Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said on Monday that authorities determined the location of the now-deceased leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) after a man delivered one of his “romantic partners” to him.
CJNG leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was shot by Mexican military personnel during a federal operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco, on Sunday morning. He subsequently died and his body was transferred to Mexico City.
At President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Monday morning press conference, Trevilla said that on Feb. 20 — last Friday — military intelligence work enabled the location of a “trusted man of one of the romantic partners of ‘El Mencho.'”
That man, he said, transported Oseguera’s lover to a property in Tapalpa, a municipality around 130 kilometers southwest of Guadalajara.
Trevilla said that the woman — apparently not Oseguera’s wife — met with “El Mencho” at the property.
The next day — last Saturday — the woman left the property “and information was obtained that ‘El Mencho’ remained at that place,” the defense minister said without explaining exactly how authorities got the information.
Oseguera stayed at the property “with a circle of security,” Trevilla said.
He said that an operation targeting “El Mencho” was planned on Saturday.
“It is doctrinal, it is an axiom of military operations carried out by armed forces around the world that whoever executes the operation is the one who must plan it,” Trevilla said.
“In this case, it was Special Forces personnel and personnel from the National Guard’s Immediate Response Special Force who planned the operation,” he said.
The operation
Trevilla said that an operational force made up of “three components” was organized on Saturday.
He said that forces on the ground in Jalisco were supported by military helicopters and Mexican Air Force planes.
The aircraft, however, initially remained on alert in neighboring states in order to maintain the secrecy and surprise of the operation, Trevilla said.
He said that on Saturday night, authorities once again confirmed the presence of Oseguera in Tapalpa and ground forces moved into the municipality to carry out the operation aimed at detaining him.
Trevilla said that the military was aware that “El Mencho” and the other CJNG members with him were armed and therefore the plan was to “apply the Federal Firearms Law” and “detain them in flagrante.”
He told reporters that Oseguera’s security team opened fire against military personnel and then “‘El Mencho’ comes out.”
“The attack the organized criminal personnel carried out was really very violent,” he said, adding that the Special Forces Military personnel returned fire.
The wounding and death of ‘El Mencho’
Trevilla said that the operation occurred at a “complex of cabins” on the outskirts of Tapalpa.
Aspectos del operativo de la Defensa tras haber abatido a “El Mencho”.pic.twitter.com/qltRkx99RD
— Joaquín López-Dóriga (@lopezdoriga) February 22, 2026
After initially shooting at the military personnel, “El Mencho” and his “close circle” escaped into a “wooded area,” he said.
Special Forces chased them and located them, Trevilla said.
He said that the CJNG members opened fire again and the military personnel once again shot back.
At that point, “El Mencho” and two of his bodyguards were wounded, Trevilla said, adding that two other “criminals” were detained.
“Once the situation was brought under control,” military medics approached Oseguera and his two wounded bodyguards and determined it was “necessary to evacuate them,” he said, explaining that they were in “very serious” condition.
The defense minister said that the assistance of a helicopter was sought in order to transfer the wounded CJNG members to a hospital in Jalisco.
He noted that all three died on the way to the hospital, and therefore, it was decided that the helicopter would go to the Morelia International Airport in Michoacán. In Morelia, the three bodies were put onto an Air Force plane and taken to Mexico City, Trevilla said.
“That was decided because it wasn’t advisable to arrive in Guadalajara due to the risk … that this criminal group would carry out more violent actions there, in the capital of Jalisco,” he said.
The Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Oseguera and two other wounded CJNG members died en route to Mexico City. It didn’t mention that their bodies were taken to Morelia prior to their transfer to Mexico City.
Trevilla said that a total of “eight criminals” died at the scene in Tapalpa. He acknowledged that the Defense Ministry reported on Sunday that four people were killed at the scene “because that was the preliminary information we had.”
Three military personnel were wounded, all of whom were transferred to Mexico City for medical treatment, according to the Defense Ministry.
CJNG shot a military helicopter, forcing it to make an emergency landing
Trevilla said 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 said.
“Fortunately, no military personnel were injured,” Trevilla said.
The military seized a range of weapons in Tapalpa, including “two rocket launchers,” the defense minister said. He noted that one of the rocket launchers was of the same kind that the CJNG used to down an army helicopter in 2015.
Defense minister acknowledges Mexico received intelligence from US
Trevilla said that “with central military intelligence and complementary information from the institutions of the Security Cabinet and also U.S. institutions, the Ministry of National Defense tracked El Mencho’s network of contacts until the conditions were right to plan an operation to arrest him.”
🚨#Entérate | Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, Secretario de la Defensa de México, narra cómo ubicaron a Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, conocido como ‘ElMencho’, en Tapalpa, Jalisco.
Su captura se dio gracias al seguimiento de su pareja sentimental, según informó Trevilla. pic.twitter.com/XWJ08iIkvW
— Códices Oaxaca (@codicesoax) February 23, 2026
However, he said that “everything related to the romantic partner, to his collaborators, to his close circle” is “our military intelligence.”
“There was, I insist, a lot of additional information,” Trevila said, describing intelligence provided by the United States as “very important.”
“All of that, once integrated and thoroughly analyzed, gave us the exact location” of Oseguera, he said.
Citing information from a U.S. defense official, Reuters reported on Sunday that “a new U.S.-military-led task force specializing in intelligence collection on drug cartels played a role in the Mexican military raid on Sunday that killed the Mexican drug lord known as ‘El Mencho.'”
“The Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, which involves multiple U.S. government agencies, was formally launched last month with the goal of mapping out networks of drug cartel members on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border,” Reuters wrote, citing U.S. officials.
Mexico News Daily
