The US Joint Interagency Task Force Against Drug Cartels played a crucial role in the Mexican military operation that killed El Mencho, according to sources cited by Reuters.
A new US military-led task force specializing in intelligence gathering on drug cartels played a role in Sunday’s military operation in Mexico that killed drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, alias El Mencho, a US official told Reuters.
The Joint Interagency Task Force Against Drug Cartels, which involves several US government agencies, was quietly launched late last year with the goal of mapping the networks of drug cartel members on both sides of the US-Mexico border, US officials said.
The U.S. official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did not offer further details about the information the U.S. military-led task force may have provided to Mexican authorities.
The official emphasized that the raid itself was a Mexican military operation.
The Mexican Ministry of National Defense (Defensa) reported that Oseguera was critically wounded during a shootout in the western state of Jalisco and died while being airlifted to Mexico City.
Mexico’s Defensa Nacional stated that U.S. authorities provided “additional information.”
The operation triggered a wave of violence, with vehicles set ablaze and armed men blocking highways in more than half a dozen states.
Source: Reuters
