from the organization, he reported it directly to El Mencho.

El Cholo’s response was to have Hernandez assassinated in 2017. This wasn’t just a murder; it was an open declaration of war against his own boss. El Mencho’s retaliatory hit failed, allowing El Cholo to defect and form the rival Nueva Plaza Cartel, backed by the Sinaloa Cartel. This schism turned the Guadalajara metropolitan area into a slaughterhouse.

The Gruesome Fate of “El Cholo”

The betrayal of El Cholo ended in March 2021 in a manner that remains one of the most horrifying displays of narco-justice. After being captured by CJNG forces, a video surfaced of a disfigured El Cholo “confessing” to his crimes. His autopsy later revealed a catalog of medieval torture: eyes gouged, tongue extracted, and multiple fractures. His body was eventually found wrapped in plastic on a park bench in a tourist district, pinned with knives and signs labeling him a “traitor.”

The Commanders of Terror

The CJNG didn’t just rely on standard executions; they pioneered methods of psychological warfare. Heriberto Acevedo Cardenas (“El Gringo”) was notorious for strapping live dynamite to his victims—a practice confirmed by videos found on his phone after he was killed in a 2015 shootout. His death triggered a wave of retaliatory violence that claimed the lives of over 20 police officers in less than a month.

Other key figures faced similarly bleak ends:

LM2 (Miguel Angel Fernandez): A family member of El Mencho by marriage who commanded the “Fuerza Especial Mencho.” He died anonymously in a field after a 2022 military raid; his bodyguards were later executed by the cartel for failing to protect him.

La Vaca (Jose Bernabe Brizuela Meraz): He defected based on rumors of El Mencho’s death, forming the “Independent Cartel of Colima.” His short-lived independence ended in a high-security prison in 2022.

L85 (Erick Valencia Salazar): A co-founder who believed El Mencho set him up for a 2012 arrest. After leading the Nueva Plaza rebellion alongside El Cholo, he was eventually extradited to the U.S. in 2025, where he now faces the slow grind of the American legal system.

The Succession Crisis: February 2026

The definitive turning point occurred on February 22, 2026, when El Mencho was finally killed in a military operation in Tapalpa. The vacuum left by his death has ignited a fresh “war of the heirs.”

Contender
Alias
Background

Audias Flores Silva
El Jardinero
Global terrorist designation; oversees Fentanyl labs.

Juan Carlos Valencia
El 03
El Mencho’s stepson; represents the “royal” bloodline.

Ricardo Ruiz Velasco
El Doble
High-level operational commander.

The most immediate successor to feel the heat was Hugo Cesar Macias Ureña (“El Tuli”), who orchestrated the bloody retaliatory blockades that killed 25 National Guard members following Mencho’s death. He lasted less than a day before being cornered and killed by an aeromobile military unit.

As of early 2026, the CJNG is no longer the unified paramilitary force it once was. It has splintered into warring factions, each led by men who know that the chair at the top is the most dangerous seat in Mexico. The tragedy of the CJNG is that for every traitor purged and every leader killed, there is always another “Gardener” waiting to tend to the field of corpses.