EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Navy Seals Trained Mexican Military Team Who Killed Terrorist Leader El Mencho

The Mexican Army team that tried to apprehend but ultimately killed the fearsome leader of the terrorist organization, Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG), Ruben Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, received specialized training from U.S. Navy Seals shortly before the operation.

Breitbart Texas was able to confirm with high-level members of the U.S. intelligence community that Navy SEAL instructors traveled to Mexico earlier this month for a series of trainings aimed at targeting and apprehending top-level cartel figures. Earlier this month, amid much controversy, Mexico’s Senate voted to allow U.S. special forces operators to travel into the country to train their Mexican counterparts.

Instructors from the U.S. Navy SEALs and other top-tier groups are scheduled to be in Mexico from mid-February to April. They first arrived on February 15 on a U.S. air transport with their own equipment and weapons for the training seminars.

The sources consulted by Breitbart Texas revealed that as soon as a top-level Mexican Army team was turned over to the U.S. Navy SEAL instructors, they sequestered their phones and all communication devices to prevent any leaks of information, something that has been an ongoing issue in prior attempts to capture El Mencho and other cartel figures in recent years.

While details of the training and the operation remain classified, Breitbart Texas was able to confirm that Mexican military forces working off U.S. and Mexican intelligence tracked down El Mencho to Tlapalpa, Jalisco, where they carried out a high-level operation aimed at capturing the terrorist leader.

During the operation, the security forces of CJNG tried to fight off the military forces, leading to a fierce firefight when Mexico’s military forces killed four gunmen and injured three others, who were airlifted to a hospital for emergency care but died en route. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by Mexico’s military, one of the individuals who died during the air transport was Oseguera Cervantes, more commonly known as El Mencho.

As Breitbart Texas reported, the death of the feared cartel boss unleashed a wave of terror in Mexico as cartel gunmen in several Mexican states carjacked vehicles, set up blockades, and torched buildings. The widespread terror by the criminal organization reached such levels that the U.S. Department of State was forced to issue a travel warning to U.S. citizens in Mexico about the dangers they could face.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.