The final hideout of slain drug lord Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was a large, well-appointed and modern home in an exclusive residential estate in southern Jalisco.
A day after the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) chief was fatally wounded during a military operation, journalists were allowed into the home where the 59-year-old capo was hiding out.
Algunas fotografías del interior donde se encontraba “El Mencho”.
Se pueden apreciar un altar, una parte de la biblia escrita a mano y tratamiento médico.Fotografías: Valente Rosas / El Universal pic.twitter.com/DgrZcnpuPE
— W Radio Gdl (@wradiogdl) February 24, 2026
The house is located within the Tapalpa Country Club residential development, located near the town of Tapalpa in southern Jalisco.
Oseguera fled the home along with members of his security detail when federal forces swarmed it on Sunday morning, according to the Ministry of Defense. Mexico’s most wanted drug lord was fatally wounded during a confrontation with military personnel in a nearby wooded area and subsequently died from his injuries.
The newspapers Milenio and El Universal were among the media outlets that gained access to the Tapalpa Country Club home on Monday.
“Luxury, melatonin, wine and psalms, in the mountain hideout of El Mencho,” read the headline on the front page of the Tuesday edition of Milenio.
“Altar and kidney treatment, in El Mencho’s refuge,” stated El Universal’s front page headline.
Both newspapers also published videos that take viewers inside the home where Oseguera spent his final hours, and where he had a final rendezvous with an unidentified “romantic partner.”
The home and its contents
Made out of bricks, stone, wood and other materials, the two-story home where Oseguera was located has high ceilings with pendant lights, “fine wood finishes” and wide windows, according to Milenio.
“From the air, the property appears secluded, integrated into the wooded landscape, far from urban noise,” the newspaper reported.
The contents of the home include luxury furniture, neatly folded clothes, plenty of food (including fruit, vegetables and meat), face creams and other personal grooming products, and an altar on a small table featuring statues of Jude the Apostle — patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes — the Virgin of Guadalupe and Charbel Makhlouf, a Lebanese Maronite monk and priest.
Also in the home on Monday were candles and other religious items, as well as a handwritten version of Psalm 91, dated Jan. 25, or just under a month before “El Mencho” met his fate.
“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge,” reads a section of Psalm 91.
El Universal reported that a medication called Tationil Plus was also found in the home. That medication contains an antioxidant called glutathione, which can be used to treat kidney disease, an ailment from which Oseguera suffered. Melatonin tablets, which can be used to treat insomnia, wine glasses filled with pine cones and an antique table soccer game are also seen in photos and video footage taken inside the house.
The kitchen bench in the home is covered with numerous items, including a bottle of sriracha chili sauce, cartons of milk, pots, a water bottle and a plastic jug. Some of the beds in the home were unmade, an indication that “El Mencho” and his bodyguards may have been sleeping when the federal raid occurred on Sunday morning.
The home has a large back garden that leads to a hilly, forested area, to which Oseguera and his bodyguards fled. Milenio reported that two stones engraved with the figures of Jude the Apostle and the Virgin of Guadalupe mark the limit between the property and the forest.
A neighbor recounts the operation targeting ‘El Mencho’
A resident of the Tapalpa Country Club estate told El Universal that she started hearing gunshots at 7:20 a.m. Sunday. She said that gunfire continued for 45 minutes and noted that a helicopter also fired shots.
National Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Monday that CJNG members managed to shoot a military helicopter during the operation in Tapalpa. Consequently, the helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at a nearby military facility in the municipality of Sayula, he told reporters.
Trevilla also provided an overview of the operation targeting Oseguera, including details on the cartel leader’s wounding and death while he was being airlifted to a hospital. He described the location as a “complex of cabins” on the outskirts of Tapalpa, a somewhat unflattering description that is incongruent with the apparent luxury of the residential estate, and which would be unlikely to appear in a Tapalpa Country Club brochure.
The resident who spoke to El Universal said that a lot of homes in Tapalpa Country Club estate are rented out, mainly to tourists visiting Tapalpa. She said she didn’t know whether Oseguera lived there, but acknowledged that he had spent some time there. It was unclear who owns the home where “El Mencho” and his entourage were staying.
Tapalpa is popular with tourists, and some stay in the Tapalpa Country estate while visiting the municipality, according to the local mayor.
The town of Tapalpa
The town of Tapalpa is one of Mexico’s many pueblos mágicos, or magical towns.
“The perfect combination of natural beauty, architecture, tranquility, and adrenaline could be a good way to describe Tapalpa, a unique place that offers something for everyone,” states the official guide to Mexico’s 177 pueblos mágicos.
El Universal reported on Tuesday that “amid the tension and the presence of the Army and the National Guard, Tapalpa residents are trying to return to normality, but the panorama in the pueblo mágico continues to be one of empty streets and closed businesses.”
“This Monday, some people went to the center of the municipality, but they still fear that violence will erupt again,” the newspaper wrote.
Reporters from the Associated Press also visited Tapalpa on Monday.
“A day after the Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful drug lord, the picturesque town where it happened was a study in contrasts,” begins an AP report.
“Children whose classes had been suspended by the outbreak of violence played in cobblestone streets and tourist shops were open on Tapalpa’s main plaza Monday. But gunshots also rang out, and just outside the town a dead man lay on the road next to a Jeep sprayed with bullets,” the report continues.
A Televisa reporter said Monday that it was difficult to get to Tapalpa, explaining that he encountered at least 100 burnt-out vehicles on his way to the municipality, some of which were still forming active narco-blockades.
Located around 130 kilometers southwest of Guadalajara, the municipality of Tapalpa had a population of just over 21,000 when the 2020 census was conducted.
While it has been a pueblo mágico since 2002, unfortunately the town will now likely become better known as the place where the lengthy hunt for “El Mencho” finally came to an end.
With reports from Milenio, El Universal and AP
